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DerrickAustin
Joined: 04 Apr 2013 Posts: 4
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Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 5:07 pm Post subject: Preparing documents to work in China |
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I am a recent college graduate in the United States interested in teaching English in China, and I am wondering about the following:
Would I need to get an FBI background check and also get an apostille for it?
Would I need to get my diploma notarized and also get an apostille for it?
Any help regarding this would be greatly appreciated! |
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johntpartee
Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 3258
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Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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For the vast majority of places in China: no to everything. I've heard (on here) about a background check somewhere in China (Mongolia?) but.... |
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DerrickAustin
Joined: 04 Apr 2013 Posts: 4
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Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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johntpartee wrote: |
For the vast majority of places in China: no to everything. I've heard (on here) about a background check somewhere in China (Mongolia?) but.... |
Thanks! |
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mike w
Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 1071 Location: Beijing building site
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Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 12:32 am Post subject: |
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At the risk of sounding condescending (not intended) - don't ask that question here.
Ask your local Chinese consulate or the Chinese Embassy in US. They are the ones who will decide if you qualify for, and issue your visa. Old China hands will attest to the fact that these rules can change overnight, without any warning.
Go and talk to the horses mouth, he knows best! |
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lemak
Joined: 19 Nov 2011 Posts: 368
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Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 2:05 am Post subject: |
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mike w wrote: |
At the risk of sounding condescending (not intended) - don't ask that question here.
Ask your local Chinese consulate or the Chinese Embassy in US. They are the ones who will decide if you qualify for, and issue your visa. Old China hands will attest to the fact that these rules can change overnight, without any warning.
Go and talk to the horses mouth, he knows best! |
Fair call. There are enough people on here however who have recently done the process, and I think if the application biz now required apostilles and notorizations (how to spell those two words?) someone would have mentioned it.
In my experience the answer is "no" to all your questions. You may be getting the application process confused with Korea where the answer is "yes" to all your questions.
As John said there was a time where it looked like the background checks were going to become mandatory. A lot of schools in Henan had begun requesting them, but it seems to have just been a bureaucratic belch and the requirement quickly vanished. Individual schools (particularly more reputable ones - Internationals etc.) *may* require a criminal check to be done, but this is as part of their personal application process (Hey, if I were paying 10,000 bucks a year I'd want to know my kid's teacher wasn't Short Eyes, too), *not* as official policy.
If you are really worried, Mike is right, though....call the embassy. Things change from day to day, and who knows what the requirements may become next year, next week, tomorrow, or even after lunch today. |
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DerrickAustin
Joined: 04 Apr 2013 Posts: 4
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Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 4:37 am Post subject: |
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lemak wrote: |
mike w wrote: |
At the risk of sounding condescending (not intended) - don't ask that question here.
Ask your local Chinese consulate or the Chinese Embassy in US. They are the ones who will decide if you qualify for, and issue your visa. Old China hands will attest to the fact that these rules can change overnight, without any warning.
Go and talk to the horses mouth, he knows best! |
Fair call. There are enough people on here however who have recently done the process, and I think if the application biz now required apostilles and notorizations (how to spell those two words?) someone would have mentioned it.
In my experience the answer is "no" to all your questions. You may be getting the application process confused with Korea where the answer is "yes" to all your questions.
As John said there was a time where it looked like the background checks were going to become mandatory. A lot of schools in Henan had begun requesting them, but it seems to have just been a bureaucratic belch and the requirement quickly vanished. Individual schools (particularly more reputable ones - Internationals etc.) *may* require a criminal check to be done, but this is as part of their personal application process (Hey, if I were paying 10,000 bucks a year I'd want to know my kid's teacher wasn't Short Eyes, too), *not* as official policy.
If you are really worried, Mike is right, though....call the embassy. Things change from day to day, and who knows what the requirements may become next year, next week, tomorrow, or even after lunch today. |
Thanks to you both! This is very helpful. |
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xiguagua

Joined: 09 Oct 2011 Posts: 768
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Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 5:57 am Post subject: |
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No. I dunno, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and maybe it's my paranoid personality.......but this just seems suspicious for me.
You could be just asking to make sure you don't have to get things notorized.......or you could be asking because you do have a criminal record, and you're not actually a college grad and hoping that you don't have to get your degree notorized so you can just give the school a photoshopped copy.
I dunno, when people ask questions like this and these questions are the only things you're worried about.........just sets off alarm bells for me. But i'm not very trusting of people. |
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Merging Traffic
Joined: 27 Jan 2013 Posts: 30 Location: In transit
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Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 3:31 am Post subject: Probably an innocent question |
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As a teacher in Korea (considering China) I can share that the OP's question is of genuine import.
The process of getting those documents is both lengthy (up to 6 months of shipping/stamping/shipping/etc.) and expensive (15-100usd), so it's totally reasonable to ask.
It never even crossed my mind, but coming from Korea, I can breathe a sigh of relief that I won't have to go through all that red-tape again if I decide to come to China.
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lemak
Joined: 19 Nov 2011 Posts: 368
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Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 4:26 am Post subject: Re: Probably an innocent question |
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Merging Traffic wrote: |
It never even crossed my mind, but coming from Korea, I can breathe a sigh of relief that I won't have to go through all that red-tape again if I decide to come to China.
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Instead you'll get hit with a different brand of red tape. Do some reading as to what a pain in the ass it is to get a work visa (or even a tourist visa for that matter) for China from the ROK. It'll leave you praying for the Earth to crash into the sun. |
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DerrickAustin
Joined: 04 Apr 2013 Posts: 4
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Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 4:32 am Post subject: Re: Probably an innocent question |
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Merging Traffic wrote: |
As a teacher in Korea (considering China) I can share that the OP's question is of genuine import.
The process of getting those documents is both lengthy (up to 6 months of shipping/stamping/shipping/etc.) and expensive (15-100usd), so it's totally reasonable to ask.
It never even crossed my mind, but coming from Korea, I can breathe a sigh of relief that I won't have to go through all that red-tape again if I decide to come to China.
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Thanks, Merging Traffic. I too breathed a sigh of relief when I found out.
Thanks for all the responses! |
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mw182006

Joined: 10 Dec 2012 Posts: 310
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Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry to derail, but are you actually in Austin Tx? Would be interested in chatting with someone looking to make this move as well. |
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