Job Discussion Forums

[GuestBob]

[mwaltman]

[GeminiTiger]

Most schools would prefer that you take an comprehensive and expensive exam in America as a kind of insurance that you will later pass another exam in China. They will want new teachers to do both!

[mw182006]

mwalt, you're hilarious! This just keeps getting better:

We are really looking forward to having you here in our college teaching English.We are very sorry about this problem.Yes, the notarized documents are acceptable.

Besides all the physical examination that you did last time(according to the health check form),you also need to do some new examinations according to the Health Center, those items are as follow:
B-ultrasonography,Hepatitis B surface Antigen(HBsAg), Hepatitis C Antibody test,blood routine exmination,blood biochemistry exmination,urinalysis.

Therefore,besides the health physical exmination form,there will be 10 items which you need to provide the original documents(B-ultrasonography,Hepatitis B surface Antigen(HBsAg), Hepatitis C Antibody test,blood routine exmination,blood biochemistry exmination,urinalysis,X-ray, ECG,HIV and syphilis serodiagnosis) to us.The health check form and all the physical exmination original reports and documents (every piece of paper) are required to be signed by doctor, need hospital's stamp on it and notarized by notary office(notarized stamp on every piece of papaer). The notarization paper are needed too. And please,please do not forget the photo which attached on the health check form need hospital's stamp too.

When you have all the documents and reports which are mentioned above in hand please send them to us right away. Like I said in the previous email that this unexpected problem will delay your coming in september. We are very very sorry about that!

And there is one more thing that when you send all the documents to us maybe it is already in vacation, I will give you my own address so that I can receive your package at that time. The address is: [removed]

PS: please do not put any value on the package, lest be detained by the Custom again.

We really hope that every thing gose well this time!

Good Luck and best wishes!

[mw182006]

And to answer some earlier comments/questions:

- The school told me it was a requirement to mail the original health check. They also told me that a separate health exam would not be needed when I got there. That was the point I started to wonder whether they knew what they were doing, or if requirements were that much different there.

- I sent them official documentation (xray, ekg, blood work, etc) which was signed and stamped in numerous places. Maybe 1 page was missing a stamp? The health form itself, which essentially says 'hey i'm a doctor and verified all these things as normal' was signed and stamped on both pages.

Either way, I'm starting to think that even if I do comply with the latest laundry list, some other excuse/request will pop up. It sucks, but not the end of the world

[GuestBob]

[mw182006]

Well, I decided to take my chances and stick it out with the school over the summer break and things are starting to materialize. If you read back you'll see there were strange demands with the health exam which I complied with, and whatever authority approved the documents I provided. The school has informed me that the application for the work permit was approved and will take approximately 2 weeks for processing. From there they still have to obtain the invitation letter if I'm understanding correctly.

I asked the school if they could provide an estimated start date and they're now telling me October 9th. !!? I was expecting late September (the school told me that previously), but it doesn't really bother me all that much. I'm gainfully employed in the states and this gives me more time to prepare to depart. I guess my question is, since I was supposed to start 9/1, how or if this will affect my contract? And do you think this will have a big impact on the teaching schedule itself (testing, etc.). I just got the email with this information last night and realize the school will be the best source to answer these questions, but any insight/experience you guys can provide would be appreciated. I'm going to get on the phone with them soon to see what they have to say.

[Javelin of Radiance]

I don't know what kind of school you're going to, too lazy to read the whole thread, but the first week of october is a national holiday, so October 9th isn't much different from starting in late September.

[mw182006]

TL; dr version - Uni asked me to provide an original health exam up front, I did so, and a few days before their month-long vacation they tell me it wasn't accepted as it wasn't notarized. I sent them a notarized copy and now things are moving forward, but October just feels like a really late start to me. This is my first time so I may just be overreacting.

[Bud Powell]

I've read this thread twice. I wish I could say that I can't believe how mucked up things have become. I left China in 2012, and I haven't paid much attention to bureaucratic changes until just recently.

I want to believe that this is just an isolated case. I thought that the whole hubub over the requirement that physicals be performed at government hospitals was settled a long time ago, along with apostillization requirements. Most government (aka state or public) are run by universities in urban areas. In NYC alone, there are a couple dozen public hospitals. I doubt seriously if anyone in China would recognize any of them as public hospitals outside of Bellevue, though. There are relatively few state-run / public hospitals in the U.S. left. The Reagan administration shut most of them down in the '80's.

It seems to me that the OP has run up against an inexperienced FAO who is working with a very old list of requirements. It's pretty late in the game, but my advice would be for the OP to save himself now while he can.

[mw182006]

[Non Sequitur]

In the same situation, would we unpack the summer camping gear and withstand the ire of spouse and kids just because of a detail at work?
That said, the FT will be expected to make up for any lost time once the paperwork is fixed. That's not an exclusively Chinese approach.
If you arrive after 2 Sept any number of scenarios could come into play.
Unis have freshmen on military training in first month. Other FTs take up the slack or the students simply don't have FT classes. Their other classes will continue though.
In most situations FT classes are only 2x45 mins per week.