Job Discussion Forums

[mambawamba]

Think it's a roulette system depending on your FAO and local PSB, here in Qingdao the place my husband's at has been beyond by the book, it's a joint venture. While other people we know have not been asked for them (mainly because they don't have any) or even a CRB this year.

Still best to have them with you.

[Javelin of Radiance]

People will advise to bring spices, deodorant, shoes, DD sized bras from home, so why not bring the piece of paper that your potential ESL job basically rests upon? It's OK not to have it, till you need it, and in the unpredictable world of ESL you never know when that will be. I don't see any downside to bringing the degree paper with you.

[Banner41]

My diploma is huge. I mean like oversized. It is framed and on display in my parents house. There is no way it is coming off of the wall and lugged all over China. I have original transcripts and copies of it. That should suffice. If it doesn't they can shove that job/city/province.

The copies have always worked.

[mambawamba]

When we were in Ningbo a Kiwi teacher at the international school I worked at had the same problem, huge diploma, mounted and framed at her mum's house.

She was asked to provide the original. Her mum went to get it off the wall to discover the framer had glued it on to the backing. She tried to steam it off and ended up mashing it but sent the bits, funny enough wasn't accepted.

@JOR believe me if you need those DD bras they are every bit as necessary as your diploma but funny enough nobody's looking at the paper!

[Bud Powell]

It would be weird if everyone had the same experience.

So true. It would be called mass hysteria if everyone had the same experience.

[jimpellow]

I think considering all the changes that are occurring, you should probably bring them. I was reading one immigration lawyer who stated that Z-visa applicants would soon need to provide a sealed and notarized high school transcript. That was quite a baffler to me, but the Chinese never cease to amaze one in that regards.

[Bud Powell]

"...Z-visa applicants would soon need to provide a sealed and notarized high school transcript..."

Why not college or university transcripts?

[jimpellow]

[dean_a_jones]

[jimpellow]

"Handing in a few pieces of paperwork, getting some forms filled in and doing a background check is hardly the most complicated process, considering people are uprooting themselves and moving abroad to start a new life. Have you ever seen the amount of paperwork a Chinese person needs to submit just to spend a week in somewhere like the US or UK? Like it or not, we are not all 'citizens of the world', entitled to just come and go as we please."

LOL. The first reality is that China was already desperate for teachers at a time when its stated intent is to increase English proficiency. Hence, it should logically be looking for ways to attract more qualified teachers, not dissuade them.

The second is there are good reasons why a Chinese person needs to go through such hoops. Not that I am a big fan overall of how repressive Western governments have become.

"Hardly a complicated process"??? If everything actually goes smoothly, and that is a big if with each and every aspect of it, I can't think of a country now where more is required to teach, and I even went through the Saudi process. Let's see what everyone will need to do once Beijing forces the provinces to follow the national line...hmmm...
1. TWO medicals.
2. A national criminal background check which technically needs to include everywhere you have lived since you were seventeen and needs to be signed off by the proper Chinese and home country authorities.
3. Online resume building and test, followed by an interview.
4. Submission of another paper resume.
5. Submission of proof of two years experience.
6. Submission of a teaching certification.
7. 24 hour deadline for applying for residency permit.
8. Sealed and notarized high school transcript.
9. Submission of proof of a degree from an accredited university (this seems to be as a result of the Sep 1 changes, but a bit unsure).
10. Release letter if applicable.
11. Requirement to visit PSB after each reentry to China.
etc..etc..

This on top of all the previous procedures and the idiotic social insurance scheme. Yeah, you may get your prescription/public transport card, and will probably get your money back. But if you don't think that the 35% that your employer is now paying is suppressing wages, think again.

I would agree with you in that China should have some sort of standardized policy to ensure that qualified teachers, rather than non qualified pedophiles, are working in China. But they have taken it so far that their aim is obviously something different. Perhaps if the potential reward for teachers was worth it, then one could argue that lifting the bar to such a high level will not matter. But the reward for most ESL teachers is not there. And I know for a fact that it is affecting other foreign businesses in China and making them question their future China presence.

[choudoufu]

[jimpellow]