Job Discussion Forums

oh4sunshine · Joined: 15 May 2010 Posts: 20

Is or has anyone dealt with Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy - they are really mucking us around...

Bigs · Joined: 03 Jul 2005 Posts: 20

I am currently awaiting the paperwork from this company in order to process a visa. How are they messing you around?

oh4sunshine · Joined: 15 May 2010 Posts: 20

We have been promised the paperwork for visas for the last 2 months. Now told it will be mid September when we are supposed to be arriving in China...

Bigs · Joined: 03 Jul 2005 Posts: 20

Ah... same boat as me then...
Though I was only offered the job at the end of July

They want me in Fuzhou 20/09 for training, the job apparently starts the 26th - think I'll get there when I get there - been told mid Sept for the paperwork to arrive... and I'm not buying a ticket before I have the visa...

oh4sunshine · Joined: 15 May 2010 Posts: 20

I have sent you a PM

aussiefilo · Joined: 31 Aug 2010 Posts: 9

When did you guys sign your contracts? I was also told that I would receive my documents mid-August, but now they changed it to September (didn't say when specifically). Can you guys PM me? I've just registered here so I can't send PMs... I'm quite worried...

oh4sunshine · Joined: 15 May 2010 Posts: 20

littlec · Joined: 15 Dec 2010 Posts: 16

Seems nothing has changed with Yucui Consulting recruitment company. I was offered a job with them in May 2014 but they sent me a contract with the wrong name, would not let me speak with current teachers at the same school, delayed answering questions, did not send me a correct contract, did not answer emails for more than a month then withdrew the contract and tried to get me to take a job in a different city. Not sure why they refused to le me contact a current teacher - why were they worried if they have nothing to hide. Have since made contact with the teachers who were leaving who gave lots of negative feedback - all the teachers were leaving at the same time. Also Yucui Consulting advertise jobs on Echinacities.com in cities for which they have no programs - they do this to widen their recruitment net to attract more candidates then try to con them into accepting one of their jobs in a different city.
My suggestion is to stay clear of this company and apply directly to universities in China rather than go through shonky recruitment agencies.

Rongbaozhai · Joined: 14 Nov 2010 Posts: 8

I have been in contact with Yucui about teaching positions and they have been very helpful during several phone calls. They told me they have to wait for my referee checks to be carried out and approval from the university before they will give me contact details of current teachers. This avoids wasting teachers' time especially when exams are on they said. Seems reasonable.

In this case the offer was probably rescinded by the uni (age? uni didnt like the teacher for some reason, poor references?). They withdrew the offer on what they found out during the checking process. There is little feedback on job rejections in China. But if they had wanted you they would be chasing you. No doubt about that!

littlec · Joined: 15 Dec 2010 Posts: 16

What you say Rongbaozhai is quite logical but in fact was not my situation. They didn't withdraw my offer - I got the job then they mucked me around and I'm happy because I have a much better job. You should check any job offer very carefully - at one of their programs in Jilin there has been 100% teacher turnover 2 years running for very good reasons to do with Yucuii management. I'm just saying, do your homework and research the position carefully. A google search will reveal numerous complaints and teacher blogs about this organisation - it easy to find many teachers who have had a bad experience with programs they administer.

Teacher_D · Joined: 03 Jan 2017 Posts: 1

Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd. recruited me to work at one of their many "partner" universities throughout China. At this time in my life, my wife was pregnant with our second child and we were looking for someplace to settle down outside the hustle and bustle of the big city. The job offer from Yucui seemed quite promising. The location of the university was in one of the cleaner and less polluted cities in China, which also meant that it was also about a two-hour drive from any major metropolis. But for a university job, it came with a better-than-average salary, a comfortable housing allowance, and of course, a work visa and resident permit. The students, I was told, were taking my courses in preparation for a study abroad program in Australia. They would learn foundational English in China and then transfer to an Australian university.

So I signed a contract with Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd., and less than a month after my wife had our baby, we packed up all our things and moved to this new city. We looked forward to our new lives, and I eagerly awaited the chance to start teaching again.

The semester went off to a good start. I was complimented and praised by the staff for the richness of my classes and the way that content was delivered. Many of the students were eager to learn, and it was easy to see they were engaged in our classes. However, few, if any, had any serious plans to go to Australia.

My first month's salary from Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd. wasn't delivered on time and after many phone calls with my supervisor, they finally said the bank had made a mistake, and that they would make sure the money was sent right away. I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Aside from the books I received, support at the university was next to non-existent, and even the head of the university's Foreign Affairs office didn't speak English. I never saw another foreigner on campus, or in the teacher's office. More often than not, it was the students themselves who would offer to help translate, and as much as I appreciated their assistance, I felt like a teacher's personal problems wasn't their responsibility.

Before I started working at the university, I asked Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd. about my Foreign Expert's Certificate, work visa and resident permit. As any foreigner in China knows, those last three things are needed for us to work in China. Since I moved from another city in China, the program's director, Philip Nash, said that all I needed to do was to transfer my resident permit from my old city to my new one. Yucui said they would get started on this as soon as possible, but because of new Chinese regulations, it could take up to a couple of months.

After over two months, I called Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd. and inquired as to the status of my work visa. They initially ignored me. After I kept pushing the issue, they finally confessed that they didn't have the legal authorization to issue me a work visa, but that they might be able to sponsor a 60-day business visa. Philip Nash even admitted that all previous teachers who worked for Yucui at my university only had business visas, which under Chinese law is illegal. I asked some of my students about their previous English teachers, and although they were surprised to learn about their illegal work status, they said it explained why no foreign teacher taught them for longer than a semester. Philip Nash and other managers at Yucui including Charles Li, Sherry Tian, and Francis Gong promised they would try to ask the university to "sponsor" my work visa but first I would need to hand over my passport to them. Feeling somewhat suspicious of their intentions I refused, and they said they would try to find an alternative. I asked the people at the school's Foreign Affairs office, and they said they couldn't sponsor my work visa since I didn't have a contract with the school. I left the meeting that day wondering what would happen next. Here I was, in a remote city, thousands of miles from my country, without a legal visa or any friends who could help.

When I arrived home later that afternoon, I was shocked to discover what had happened. The students sent me a message saying that Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd. had informed the university that I was fired and that they would be sending them a new teacher. My students were confused. I was furious, not just because I was fired, but because it was my students of all people who told me. I called Philip Nash, and he said the university made a mistake, that I wasn't really fired, and he promised to correct the misunderstanding. The next week, I was told by the school's Foreign Affairs office that I was no longer welcome at the school and that the students had a new teacher.

Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd. broke contact with me shortly after that. They never gave me a termination letter or any severance pay, or even admitted any responsibility for what happened. I contacted a lawyer who said that because Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd. didn't provide me with a work visa, the legal action I could take against them was limited. I now had to find another job in the middle of the school year, tell my family that we had to move all over again, and lose our rental deposit and all the money we spent to relocate. The lawyer said the best thing I could do now was to report this incident to the police and proper authorities. However, by going to the authorities I might also be incriminating myself of the very crime I wanted to report.

In hindsight, I realize this may be why agencies like Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd. continue to exist. By denying foreigners work visas, the agency restricts the amount of legal action people who have been wronged can take. Their contracts are only given in English which makes complaining to the authorities doubly difficult. Yucui can continue to send foreigners to remote locations and effectively strand them there, without any accountability or fear of legal repercussions.

After doing some more research on Shanghai Yucui Education Consultancy Co. Ltd., I learned that this company has been advertising jobs positions like the one used to recruit me on online venues such as echinacities.com for over two years. Almost all of their postings promise comfortable salaries and work visas. Hopefully, echinacities will investigate and take down their posts for providing false information. Further online research shows that while most foreigners have kept quiet about this agency, there have been a few that have spoken out, including some people here and one listed below.

https://yucuishanghainashandlu.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/yucui-shanghai-education-consultancy-co-ltd/

In the end, I can only hope that what happened to me will be of some benefit to eager job seekers reading this post, and that my humbling experience will provide insight and a valuable lesson for those who happen to stumble across this story.

Adeem · Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 1:29 pm Post subject:

What a shame that the company has gone down the toilet this way. I got a job back in 2007 outside Chengdu on generous terms with Shanghai Yucui, and always liked Charles Li in all my communications. As far as I remember, they did legally transfer and apply for a new residence permit for me, but it is a bit hazy now.

Sorry for all the people that have had trouble with them.

Russoregon · Joined: 23 Feb 2015 Posts: 14

Thank you Teacher D for the thorough review of Yucui Education, and everyone else who had input. I was just contacted by this company and was doing research into their reputation. This is one of the reasons I love Dave's.