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weigookin74
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 265
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 Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 12:34 am Post subject: |
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| OhBudPowellWhereArtThou wrote: |
| GreatApe wrote: |
This is all news to me. I've never heard of (or seen) such a stipulation in any of my contracts. Interesting!
--GA |
It seems to be becoming more widespread, especially at some public universities and at semi-privatized colleges where management just doesn't want the hassle of reporting FT's taxes. No pay tax= no currency exchange. The problem has existed at some universities for over a decade. (My experience). On the other hand, other institutions are (and have been) making direct deposits to FT's bank accounts, and paying their taxes and playing by the rules.
FAO's can merely fill out paperwork, bring the FT and the money to the bank, make the currency exchange and send the money. Too many are too lazy and inconsiderate to do so. One FAO told a sympathetic bank officer that he talked to my FAO who told him that she "didn't have time for that foolishness." This was the same school that didn't have the time to pay the FTs on time either. We were always paid ten days later than the contract date. When the idiot who usually made payroll took an extended leave of absence, his replacement paid us on time.
Taking a Chinese national to the bank surely facilitates currency exchange, but I don't know about transferring money to another country unless it's to a BoC. |
Maybe you shouldn't have time to teach your classes and if they're late paying you, you should be a couple of days late teaching your classes. If you have a contract that you signed from home, then it must be honored. |
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Deats
Joined: 02 Jan 2015
Posts: 503
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 12:35 am Post subject: |
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| You can send as much money as you want IF you can prove it was earned legally and taxed. |
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weigookin74
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 265
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 12:42 am Post subject: |
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| OhBudPowellWhereArtThou wrote: |
| weigookin74 wrote: |
| OhBudPowellWhereArtThou wrote: |
When I arrived at one school, there was an extra little agreement which I had to sign that stipulated that I couldn't exchange ANY currency or send money out of the country.
If you were able to exchange currency and/or send it home last year, you shouldn't have any problems doing the same this year as long as you go to the same place to execute the transaction. Though there may have been a new national banking policy, not everyone pays attention to national policies. This is China!
If your attempts go south (I don't think they will) ask your FAO to help you. She can do that sort of thing.
Caveat: your experience may differ from mine, and others' opinions may also differ. What you can and can't do depends upon your location and the person and institution with whom you are dealing. Once, I was told that my Bank of China account from a neighboring city was not valid in the city that I was trying to make a deposit! |
That's not realistic. The reason most expats go overseas is to pay off their student loans and to save for the future. If they try to put this into a contract, you don't sign it until they remove it.
Again, refuse signing it. Explain your situation with student loans and credit card debts back home. (Whether you do or not is irelevant.) I could see a small restriction allowing me to only send home 80% of my salary or something like that. I would not sign a contract with that in it. If they tried to give me a new one when I showed up, I would refuse to sign that one too.
My money that I earn is my money and they go eff themselves. It's none of their d@mn business what I do with MY money. I'll send it home or they can get someone else to work for them, but it won't be me. |
When I saw that SEPARATE addendum to the contract when I arrived, saying that i could convert 0% of my pay to dollars, I threw it in the trash and told the FAO that we were starting out very badly. The original contract specified 70%. Unfortunately, NO bank would convert money for me because the school didn't pay taxes on my salary. Rather than fight it, I had a student make the conversion for me. Quarterly, I pressured the FAO to transfer the money from BoC to my Stateside bank.
You can try to reason and rationalize with the Powerz That Bee, but if they don't want to do play fair, they won't. At one bank, one sympathetic bank officer called the FAO to try to fix the problem. The #@*%ing twenty-eight year-old bimbo FAO told him that she didn't have time. The bank officer used his ID card to convert the currency.
I truly believe that that at some schools, the FAO's refusal to file taxes (thereby preventing FTs from converting currency) is born of jealousy over pay rate. The same holds true for continual late pay. It was obvious that the late pay was deliberate when the yoyo that doled out FTs' pay was out of the office for a few months. His replacement paid us on time. When the yoyo returned, it was back to the ten days late schtick.
Refuse to sign anything that stipulates 0% conversion, then go find someone who will help you make the conversion. |
In this case, I would have made the office staff transfer it for me since they were making it too difficult for me. Let them sort it out. I wouldn't leave the office until I had an agreement. The reason most expats go abroad is to send money home. Monthly loan payments needing to be paid don't care about Chinese BS and won't accept excuses. The office must pay as agreed and let you do what you want with your money that you have earned. Some of you foreigners are too much of pushovers. I wouldn't get a student or someone secretely to do it for me. If the school gave me some 0% transfer BS, I'd sit in the office making a scene until they agree to personally transfer the money for me each month just to prove a point. I can go work somewhere's else. There's too many ESL jobs for me to take that crap. Also, I'd refuse to leave until they reimburse me for my flight if I have to quit the job due to BS. Eff this! Screaming and yelling and threatening to get the embassy involved and making them lose face is the ultimate weapon in your disposal. |
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ecubyrd
Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 172
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 12:52 am Post subject: |
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| Deats wrote: |
| You can send as much money as you want IF you can prove it was earned legally and taxed. |
Actually, no you 'personally' can't. |
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wangdaning
Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3154
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 1:56 am Post subject: |
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| weigookin74 wrote: |
In this case, I would have made the office staff transfer it for me since they were making it too difficult for me. Let them sort it out. I wouldn't leave the office until I had an agreement. The reason most expats go abroad is to send money home. Monthly loan payments needing to be paid don't care about Chinese BS and won't accept excuses. The office must pay as agreed and let you do what you want with your money that you have earned. Some of you foreigners are too much of pushovers. I wouldn't get a student or someone secretely to do it for me. If the school gave me some 0% transfer BS, I'd sit in the office making a scene until they agree to personally transfer the money for me each month just to prove a point. I can go work somewhere's else. There's too many ESL jobs for me to take that crap. Also, I'd refuse to leave until they reimburse me for my flight if I have to quit the job due to BS. Eff this! Screaming and yelling and threatening to get the embassy involved and making them lose face is the ultimate weapon in your disposal. |
If you had signed a contract saying you could not convert what leg would you have to stand on. They would simply take your pay and say good bye. I would not sign something that said I could not convert, but I also have my wife so I am not so worried. I wonder if I opened an account for my son if I could do it all myself?
I have also never seen this kind of thing in a contract. I have been with the same place for years though. |
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Non Sequitur
Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 5:12 am Post subject: |
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Interesting that Chinese money is pouring into residential real estate in Aust, Canada and lately NZ.
That kind of dough isn't being taken out in a raincoat pocket!
How would the paltry (by comparison) amount remitted by FTs affect the Chinese economy?
My view is that the government is keen to appease the middle class by allowing them the chance to speculate. Beats them agitating for democratic freedoms. |
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doogsville
Joined: 17 Nov 2011
Posts: 924
Location: China
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:43 am Post subject: |
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| weigookin74 wrote: |
| There's too many ESL jobs for me to take that crap. Also, I'd refuse to leave until they reimburse me for my flight if I have to quit the job due to BS. Eff this! Screaming and yelling and threatening to get the embassy involved and making them lose face is the ultimate weapon in your disposal. |
It's also the ultimate way to get your arse smacked and sent to bed with no dinner. Or locked up in a hospital until the next plane home leaves. What are you, five years old?
| Quote: |
| The reason most expats go abroad is to send money home. |
Sources? I would guess, and guessing is all it is, that most expats go abroad for a better life than they have at home. Economic migrants go abroad to send money home. The difference? It seems to be the colour of your skin. Us white folks get called expats, brown folks (or darker) are most often referred to as economic migrants.
To get back on topic, my uni has a clause that states that they will convert up to 70% of my salary into USD if I want. Never taken them up on it. If there was anything in it about not converting my hard earned money, I simply wouldn't sign until it was removed, or would find another job. No need for screaming or yelling in either case. |
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mysterytrain
Joined: 23 Mar 2014
Posts: 366
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 1:27 pm Post subject: |
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| weigookin74 wrote: |
| Some of you foreigners are too much of pushovers. |
"Yo, Vinny. Dis guy is just called us a pushovahs. What sez you we murderize dis guy now, or leaves ím for da Boss?"
| Quote: |
| Screaming and yelling and threatening to get the embassy involved and making them lose face is the ultimate weapon in your disposal. |
Not sure if we are dealing with Rambo here or Tantrum Tommy ... threaten to tell Mom, and then hold your breath? Really? This is a strategy?
By the way, do you really think your embassy gives a flying crap about your petty issues with your Chinese employer? Sure, they may be anything but petty to you, but if you think your embassy would ever lift a diplomatic fingernail about such a matter, you've been smoking way too much of the local product. Bluff much? |
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ecubyrd
Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 172
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:54 pm Post subject: |
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| mysterytrain wrote: |
| weigookin74 wrote: |
| Some of you foreigners are too much of pushovers. |
"Yo, Vinny. Dis guy is just called us a pushovahs. What sez you we murderize dis guy now, or leaves ím for da Boss?"
| Quote: |
| Screaming and yelling and threatening to get the embassy involved and making them lose face is the ultimate weapon in your disposal. |
Not sure if we are dealing with Rambo here or Tantrum Tommy ... threaten to tell Mom, and then hold your breath? Really? This is a strategy?
By the way, do you really think your embassy gives a flying crap about your petty issues with your Chinese employer? Sure, they may be anything but petty to you, but if you think your embassy would ever lift a diplomatic fingernail about such a matter, you've been smoking way too much of the local product. Bluff much? |
Pretty sure that poster is in Korea, not China. |
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shaka
Joined: 19 May 2014
Posts: 23
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:05 am Post subject: |
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I just had some BoC employees tell me that, under the law, I can only change $500 every three days without a Chinese friend, even though at ICBC I always changed $500 4-6 days in a row before going home. After I told the teller this, he agreed to allow it.
Ah, Chinese "laws"... |
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weigookin74
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 265
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 1:21 am Post subject: |
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| doogsville wrote: |
| weigookin74 wrote: |
| There's too many ESL jobs for me to take that crap. Also, I'd refuse to leave until they reimburse me for my flight if I have to quit the job due to BS. Eff this! Screaming and yelling and threatening to get the embassy involved and making them lose face is the ultimate weapon in your disposal. |
It's also the ultimate way to get your arse smacked and sent to bed with no dinner. Or locked up in a hospital until the next plane home leaves. What are you, five years old?
| Quote: |
| The reason most expats go abroad is to send money home. |
Sources? I would guess, and guessing is all it is, that most expats go abroad for a better life than they have at home. Economic migrants go abroad to send money home. The difference? It seems to be the colour of your skin. Us white folks get called expats, brown folks (or darker) are most often referred to as economic migrants.
To get back on topic, my uni has a clause that states that they will convert up to 70% of my salary into USD if I want. Never taken them up on it. If there was anything in it about not converting my hard earned money, I simply wouldn't sign until it was removed, or would find another job. No need for screaming or yelling in either case. |
It's the reason why so many folks get screwed in Asia because they speak softly and take it. Don't take it. If I signed a contract that didn't tell me I couldn't send money home and then I fly half way around the world and they give me this added thing after I got over here, I'd be pissed. I'd refuse to sign it and would demand to send home my money each month. If the school pulls some crap, lies to get me here, and then gets the bank to not transfer my money, of course I'm going to sit in that school office and refuse to leave.
I would be polite about it first. But if that doesn't work because they are being arrogant and obnoxious, then you stick up for yourself. The reality is the employers are desperate and you have a signed legal contract. If they refuse to budge, then they must reimburse my airfare for both ways and then I'll go home. You don't let people screw you over or they will keep at it. I can work in Korea, other places in China, in Vietnam, etc. I don't need that type of crap. There's no reason why anyone should take it. But to each their own.
I repeat: IT'S YOUR MONEY. IT'S YOUR MONEY. YOU EARNED IT. YOU EARNED IT. YOU CAN DO WITH IT WHAT YOU WANT. YOU CAN DO WITH IT WHAT WANT. IT'S NO ONE'S BUSINESS WHAT YOU DO WITH IT. IT'S NO ONE'S BUSINESS WHAT YOU DO WITH IT. SEND IT HOME AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. SEND IT HOME AS MUCH AS YOU WANT.
As for the getting smacked comment, they'd better be a better fighter than me. Give me what I'm owed and we have no problems. Mind your own effin business as to what I do with my own money and we got no problems with each other. Problem solved. |
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wangdaning
Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3154
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 1:33 am Post subject: |
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And people wonder how some expats end up jailed and deported.
The problem is about taxes. If you want to convert you need to show you have paid taxes. If a school puts this in it implies they are not paying them. You could always head down to the tax office and declare your income and pay you dues, get the receipt, then go to the bank and convert what money you have left 
I would like to see someone tell the IRS that, "it is my money and I can do what I want with it." Well, a few people in history have and they end up in jail. |
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JamesD
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
Posts: 934
Location: "As far as I'm concerned bacon comes from a magical happy place."
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:56 am Post subject: |
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| wangdaning wrote: |
I would like to see someone tell the IRS that, "it is my money and I can do what I want with it." Well, a few people in history have and they end up in jail. |
Or shot. |
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mysterytrain
Joined: 23 Mar 2014
Posts: 366
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| weigookin74 wrote: |
I repeat: IT'S YOUR MONEY. IT'S YOUR MONEY. YOU EARNED IT. YOU EARNED IT. YOU CAN DO WITH IT WHAT YOU WANT. YOU CAN DO WITH IT WHAT WANT. IT'S NO ONE'S BUSINESS WHAT YOU DO WITH IT. IT'S NO ONE'S BUSINESS WHAT YOU DO WITH IT. SEND IT HOME AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. SEND IT HOME AS MUCH AS YOU WANT.
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(sigh)
Yes, it's our money. But, you see, it is NOT "our" country. And even if it was, these things called rules and laws do exist. Some of them come from governments, some of them come from corporations (like banks, for example). And even where extra-legal or unfair practices exist, we need to acknowledge their existence and try to find a SMART way to circumvent them or a more DIPLOMATIC way to negotiate them.
If you really want to stand up to the Chinese in such a typically Western way, embodying all the differences between the Chinese way of thinking about and doing things and our own, be my guest, Mr. Don't-tread-on-me. But I suggest you keep your musket well-oiled, your loading fingers nimble and stockpile a massive supply of these "b/s pellets" before making your glorious last stand.  |
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gettinglostinesl
Joined: 25 Mar 2014
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:47 pm Post subject: Re: Limits on currency exchange? |
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| katia04 wrote: |
| This year when I signed my contract I noticed there was a statement in it saying that I couldn't convert more than 3000 yuan/month into foreign currency. |
As of this week, the 5 contracts (not appendixes) I've been offered have all had a line that states something similar to "Ⅳ. Party B’s monthly salary will be ￥_____Yuan RMB, 70% of which can be converted into foreign currency monthly." |
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