Job Discussion Forums

[IronGiant]

I am looking to participate in the following volunteer program: http://www.omeida.org/Volunteer/

I am wondering what type of visa I will be required to come over on. It seems to me from research that an F or L visa is most suited but I can't find a definitive answer anywhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I would like to know before I get an answer back from the school so I know everything is legit.

To give a bit of background info, I am 20 years old and the reason I am applying for a volunteer program rather than paid work on a z-visa is that I have taken a gap year and have yet to finish my degree.

Also, if anyone knows of or has participated in any other volunteer program I would love a link or an e-mail address, I haven't been able to find many

[Phat0]

Any work you do in China you will need the Z VISA paid or unpaid. Research this company more carefully. Looks to me like they are looking for free teachers. It's a language mill. They don't teach students for free.

[IronGiant]

Hey Phat0 thanks for the reply.

http://onestop.globaltimes.cn/do-i-still-need-a-work-visa-if-im-working-in-china-for-a-short-time-a-short-work-stay/[url]

This is just one of the links I have found saying that an F-Visa is okay for volunteering.

And regarding the school I have done quite a bit of research on them and the teacher reviews, especially on dave's have been almost entirely positive.[/url]

[Phat0]

I see it says for short stay also:
Volunteering (eg. at an orphanage), whether for free or for money, as long as the payment comes from a foreign entity,
Participating in commercial performances noted as “foreign-related non-commercial performances” by the cultural authorities in the Approval Letter.

Is the school Chinese owned or foreign owned?

I know you said you intend to work for free, but food and accomondation are types of payment too.

I've found good reviews for the school and bad reviews but nothing for the volunteer program. That says good or bad.

I'm sorry if I sound like I'm busting your balls over this. I'm just advising you to be careful. In China you can be messed around if you are not careful. The RMB comes first here. Try the Peace Corps or something with a better known reputation.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

Good advice given. You should come on a z visa.

DON'T work as a volunteer. You will be exploited. I doubt that anyone who has actually lived and worked in China would support your desire to volunteer your time to help a supposedly worthy cause.

If you want to help others, be appreciated, and be a force for change, get a paying job at a public school and DO A GOOD JOB.

You haven't divulged the outfit that you intend to work for, but it's a good bet that it is trying to attract people who don't meet the criteria to teach in China and don't qualify for a Z visa, so it has offered to sponsor "volunteers" to come to China to teach for free. The belief is that the outfit will be under the radar if its workers arrive on a Z visa. Better yet, it won't have to pay its volunteers.

You may be given a "stipend" to cover your expenses and TADA! you will be a paid employee, making you an illegal worker.

That's the long reason.

Here's the short version:

F visas are reserved for those who arrive in China at their own expense to engage in business reasons (for a joint venture between the visa holder's company and a Chinese company) or to tend to business by their foreign employer and its Chinese operations.

If the outfit that wants you to come to China on anything other than a Z visa is Chinese, RUN!

If the outfit that wants you to come to China on anything other than a Z visa is run by westerners, RUN FASTER!

[Shanghai Noon]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

Busted again. I'm hard of writing too.