Job Discussion Forums

Firearcher · Joined: 04 Jun 2007 Posts: 35

1. Can provide17k~25k rmb per month
2. This is a contract job.
3. Arrive school ASAP
4..provide Chinese class
5.provide flight allowance every year
6.provide free apartment
7.provide working visa
do you have skype or wechat ? shall we talk online ?

I have been offered to interview for this job in Foshan. I have not been told the name of the school.

Free apt and a sky high salary. Could this be a case of identity theft? A person sends their docs to a fictional job. Any thoughts?

happeningthang · Joined: 08 Oct 2003 Posts: 117

Scam to glean personal information from the gullible.

To avoid such criminality send all original documents along with a credit history and signed power of attorney to my PO box in the Cayman Islands.

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

Do I have a bridge for you!

OhBudPowellWhereArtThou · Joined: 02 Jun 2015 Posts: 1168 Location: Since 2003

Get the name of the school. Check it out online. No Name, no go.

Will the school provide a Z visa BEFORE you arrive? (This entails jumping through many hoops). No? Flush it.

No Z visa requiring degree, authentication, and (usually) at-home med check, punt that baby.

For fun, find out what "Chinese class" is.

Don't send any documents until you verify the authenticity of the school.

Good luck.

lionheartuk · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Posts: 173 Location: Guangdong

Foshan is in Guangdong so the new rules apply regarding z visas and medical checks etc.

MsHoffman · Joined: 18 Sep 2016 Posts: 76

I'm in Guangdong now going through the process of converting a tourist visa to a Z visa. So far it is very straightforward. I had to do all the work permit stuff in the U.S. first - degree authenticated, medical check with the usual blood, chest x-ray, and EKG test, etc.

The university submitted my paperwork before I left the US and got me the work permit approval.

Then I got a tourist visa and came here. I did the required second medical check here today, and next week I will take my medical certificate to the immigration office for my resident permit, foreign expert certificate, etc. I expect to be teaching the first week of December.

I think overall it is an okay process but getting the tourist visa is a bit tricky. I had to make hotel and round-trip plane reservations, print them out (to submit with my application for the tourist visa), and then cancel them. When I booked my flight it was round-trip, and yes when I checked in at the airport the gentleman checked my visa and confirmed my return flight. So all in all it is a little counter-intuitive, and a bit expensive as the return flight had to be within the 60-day tourist visa window.

I realize this is outside of the norm - keep in mind this is specific to Guangdong province only. Also it is important to verify the school no matter what.

Anyway, I will post again once

LarssonCrew · Joined: 06 Jun 2009 Posts: 1308

You can make reservations on Agoda with a 'pay at hotel' option.

returnflights.net for a fake return ticket

No point actually spending any money.

OhBudPowellWhereArtThou · Joined: 02 Jun 2015 Posts: 1168 Location: Since 2003

hz88 · Joined: 27 Sep 2015 Posts: 162

I'm with Bud on this one.

I can't profess to be familiar with what is happening in Guangdong although I do know a Foreign Affairs Officer in Zhuhai who told me that everything is still up in the air so they are still following old protocols for now.

From the convoluted story you have told I cannot see any gain to a foreigner to follow it. If the school/university is able to process your application they could simply have sent you the documents to your own country, you could have applied there and as Bud said came in on a one way ticket, no need for booking hotels and other nonsense. They would then have simply taken you for a second medical and processed your foreign experts book application and then residents permit.

As someone who has dealt with this continually evolving process for well over three years I cannot see any benefit to the school either.

I'm prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt as an apparent newbie but your story does leave me doubtful that either you have been misinformed, your school is testing the water and you are the guinea pig or a combination of both. I would not be however surprised if you find yourself crossing the border to HK due to an apparent 'change in the system'.

The whole thing sounds like a cover story for 'come in on a tourist visa and we will deal with your application then'.

Anyway as I said I'm not making judgements as I don't have all the facts.

Good Luck whatever happens.

twowheel · Joined: 03 Jul 2015 Posts: 753

Going back to the OP:

jimpellow · Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 913

I really don't know why Ms Hoffman is getting so much grief over this. She followed the official policy of Guangdong at the time, which was that one applies for the z-visa upon arrival. I have read NOTHING that an applicant still had the option to apply for a z-visa in one's home country. This pilot program was designed to replace this, not add to the applicant's choices.

I concur that coming on a tourist visa with all the extra effort and expense is ludicrous. My feeling is that they had not thought this through yet. There is nothing official that stated that a tourist visa was to be converted to the z visa. Logically she should have been able to arrive with just her paperwork ready. But what does China or bureaucracy for that matter know about logic?

In any case, as of November 1st Guangdong(or rather five cities in it) has apparently scrapped this pilot program (or parts of it) for the new ABC pilot program.

Fun times!

The bear · Joined: 16 Aug 2015 Posts: 483

This is so typical of why living in China (or even thinking about living here) is so frustrating at times. The lack of clarity about what should be a crystal clear procedure.

I understand this seems (?) to be a transition period (the fact nobody knows what this actually is says a lot) but this is ridiculous.

MsHoffman · Joined: 18 Sep 2016 Posts: 76

Regarding the hotel reservation I made: I did use Agoda so my card was not charged.

Regarding the plane reservation: I did mention this to the school during the interview. They told me to cancel the plane reservation after printing it out for the tourist visa. I did that, got my money back, no problem.

The one wrinkle about not being able to use a one-way ticket at the airport: Yeah, that sucked, but I decided not to press the issue.

Also, to be perfectly clear - the university DID offer to do this as a Z-visa, but encouraged me to try this tourist conversion method as it would be quicker. However, I could have chosen a Z-visa at any point in the process. And if I had I'd probably still be in the U.S. right now, rather than enjoying my new life in Guangdong Province.

I doubt very seriously that I will have to go to HK. The administrator here is extremely knowledgeable about immigration stuff and he is very careful to have all my paperwork in order before we go to any government office, the bank, etc.

This university has an extremely good reputation for how it treats foreign teachers, and so far they have met or exceeded my expectations. For example, when they told me they couldn't give me my subsidized meal money until January, they made up for it by providing me with a bunch of free cooking supplies. I prefer to cook my own meals anyway, and this gesture on their part just saved me a nice little chunk of RMB.

In addition, the people in this community are extremely friendly and helpful. The other teachers have all been here for 2-3 years, and they all say that this is a great place to work and live. Yes, there are the usual frustrations you get from living in China - I lost my favorite T-shirt this morning when it flew off the balcony where it was drying - but overall I think I am very lucky that this is my first teaching position overseas.

I will post again once I have finished my paperwork.

jimpellow · Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 913

I am very happy that all seems to working out for you so well.

I am a little surprised you were offered the z-visa back home after the visa on arrival started.

The better info on this reads like the following example;

"Eligible foreign nationals who are entering to work in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong Province are exempt from Z visa Invitation Letter, Z visa and entry visa requirements prior to arrival. Instead, after obtaining an Alien Employment License or Foreign Expert Employment License, they can travel to China and obtain a Z visa or a valid entry visa at the port of entry."

The tricky word here is "can". Chinese modal verbs and how they translate into English are not always so black and white. Even in Chinese there seems to be a lot of grey.

It looks like you could have just come sans visa. This happens now as people arrive and just apply for a transit visa (which apparently has increased from 72 to 144 hours if somebody wants to pop in and see you).

All good training for you on your future in China.