Job Discussion Forums

[denver]

So I requested my visa today at the consulate, a tourist visa.

The agency that is promising to hire me in China first promised a Z visa after I told them I would not budge and would not come to china on a tourist visa. At the last moment they said they couldnt get me a z visa, "only after probation period". After a lot of pouting, I finally agreed to come on a tourist visa. Then again. The only thing I have at the moment is some guy's word that the company will transact the Z visa for me.

It feels like I am walking on a tight rope with these folks. I see no job security at the moment, am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best and looking for another deal just before I get there.

Someone here mentioned arriving on a tourist visa, then contacting a school for the first time after entering the country and being lucky enough to find a job and having the school take care of all the paperwork.

Wish me luck! and any advice is welcome

denver


BTW reading the word deportation earlier on this forum was no fun!!!
I dont want that EVER to happen to me.

[JimmyJam]

denver, this won't happen to you... remember, don't let your L visa lapse.. coz for each day after expiration you'll be charged 500rmb and if unpaid, you can get detained but hopefully not deported.
if the person who claims he can change your visa has connections, for sure he can.. a quick question: WHERE IS YOUR PASSPORT? don't agree to work on L visa.. the thing is.. signing of contract goes first then the processing of Z visa next... ask the contract details..
if you think the promises of your inviting company are too good to be true, well better start looking for employers while you still have your passport.. don't trust their delaying techniques of last minute visa renewals. if they just renew your L visa, well, anytime they don't like you, they can cancel it.. and they can fabricate alibis like you being unprofessional and the students dont like you etc... duh...
there are agents who claim payments from schools yet, their FTs don't get paid after working for a month or so claiming that they did not pass the probation period... who decides this probation sh*t?
good luck

[lagerlout2006]

How can there be "probation" before you have a visa to work? Maybe they mean you doing a demo class or something.

If it's where you want to be maybe . You should a plan B though. So you will arrive on a 30-day visa?

[Roger]

It is not too unusual, afraid so! Yes, many of us here are "on probation" during the first month or so of our sojourn - unbeknownst by us. IT's not stipulated in our contracts, but we are being assessed by our students - and that alone decides whether we can keep our job. One month is the norm, seldom two.
So, my suggestion is to go along with them but to come with a 3-month visa. This doesn't necessarily cost more but it offers more security.
Before the first month is out you should be asked to hand in your passport and to go see a doctor for the medical exam; if that doesn't happen then they are not playing by the rules.

The medical exam takes a whole morning (potentially), and the blood analysis can take up to three days; so you know how to plan your time.

[Chris_Crossley]

When I first worked for my first school in China, I was on probation for three months. This three-month probation period was stated specifically in the contract, a copy of which I did see before I left the UK because it was forwarded to me by e-mail. Hence, there was no doubt whatsoever about any probation period in my contract.

I have been working at a state-run primary school for one semester (with another still to come), and there was no probationary period of any kind stipulated in the contract. I do not know whether or not all public-sector institutions want their foreign employees to undergo a probation period since this is the first such one in China that I have worked for - it is probably up to the individual school to decide. Nevertheless, it is important for all of us expatriate teachers to make sure that we know whether we have to undergo a probation period, and, if so, what the "rules" are.

Yes, there must be a lot of "cowboy outfits" which try and circumvent the rules by trying to imply a lack of professionalism on the part of the teacher at the end of a period of probation as an excuse either to continue to pay them less than a "post-probation" period rate of pay or, worse, to make them feel so totally undervalued by the school that they just want to leave.

If a school does not arrange for the issue of a Z visa to a foreign employee, they are not just trying to cut costs and paperwork, but they are breaking the law - and the expatriate, never mind the school, could get into serious trouble with the PSB for working illegally.

Make sure that you also KEEP YOUR PASSPORT AT (almost) ALL TIMES. Schools will need them for certain things (like Z visas) but not at other times. I will say, however, that I know of one incident whereby two foreign teachers' passports were retained by a private school on the grounds of "security"; it turned out that the school director deliberately kept the passports because he did not trust foreigners and was afraid that they would just leave when his back was turned. It was only through subterfuge, namely a claim that they needed their passports in order to travel during the spring festival holiday, that they managed to get them back - and keep them for the rest of the time that they were employed at that school.

[denver]

[denver]

[denver]