Job Discussion Forums

[happeningthang]

[jim_brava]

Hey, thanks for salvaging a snippet of that thread before it was removed.

A. So, I legalize my degree certificate and Criminal Record Check (DBS) through a public notary in the UK.

e.g. http://www.notary-public-exeter.co.uk/index.html

B. Then I get it notorized at a government level (FCO).

i.e. https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised

C. Then I get it stamped by a Chinese embassy/consulate in any location, but may as well be London (as the previous two steps will occur in the UK).

e.g. http://www.chinese-embassy.org.uk/eng/lsfw/legalization/

That's six notarization processes in total.

Furthermore...

1) Does the Criminal Record Check need to include ICPC, or will a regular DBS be sufficient? Or does it depend on the age of the students that will be encountered for that specific position?

Also, I am confused about what ACRO is, and how their service differs from that of the the UK GOV DBS check.

2) Are degree transcripts also required? (i.e. your full university academic record, with individual modular marks and grades).

3) I don't have a TEFL, CELTA (etc.), but every job I am applying for is Science-based. Do I still need one? Would this also need to be notarized (i.e. potentially bringing the number of notarizations to nine)?

4) After the final China embassy stamp, what happens to the document then? Is it posted to China (either by myself or the embassy), or are scans sufficient?

[DanF1982]

I recently went through the process, I didn't use a notary public as the FCO ask only for a solicitor to sign (certify) your documents. I had the cheap, standard DBS which was fine.

My solicitor done this for free.

Once you have all your stamps in place I sent scanned copies to my new employer in China and 10 days later had my Foreigners Work Permit Notice.

[jim_brava]

After researching the process further, it seems that it is more of a "chain" situation than China actually wanting three separate legalizations.

So basically, rather than being...

Public Notary + FCO + China Embassy -> Chinese Government Satisfied

.. it's actually ...

Public Notary -> FCO -> China Embassy -> Chinese Government Satisfied

This could potentially be an important distinction, because it may allow time-consuming and/or expensive steps to be skipped.

For example, certain documents might be able to get FCO clearance without a prior Public Notary, and the China Embassy would be OK with this as they only care about the previous step (i.e. the FCO).

Also - as outlined by the recruiter's quote in the original post, above - there may even be situations where you can get the China Embassy stamp without the FCO. Again, the Chinese Government only care about the previous step (i.e. the China Embassy's approval).

Edit: Got Ninja'd by Dan's post while writing this, but it seems to conform with the above. He didn't skip a step, but STEP 2 was willing to accept a variation on the stated STEP 1 (i.e. solicitor, rather than public notary) and this was no issue for STEP 3 or STEP 4 who only care about the step that immediately precedes them.

[DanF1982]

That's right Jim, the Chinese embassy only confirm that the FCO stamp is real. So I followed the guidelines on the FCO website for legalisation. Saved time and money by going the solicitor rather than notary route despite my contact aty new employers saying documents needed to be "notarised".

Would be much easier if China just signed up to the Hague Convention!

[jim_brava]

[jim_brava]

Re: UK Criminal Record Checks.

I have just found out that you cannot DBS yourself (employers and licensing bodies only), so that seems to leave two primary options:

Basic Disclosure from Scotland GOV (covers all of the UK): https://www.mygov.scot/basic-disclosure/apply-for-basic-disclosure/ - £25, 2 weeks

or

ACRO (does not include Scottish convictions): https://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx - £45, 2 weeks

Dan, when you said "DBS", did you mean literally a DBS or one of the above-listed, self-initiated checks? If it's the former, how did you organise it (e.g. employer request from China, still valid from a previous UK employer request, etc.)? Cheers.

[DanF1982]

Basic disclosure from Scotland, the FCO will only legalise the original of that but will legalise a copy of your degree. Nothing else needs to be legalised for the visa process.

Sorry for the confusion!

Here's what I needed to send to get my Foreigners Work Permit Notification;

Legalised copy of my PhD (highest degree certificate)
Legalised Criminal Check
Physical Examination Check
Certificate of Employment
CV

I'm not teaching English so didn't need to send TEFL certificate, my wife is teaching English and had to send her TEFL certificate and they wanted her degree transcripts. The TEFL can replace the need for 2 years experience/certificate of employment.

Hope that helps.

[happeningthang]

[nimadecaomei]

I can only speak to my experience changing jobs this year and questions 2 and 3.

2: no transcripts required only a notarized and then legalized (by whatever department of your government does that) copy of my degree was needed. My original never left my hand.

3: I also have no CELTA, it never came up. I do have a PGCiE (cert just says PGCE), but that did not have to be processed.

[Curtinca]

[jim_brava]

(deleted)

[jim_brava]

OK, as I have no public notaries in my home town in the UK, I also decided to go the solicitor route for my newly-replaced degree certificate.

I have received the following initial replies from solicitors in my home town:

[DanF1982]

Hi Jim,

As far as I understand, for your degree the solicitor would make a photocopy and certify it as a true copy of the original. The FCO can check that solicitors stamp and signature against the database to ensure they're practicing law. As it's a certified copy of a document issued by a UK body (your University) they can legalise the document. You can then send that off to be legalised by the Chinese Embassy.

For the criminal records check, the FCO will only accept the original but this also needs to certified by a solicitor. Its a bit strange and my solicitor was a bit confused as to what to write. I simply had her say "confirmed as original" and signed/stamped etc that the FCO require. I took along a printout of the FCO legalisation offices' guidance for what they required to legalise each specific document. I found that the reason a solicitor has to do this is because the Scotland check document isn't signed and stamped by a UK official so the solicitor provides their stamp to say it's a real document.

Hope that helps.

[jim_brava]

Yea, thanks a lot. It does.

Degree Certificate: I will try the solicitor's "certified copy" in my home town and, if it fails (i.e. gets rejected by the FCO), I'll have to get my folks to take it to a public notary the nearest big city.

Criminal Record Check: Apparently Disclosure Scotland can verify their own document for free, if you send it back to them...:

https://www.mygov.scot/get-disclosure-verified/

Obviously, my response was along the lines of "Could you verify it before you send it to me?", to which I was told that isn't possible.

So, they will send it to me. Then I will immediately send it back to them with a request to verify it. Then they will verify it, and immediately send it back to me again.