Job Discussion Forums

[thebigqtip]

I have been cast into the fiery pits of Sino-Slavic bureaucracy. Please help.

A few months ago, I took a college teaching gig in grimy ol' Zhengzhou. Hypothetically, I start teaching in August. I happen to be living and working in Poland at the moment, but the school gave no indication that this would be a problem, so I (foolishly) assumed that it wouldn't be.

But lo: we are getting down to the wire and it turns out that I need to send a Polish work visa to the college in China. The thing is, I don't have a Polish work visa because I never needed one to work here. A few months ago, I haggled with the local bureaucracy and finally won a ten-page letter (in lovely Polish legalese) stating that I can stay here through mid-June, but the school wants a visa.

To add to the absurdity, I've just finished my contract and I am no longer in any way affiliated with Poland. In fact, I will be in Germany by the month's end. Why, knowing this, do they continue to ask me for a Polish visa?

It's my fault, of course. It's my fault for living like a vagabond and drifting around Europe like a fart in the wind, but there ought to be some way around it, shouldn't there?

The school has told me that it would be easier for me to fly back to America, which is entirely true in some parallel universe where money does not exist.

I suppose my question is this: has anyone successfully applied for a Z-visa while they were teaching or traveling abroad? I am a bit puzzled as to why - if I have filled out the requisite forms, undergone the requisite medical exams, and submitted the requisite documents - my application should be held up at the last second by a nonexistent Polish visa.

Thank you and goodnight,

- The Big Q-Tip

[North China Laowei]

Under the current visa rules in force in China until at least the end of October, 2008, please note :

1. The Chinese government has instructed its embassies overseas to only issue visas to citizens of those countries who actually reside in said country, unless the applicant has a defined legal entitlement to live in the country in which he or she wishes to formulate his visa application for China.

Under those rules, you have, I have to say it, given what you have written here, no legal standing whatsoever in Poland, even less of a legal standing in Germany, etc., etc., If you only knew firsthand how strict and to-the-letter-of-the-law they are being here about current visa applications, you might have understood the complexity of your own situation.

They decidedly will not accept a "letter with a stamp in Polish" in lieu of a Polish work or residence permit. Yesterday, I hac lunch with a colleague in Shanghai who works in a large language mill as a DOS, one of the largest in Shanghai, and he related to me how the PSB had basically revoked all of the work visas of Poles in the school on a variety of grounds, the most important being the native language issue. And I, like many, on this board, hear from friends and colleagues all over China experiencing similar serious issues.

I could be very wrong but I do not think that your situation will be resolved as easily as you think and that if you are interested in coming to China, you really have only two options at present : (a) either wait it out until after the Olympics or (b) return to the States and do as many others have had to do.

You didn't mention your credentials (so I have no idea if you have a university degree and two-years of teaching experience) but they will also come into play here quite seriously.

[arioch36]

Which college? (you can PM me)

More important, is there someone at your home address that the school can send the invitation letter to?

Don't rely on the school to know what to do, they don't have a clue.

The first step is the invitation letter.

Is the school saying they can not send you an invitation letter to Poland because it is not your home country? Or do you have an invitation letter?