Job Discussion Forums

beck's · Joined: 06 Apr 2003 Posts: 426

If you receive a formal invitation (the invitation necessary for a Z visa) to teach at a univeristy but have not yet signed a contract with them, are you legally committed to that univeristy or can you still entertain other offers from other universities?

Louis · Joined: 02 Jan 2004 Posts: 275 Location: Beautiful Taiyuan

As far as I know, this "invitation" is exactly that. If you use it to obtain your Z, then yes, you much teach there for your visa to be valid. Otherwise, you're free to keep looking.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

An invitation is an invitation, no more and no less; you can accept it and obtain a work visa; then, however, you are no longer free to entertain other offers because the consulate has granted you the right to work in China, and the invitation has become a legal document that binds you legally to your employer.
Your employer cannot, for instance, send you to work in other provinces inthe country - your visa will also be location-specific!

Accepting an invite and getting a work visa means you have been registered as a temporary resident of China.

MyTurnNow · Joined: 19 Mar 2003 Posts: 860 Location: Outer Shanghai

Yup, you're a free agent, man...play the field!
No point in settling for less than the best you can get, right???

MT

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

I'll be a moral twig here. You are not a free agent. A formal invitation letter is not just an invitation. It is a binding legal document. They should not have sent an invitation letter unless you faxed them a signed contract. So you have shaken hands on the deal, and neither they nor you should retract from the contract without vary good reason.

This doesn't means that you will be punished for not being a man of your word, any more then a school will be punished for not holding to your word. However if a school sends you a contract, then invitation letter, they are legally accountable , both under the WTO and Chinese "law".

So if "nolefan" (the kind with the Moroocan pasport or something?) shows up in China invitation letter in hand the school has the clear legal obligation to give him the job, or in lieu of, to renumerate his consideration, that is, reimburse him for his documented expenses, and probably pay a breach penalty if stated in the contract.

If you have suffered no monetary harm, then you would probably not be rewarded anything. It would be prety hard for a school to come looking for you to sue you (plus, that's not how they do it in China) , but for teaching in the same province, it should be a problem, and would require a lot of face saving.

Deborann · Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 6:18 am Post subject:

I received a formal letter of invitation after we had emailed agreement re what I would be paid etc. I have not yet seen a contract, and my colleagues tell me that I may not see one for another few months.

However you receive your Z visa based on THAT offer of employment from THAT employer. Otherwise come on a tourist visa, hunt around for the job and apply through your employer for the Z visa when you are employed.