Job Discussion Forums

[killian]

last time i was required to fly to LA (during the olympics build up)to the chinese embassy as part of the visa/residency permit game. are foreigners still required to return to their home countries for such or will any country (with a chinese consulate) suffice?

thanks

[Sonnibarger]

if you are re-newing you shouldnt need to leave your city... if you are changing jobs a hongkong run should work..

[Hansen]

Killian, Although there are a lot of gray areas in these things, I have found that the people in China will often require outlandish tasks of foreigners simply because they can and we comply.

I had some problems with a bank involving a significant amount of money which they would not release. They were requiring me to sign mulitple documents which I did not understand as well as delays in receiving the money. I knew that none of the requests were reasonable and I suspected that they were actually unnecessary. Finally I just refused to "play." I told them I was not signing any thing and if they would not give me the funds, they could keep them. I then got up and walked out.

Later, the same day, I received a call from the bank telling me to please return and they would release the funds. They were apologetic and even perhaps a bit scared of what I might do or who I might contact.

I've had the same thing at internet bars with individuals requiring me to show a passport in order to rent internet time. Finally, tired of it, I just said, hey, the other person who works here doesn't require this, why should you? Where's the boss?

"Nothing, nothing," they quickly say, and I'm signed up.

It is a horrible injustice that the authorities would require FTs to return home to have a "Z" visa issued. We are supposedly wanted here to perform a valuable service. Do you think they would dare try to send an engineer or technical expert home for a visa?

I guess that if you are willing to be defecated on in order to work here, you will comply. Most of have the stink of compromise and loss of self respect upon us consequent to our work here. It's very unfortunate.

[evaforsure]

[Hansen]

Eva, You say that. I accept it as hearsay. If you have a service that a country values, that is, you are truly an expert, it would be contrary to their interest to make a person leave the country, especially if they knew there was a good chance the person wouldn't return.

I have seen what guanxi and lack of it can do with the PSB.

If every FT simply said, "I'm not putting up with the abuse and disrespect anymore in China," and then left, things might not change. The problem is that many of us want China more than it wants us.

Helping professions get abused in western countries as well. Teachers, nurses, social workers, even law enforcement and corretional personnel get kicked around by administrators. As long as we take it, things won't change.

It's likely true, however, that few of us are so critical to China that we ever become anything more than laowai in their eyes

[evaforsure]

[shenyanggerry]

I've had my residence permit renewed several times when I signed a new contract with the same university. Once, I went home for the summer and reentered China with 2 days left on my residence permit without any problems.

[kev7161]

In six years of living and teaching in China, I have only gotten one Z visa - - that was when I first came here in 2003. Soon after it was converted to a Residence Permit and I've gotten residence permits only in my passport every year. I've left the country on several occasions but have returned before the expiration of the current RP. I've had only one school-mandated physical exam (again in 2003). Of course it may help that I've only taught at a total of 2 schools in those six years instead of bopping around from school to school every few months or quitting without notice or not researching a school's credentials properly or . . . . well, you get the idea. Most laws are in place for a reason and that's to protect the country (and you believe or don't) that you are in.

In other news: I have never had a problem converting money in China (some banks are a bit more time-consuming than others), sending packages out of China, receiving MOST packages in a timely manner, using Western Union, getting medicine (prescription or over-the-counter), finding a decent hospital (I visit the SooChow hospital . . . #1 I think), going shopping on my own, traveling within the country or out of the country, and general living in China.

Oh, but I'm not changing my tune as to how rude China and its people are and the stares and the spitting and the line jumping and the pushing and the impatience and the miscommunication and all the other things that sour my stay here. No, no . . . I would never go that far! All I'm saying is that if you play by the rules here, you generally won't need to worry about existing and surviving in China

[eddy-cool]

I think Hansen's DIY approach to dealing with Chinese Authority is for the intrepid only, and even they will need a lot of good luck for the outcome of their situation.

If the authorities say you have to go to HK, then you better go there or face an alternative 'solution' to your dilemma that's not in your interest.

And Hansen my man: money transfers can be effected in a variety of ways that are variously successful and satisfactory.

I got a money transfer by SWIFT this past Friday, the first time in my life, and it had just taken 4 days from overseas.

My bank in China is the China Merchants Bank.

The exchange rate was a trifle higher than the one offered at the Bank of China.

Four days... and astonishingly few hurdles: My old passport (because my account was opened under the ID number of my previous passport), the new one, and a little haggling over the order of my names (you know the Chinese often mistake your surname as your first name, so my surname was dropped and my middle name took its place), signing of several forms; the transferring institution charged me a grand total of ca. 44 kuai for an amount hundreds of times higher.

[KarenB]

You're on the Z visa, right? You don't need to leave China at all! For the past 7 years, I've had my visa renewed right here in the province. If you're getting it renewed for the same school, your FAO can handle that for you right where you are.

I do go home each year, but have always had my visa renewed before I left.

[suanlatudousi]

Same thing for me in Shandong province for 5 year. No troubles getting the Resident Permit renewed each time it needed to be done. My current contract and RP is for a 5 year period, so I won't need to do it for a while. That took some finagling with the school (for the contract), but with the PSB as well. I'm happy about it.