Job Discussion Forums

[Susie]

International students who want to work part-time are required to get permission from the relevant Chinese authorities.

I am studying at Sun yat sen university in Guangzhou. I have an X visa (student visa). I have a resident's permit until 2010/03/10. I live on campus. I attend lessons Mon, Wed, Fri mornings, Tues, Thurs afternoons. Things locally are more expensive than I thought. I incurred extra, unexpected expenses too: I was hospitalised for 3 days, and am paying for a further 10 days of treatment in a local out-patients' department.

When I recover, hopefully in 3 weeks' time, I will need to earn back those expenses, otherwise I may not be able to affort to pay for the education I want.

Could anyone please tell me what is involved in securing legal part-time work?

[chinatwin88]

Legal? A different visa. You may be able to contact the school your attending and inquire about a work study position. I believe that these are limited to the facility you are attending but may involve tutoring or teaching English. Also try asking about scholarships as many here I have met have told me that there are a great many available. Of this I have no personal knowledge but it is another avenue of approach to your problem. The reality is you can work undetected for a mill without the FE book and in most cases will have no problem but it is a chance in uncharted waters and you have to decided if you want to sail that way. Like you said, you need money and that is the modivating factor so I rekon that legal or not, you need to seek employment.

[alter ego]

If you have a decent desktop computer with a broadband connection where you live maybe you could do some teaching and tutoring online. Here's a link to one company that wanted to hire me: http://www.tutorabc.com/-index.asp?language=en. The wages tend to be on the low end of the pay scale but it might be safer than going out and teaching at a school where immigration could catch up to you.

[Lipps]

Hahaha.. Legal work on a student visa.. Thats Oxymoronic..

[Susie]

Lipps

I'm not sure about that: there's a notice in my dormitory indicating that international students who secure employment need to contact the local relevant departments to find out about the laws in China governing the matter - it could amount to self-reporting though!

I have a Chinese lawyer friend who wrote the following message on the laws governing international students who want to work:

我查阅有关法律，你如果有留学生身份而想在广州工作的话，必须在所在的学校安排下勤工助学。：可在就读高校的安排下，在校园内进行勤工助学活动；也可根据学校安排，在校外进行教学实践活动，但不得在实践活动中获取报酬；根据《中华人民共和国外国人入境出境管理法》及其《实施细则》的相关规定，外国留学生不可从事与求学身份不相符的就业活动。

所以， 你无需去问那些部门而只要问学校就可以了，有学校来安排。

你给我的那些电话，必须要亲自到那些部门面对面去问，打电话他们是不会理的。而且，有关这些规定，他们的工作人员知道的不会比我多了。

So, I asked the Foreign Affairs leader of my department about the prospect of part-time work at the university, arranged by the school and the response was this:-

根据中国政府的有关规定，持学生签证的外国留学生不允许在中国国内从事有报酬的工作，也就是说，您在学习期间，不得出外工作挣取收入。

此复。

2009年9月27日

Therefore, Lipps, you were right!