Job Discussion Forums

[bellygod]

I'm getting close to that age. Even though China has a shortage of teachers, would they really turn away a 55 year old, or can it be worked out otherwise?

[brsmith15]

I worked until I was 69 and then retired. I know of other FTs in their 70s.

[Laoshi1950]

I am a 59 year-old Australian working at a key university in Beijing. An American colleague at my university here is 71 and another American teacher is 62. The 55 year-old age limit for teachers does not seem to be an issue at this university. Apart from having appropriate qualifications and teaching competence, the main interest appears to be that we are in good health.

[gregmcd101]

A guy came to my old university, 65, just retired, got offered that job and several others apparently. so he was a 65 year old newbie. i have come across numerous teachers in excess of this limit

[kjk_esl]

As far as I know and have read there is no age limit to getting a visa to teach or do other work in China. This age limit is something that is made up in a PSB office where they have all the power and make their own rules. I have seen teachers in China in their 70's working with Z visas. This age limit is a way of a school saying that " we did want you but now we don't" or the PSB office saying that "we have all the power and Beijing has none". If a school really wants you they can get around this issue easily enough. Apply to what schools you want to and enjoy China.

[tommchone]

I never heard 55, I heard 60. But there are many ways to get around it (legally).

[mike w]

[Chris_Crossley]

My current colleague teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) on the pre-master's programme (PMP) I have been involved in for the past 4 1/2 years is 59 years old, but I should also add that, like me, he married a local and has a daughter.

I seriously doubt whether the PSB would refuse an expatriate with family in situ would refuse to grant a visa or else to refuse to extend the foreigner residence permit so long as the school wants to continue hiring him or her - otherwise the local spouse might pay them a visit and give 'em what for!

[Zero]

My sense is that the Chinese government has no interest at all in foreign/local marriages/families being preserved. If they did, they would allow them something other than Z visas (which have nothing to do with whether you are married to a local or have a family) and L "visiting relatives" visas. I wouldn't count on it being an advantage.

[Hansen]

While the attention is on the PSB, don't forget the Foreign Affairs Office. Without the FEC, no residence permit. I have heard that the FAO at the provincial level is the place where older teachers are running into trouble in this province. I know that one older man was sent packing because of the age limit issue. His school wanted him to stay but the FAO of the province would not issue an FEC.

The PSB is not always to blame. Also, as always, people lie. It is difficult to get the truth. In the case above, I was told by a school FAO that the reason a replacement was needed was because the provincial FAO dumped the lao tou. True?

[Pelican_Wrath]

Actually, if you have no job, but you've got a family in China, it's quite easy to get the other kind of one-year visa so long as you've got dosh in the bank

[A'Moo]

[Zero]

You don't need any money in the bank. It's an L visa. If you have a Chinese spouse, it can be issued for one year, renewable every year, indefinitely, without leaving the country. It is a "visiting relatives" visa.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I just met an Australian gentleman in the Qiqihar "foreigner processing office" in his 70's and he said he could re-new his working visa but not get a new one.

I am pretty convinced that China does not have a set rule on this, or if they do it's either felxible or at the whim of local gangs--er I mean officials.

[Chris_Crossley]