Job Discussion Forums

samhouston · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 418 Location: LA

My school's ineptitude combined with the apparent difficulty of obtaining the license to hire foreigners means that I won't be getting a work permit from my school anytime soon. The latest proposed solution is to get the visa from another school who is able to issue visas to FTs, so that I would be officially their employee while contracted out to my school.

Apparently this is a common practice, although I'm not sure how these other companies are so able to get the goods while mine can not. Regardless of that, my main concern is the legality of this. Will it stand up under police scrutiny when they come sniffing around again?

The Ever-changing Cleric · Joined: 19 Feb 2009 Posts: 1523

if you've got a visa and then a residence permit to teach and you're teaching somewhere I guess its legal enough. Is this legal? In my opinion "the law" is whatever someone feels like making it on any given day.

Legeril · Joined: 13 Nov 2010 Posts: 42

Mostly people use any way they can to get the law to work for them in China, more often than not it is the done thing. Whether it is right or not is up to your moral compass, when I first started in China I worked for one of the biggest chains in the country but the branch was still very young - all the foreign teachers had to travel to another province to get a their visa/RP under a different school.

samhouston · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 418 Location: LA

Not getting kicked out of the country is more important than my moral compass, unreliable as it is. Last summer during what I guess was an Expo related sweep, I was let off with a warning. According to the info in the link below, another sweep is soon to come. I don't want to be under the impression that "contracting" out to my school is fully acceptable under the law, only to have the cops laugh in my face as they're stamping my deportation papers.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=87317

mat chen · Joined: 01 Nov 2009 Posts: 494 Location: xiangtan hunan

My country Quebec just spent 31 million smackers to fight gift giving. Muslim countries are now aflamed over gift giving. In China jobs that offer gift taking require a gift. You will never know what is going on. But there is a proliferation of private schools now in China. They all think the formula is in having a foreigner. Work it out.

clownshow · Joined: 19 Dec 2010 Posts: 181

dog backwards · Joined: 27 Jan 2011 Posts: 178

My first job in China was at a public university. The university's FAO was a senior party official. (This may or may not be relevant).

Invitations and RPs for teachers who taught at other public universities and colleges in the area came through my university's FAO. As far as I could tell, it was all legal and was probably done to eliminate bureaucratic inefficiency.

I was occasionally farmed out to private schools. I imagine that the FAO covered them for that as well.

What is troubling me is that your school is telling you all this. If it's a normal situation for them they probably would not have told you anything except for you to just relax.

samhouston · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 418 Location: LA

dog backwards · Joined: 27 Jan 2011 Posts: 178

samhouston,

Are you under contract with this school? Is it the same school as the other that had difficulties getting you the RP? If so, I'd push for a date when you can go to the PSB to get everything straightened out.

I know that these things strain one's patience.

You can always be a little blunt and say, "Will this matter be settled soon? If not, maybe you can help me find another employer. I don't want anyone to get into trouble."

In the meantime, start looking for a new job.

samhouston · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 418 Location: LA

Yes, I have a contract with them. Other than this rather large issue, the school and my job are great. I don't want to quit, so that's why I'm trying to get myself legal. For all I know, if I got a job somewhere else, they'd have the same setup that I'm going to try here. I just wish I had a hard answer. The prudent man would not risk another day showing up to work under the current conditions!

LanGuTou · Joined: 23 Mar 2009 Posts: 621 Location: Shandong

Is it legal? Technically speaking, no it is not. It involves a degree of fraud and dishonesty to do things as your employer is suggesting.

Will you get away with it? That is anybody's guess. You may be perfectly fine and have no problems. It may give rise to a few immigration related matters. Impossible to say with certainty because it relies on such vagaries as "guanxi" etc.

What you should take note of is that the contracts, documentation etc. presented for RP application must all bear the corporate chop of this third party school and not your actual employer. The third party school will also have to deal with issues like taxation.

You should also note that the third party school will be Party A on your contract and it should be them that issue the completion of contract certification (leaving letter) if you later want or need to change employer.

mike w · Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:28 am Post subject:

samhouston · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 418 Location: LA

LanGuTou · Joined: 23 Mar 2009 Posts: 621 Location: Shandong

samhouston · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 418 Location: LA