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[garyj80]

To all you prospective foreign teachers:

I recently (July/August, 2013) started working for American K12 Academy in Shekou, Shenzhen, China to teach their summer school class. After two days working at the school they gave me a contract which stipulated that I was to work a two month probation and following that they would provide me with a working 'z' visa so I'd have legal working status.

After having several interviews with different schools this appeared to be the norm so I continued to carry out the work under their contract. They seemed extremely pleased with my teaching and even approached me to train their existing foreign teachers in ESL practices and methodology, I was overwhelmed.

One week after I had started teaching at the school the police came to the school while I was teaching in the classroom, I knew straight away that I was in trouble as I was only on a business 'F' visa which does not legally entitle one to work in China.

American K12 Academy has four schools operated by a young Chinese lady who goes by the name of Pauline and their recruiter is named Ruby Tao. The police raided two of the schools, one in Shekou (near Wallmart) and the other in Qilin. They arrested 4 teachers (two Americans and two British, one of whom was I). All of us were on 'F' visas and were taken immediately to the police station.

We were not given the chance to provide statements and our passports were confiscated from us for over one week. After returning home from the police station later that day the school called me and said, 'we are very sorry…, don't worry…, nothing will happen to you…, we have very good guangxi in the police station and will pay a bribe (hong bao) under the table to the corrupt police officers and you teachers will not be punished in any way, please return to work tomorrow'!

I returned to the school to teach the following day and everything seemed to be back to normal, everyone smiling and still praising me for my teaching. This went on for one week and nothing was mentioned about the situation or our confiscated passports.

After one week we were asked to return to the police station to get our passports back. The school continued to assure us that we would not be punished and they would immediately issue 'Z' visas to us all. The police gave us our passports back and just simply said don't work again on an 'F' visa and do not tell anyone about this case (as they had accepted bribes from the school’s owner - Pauline).

We were also informed that it was a former disgruntled teacher who called the police to raid the school (I expect he had been deceived in a similar way). The police also asked Pauline if she would like to have this former teacher deported (even though he had not committed any crime whatsoever, he had only reported a crime!).

I now believe the school cannot acquire 'z' visas and simply deceives prospective teachers into thinking that they can issue them. The school is not licensed and has no authority to issue working visas, they just hope that once you pass the probation you will forget about the 'Z' visa or happily continue to teach on an "F' visa.

The following day I went (on my own accord) to the PSB/ immigration office to enquire about a visa extension and was informed that I had been put on the PSB/immigration computer/databse as an illegal worker. I then informed Pauline (the school's owner) who immediately called the police and then informed me that the police said they had not put me or the other teachers on the computer database (how naive they think I must be! yes you've heard it all before...).

At that point Pauline changed here tune with me saying I am a bad teacher, the kids and parents hate me and I am fired from the job. I was very surprised as she had no reasons or sufficient evidence to back this up. I also told her that she should inform the other teachers that they are unknowingly also on the immigrations blacklist. She replied that they should not be informed and that I am trying to destroy her business.

I have reported this incident to the British Embassy and obviously stopped working for the school. However, since leaving I started receiving suspicious e-mails from pay-pal and other Chinese banks. At first I thought they were just fraudulent spam e-mails but after contacting the banks in question they informed me that they were genuine accounts opened in my name, using my passport during the time when my passport had been in the possession of the corrupt police officers from Shenzhen.

I have now reported this incident to Interpol, the British Embassy and the Chinese Embassy in the UK and the case is under investigation. I fully understand that I worked illegally on an 'F' visa but I also feel that the school has deceived me and several others beforehand. The school still continues to operate (unpunished) with illegal workers (now unknowingly with police records).

If anyone would like further information then don't hesitate to contact me and if anyone out there is in contact with anyone working or considering working for K12 American Academy in Shenzhen then please do inform them immediately.

Foreigners are already having a hard time with the growing anti-foreigner resentments in China as well as the new visa regulations. We do not need these types of schools to continue to exploit us! I am an educated professional and tried to gain legal status in China and this is the result!

[roadwalker]

Thanks for the heads up garyj80. This thread could also have been titled: warning: don't work on an f-visa. Whether the hammer will be coming down on the numerous teachers working on a non-z visa is debatable, but when a new law is passed, you can expect a period of higher scrutiny at the least. Unqualified, but sought-after English speakers who are just here to check out the country and make some money as they go, probably should just continue to take their chances (note: fines have increased), but....

There are really no compelling reasons for qualified (degree, experience, Anglophone passport) teachers to work under a different visa. Especially if you have any thoughts as to staying in China for more than a year or so. The ESL/EFL market is full of some very good people and also full of vultures who don't think twice about putting teachers in legal jeopardy. Don't trust a promise from someone who asks you to skirt the rules. China is not a prohibitively difficult country within which to get proper working papers.