Job Discussion Forums

[BrookeBailey]

Hello,

I am preparing for my move to China in February to teach at a University for 6 months. The coordinator I'm working with informed me the other day that because I am only going to be in China for 6 months that I do not need a Z Visa. She has faxed me documentation to obtain a F Visa from the Embassy. I am concerned that I will not have the right Visa for my stay. She told me that I do not need to worry about it. Should I be concerned and demand a Z Visa? I appreciate any help on this.

Thanks,
Brooke

[burnsie]

To legally work in China you need a work visa. A work visa (Z) is offered for a 6 months to 5 years depending on the situation.

However, many teachers come on a F or L visa and work no problems but in saying that if you get caught for some reason it's not good with possible deportation and fines.

I would wait for a school to offer a legal Z visa entry rather than rely on information from people that are desperate to get foreign teachers to china (I assume this is from an agency).

Check out www.speedbusiness.com.cn (under expatriate section) for other information on visas and proceedures.

[tarzaninchina]

An F-visa is for a stay of 6 months or less. You only get the Z visa if it's longer. Whichever applies, you get that upon arrival (either shortly before or after depending on how things have been worked out with your employer).

This is the brief version of an email I received from the Canadian embassy.

[echo2004sierra]

I've got a multientry F visa for a year, which allows me to move across boundaries freely (to the extent that I have enough blank pages in my passport).

You need a Z visa in order to work legally in China. It is more risky now to work illegally because of the fact that workers have to pay tax to the Chinese Government and when you don't (as you wouldn't if you were to work on an F visa) then you can be prosecuted for defrauding the Government.

Indeed the employer would be prosecuted too. So why not tell the school owners that you have to have a Z visa (because you don't want them to be prosecuted) and you will CONSIDER working there for longer than 6 months.

[Roger]

What irritates me here is that schools say you need a work visa for sojourns longer than six months, but not if your stay is six months only. This simply is a lie!
Do they offer you an option to work for twelve months??

You don't even need to take your invitation letter to the embassy, I suppose; anyone qualifies to apply for a business visa so long as they can convincgly demonstrate that they have business interests; you get a business visa with no ado in Hong Kong!

On the other hand, it also is true that you are not likely to run into serious trouble on campus. It's another story if you are found in public. However, there are hardly any situations that warrant you explain that you are a "teacher" on a business visa.

I just wonder: do they offer you all the perks such as airfare, housing etc?

[2 up Lee]

I would demand a Z visa if I were you. If they are to be a serious, and legal, employer then they need to be serious, and legal, about visas.

You wouldn�t be able to leave the territory on an F visa, either. Not nice when you want to go to Tibet, Mongolia, Hong Kong, or Macau.

[burnsie]

[English Farce]

Yep, lying seems to be a foundation of Chinese society; most likely as a result of the de-individualisation they have suffered. I'm on my way down to the sunny southern city of Shenzhen escaping from a winter that is colder than anything I ever experienced in Canada, and a boss/slave driver who lies more than Bush. Christ man! This dude even lied about the weather and the time of day!

On the visa issue, I did a whole year at EF in Shenyang on an L - go figure!

[Chris_Crossley]

[English Farce]

Chris, thanks for another helpful and interesting response. Christ did we ever have visits from the PSB - we taught them! Two groups of 16 students each (me and my girlfriend) at level 4 (we were told they were to 'be placed at' level 4 before their 'placement tests' in order to 'save face'). They were nice students, very hard working and keen. We even went out with them a few times for a meal and I had a class photo taken with them which was published in the local rag. We sent a copy of this front-page pic to Randall as these were some of the courses that 'did not exist'. Some eight weeks later we are still yet to receive a reply (or even an acknowledgement of the letter).

[Chris_Crossley]

[English Farce]

Well, compared to your other replies this one was certainly succinct! It does add some pragmatic force to your message though and is something we had pretty much come to realise anyway. It seems that me and my girlfriend are not alone though as I have already gotten a few PMs about this. In fact, it seems we got the guy's name wrong; it is Rendell, not Randall as I originally wrote. I doubt if that is the reason we are yet to get a reply, however, as we addressed it to the post, not the name.

[Wol]

Hi Brooke,

From personal experience I would not teach in China until the School has arranged your Z visa and handed it to you on a silver plate. It is illegal to work in China on an F visa. I found this out the hard way with a visit to the local Police station and a hefty fine. This was after having been encouraged, by the agency I went through to find the job, to work on an F visa:

While I worked at a Summer Camp with the F visa, the agency instructed me to courier my passport and F visa to my future employer in another province so that they could arrange the Z visa for me, something the Summer Camp School could not arrange for whatever reason. While my papers were in said other province (having precisely nothing done to them!) the police in my province decided to take an interest in my papers (which were elsewhere because I had been told to send them there by my agency). I was interrogated by the police for a total of 8 hours and made to pay a fine for not being in possesion of my papers when asked for them, and made to pay a second fine for working on an F visa.

The moral of the story (for me at least)? Trust, in China, is a commodity that is only likely to be misplaced. Working on an F visa is illegal, no matter what any school or agency tell you. Whether you get caught or not is a matter of luck....

[Long ai gu]

If a school can't get you a Z visa then they are probably not licenced to employ a foreign teacher. You will pay fines for not having the proper papers. You need the Z work visa, a residents permit and a foreign expects card. The school if legally able to employ a foreigner will get you these within 2 weeks, you just give them your passport upon arrival. If they keep your passport for a month or more demand it back.

[Nauczyciel]

The OP wrote: