Job Discussion Forums

[NathanRahl]

Hi there,
I am in China right now working for a company that calls itself Joint Venture schools? It is run by a fellow named Mister River, who doe's speak English, and is a doctor I believe, his older brother, who doe's not, and a woman named Helen. My online contact was named Kelly, who is in Beijing. I had first got lured to china by an unscrupulous agency, and found this place in my search to escape it, but thats another story. Anyhow, has anyone every heard of this group, and if so are they ok? They have so far provided everything they promised, even reimbursing me for the trip from where I was to where I am now, an expensive first class ticket. On the flip side, they took my passport to get it changed over to a Z, but now I find out they will be waiting until October to take everyone to some nearby city, or not so nearby, to get their health checks and new visas. This was not what I was told, and I am not comfortable waiing until october to get my visa renewed for the right one. It is booku money in fines if your caught, and it's my butt, not theirs. Tell me, is this normal, to wait so long to get my new visa? They said they will return my passport whenever I like, and they are not holding it, but waiting that long, till October, seems there is little difference. The apartment they gave me is great, has cable, dvd, washer, internet, all they said, and the school is very nice, already gave a lesson, regular classes start tomorrow. However I can't really get past the whole visa thing, and how they want to qwait, likely to save their own time and money, while leaving me at great risk. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and knowledge of this group would be most appreciated. Take care.

[NateM]

If you are already there, you are probably in a better position than any of us to judge the conduct of the school. That said, I know that there are quite a few other teachers out in Yuncheng, mostly Canadians from what I could tell when I visited a year and a half ago, and that's probably your best bet to find out the goods on the school. It's a small enough town that you'll have to run into one of them sooner or later.

[NathanRahl]

Well I think they are doing it all in one big group to save time and traveling costs. I am not in yuncheng though, after signing the contract they shipped me off to some small town where there is basically nothing to do but shop for food and watch 100 chinese channels of nothing, oh yes, and teach of course. I can not be surethough, for they wanted my pasport upon arival, but won't need it or do anything until October, this makes me rather suspicious. yeah, the apartment is huge, even decent by American standards, the school is nice, and everyone has ben very kind, but the whole via thing, well, I think you can agree, is kinda a big issue. I was told they were Joint Venture School, has anyone ever heard of them under the name Joint Venture Schools? Any advice or info would be great, thanks.

[NateM]

Unfortunately, I don't have any specific information on them. English teachers in China seem to do such a crappy job sharing their experiences that finding out any information about any schools that aren't huge schools with branches all over China tends to be a bit of a crapshoot. However, if you look at the Mentor's list here:

http://www.teflchina.org/jobs/mentors/list.html

There are a couple of contacts in Yuncheng and Xinjiang, (which is a little piddly town about an hour and a half from Yuncheng which sounds kinda similar to where you are). You could give them a page and see if they know anything directly or know anyone who might know something. That's really the best I can do from the safety of the net bar here.

[KES]

It's possible that your school is using visa from another school, or head school.

For example, XYZ school in Harbin has a license to hire foreigners. XYZ school of Changchun does not. So, all the teachers are sent to Harbin to get Z Visas processed into FRPs.

Not exactly kosher but not likely to draw the wrath of the local PSB, after a cordial dinner with the headmaster to smooth out any "misunderstandings."

But hey, this is China and who know for sure.

[cj750]

I knew a fella who worked for a joint venture once..he got 3 months probation...

[Calories]

They probably need to take you out of the city to get the health check because apparently you can only get them at certain hospitals. Relax. You have so many days 'til your visa expires and you're actually not trying to change visas. You're trying to get a foreign experts cert. and a residence permit.

[dragon777]

The only Joint Venture Company, I know of was selling cannabis(tobacco) paraphenalia(legally) in Australia.

[NathanRahl]

Actually I only have 5 days left until my visa expires, so I am a little worried. I gave it to them because they need it to get my visa, but now, with so little time left, it doe's not look like they are doing anything. It really seems like they are waiting until it expires so I am stuck with them. I am not happy, since all it would take is a cop asking me once for my passport. Not likely, but anything is possible, and that 500 rmb a day fine is a biggie. I just am not sure what to do, demand my pasport back, then run to hong kong this weekend and get it renewed, lol, I doubt the office there for doing that would even be opened on a weekend. Had I come to china to work for them directly I would be fine, but since I got scammed by someone else, and that ate up weeks, I think I am in trouble.

[Calories]

Are you on a L visa? Just get it extended in China. No need to go to Hong Kong unless you want to.

[NathanRahl]

HOw do I get an L visa extended in china, and where would I go to do it? I do not know how I would go about it, can you help? If I did not know better I would think my bosses did not want me to get it extended, seeing as it is so easy to do and they have made no effort to do so, very weird. Please, any help would be grealy appreciated, as mine expires in 4 days, and I assume you can't get one extended on the weekend.

[tw]

[NathanRahl]

Ah, I see, piece of cake, that should not be a problem. Public Security Bureau, hmm, doe's every city have one? Is that the locals name for the police department. Forgive me, but I am quite naieve to local names for this and that.

[KES]

When your school submits your paperwork for processing they get a white receipt. That receipt, in effect, stops the clock" by showing your visa paperwork is in the hands of the PSB and is being processed.

I've seen paperwork being started the day before expiration and never saw any consequences for the FT as long as the school had the white receipt.

Good luck.

[cj750]

That is the single most important piece of information that has been in this thread...