Job Discussion Forums

[fallon77]

I heard a training center in Shekou, Shenzhen was busted last week, and the FTs with business visas given 10 days to leave the country. Apparently, it is now nearly impossible for US citizens to get any visa longer than 30 days in HK.

Has anyone heard about this, or have any details? Or is it misinformation? Yearly crackdown or the shape of things to come?

[Plan B]

All I know is, it seems like a pain in the arse to get a Z visa in Shenzhen these days, with much more bureaucracy than there used to be.

I am in the process of getting my visa switched over from a Z to an F, and it has taken a while. Once it finally comes through, I'll breath a sigh of relief, as I seem to come into contact with the police - not so much the PSB - more than I have been accustomed to of late.

Let me know what else you hear. I will certainly be checking the situation closely.

Let me know what

[HunanForeignGuy]

[Plan B]

[fallon77]

A border guard at Luo Hu told a Filipino teacher on his way to HK to renew his L that it was now harder to get an Z visa in Shenzhen than in Beijing.

Shenzhen is starting a written test for teachers from non-native speaking countries after their foreign expert certification. Things are getting tighter.

[Shan-Shan]

[lychee]

Black faces are quite popular as well. They are so much cheaper.

I was judging at an English speaking competition a while ago and 2 of the judges were from Africa, the other 2 were from the US and one from China.
One of the Afircan guys kept asking the same question to each contestant.

How do your father do?
I could not correct him. The other non natrive speakers did not pick up on this.

I felt bad for the students, they did not understand his question, even when he spoke louder.
So when it was my turn to ask questions, they understood.

I really like this guy but it made the whole competition unfair.
I had suggested from the beginning that I only ask the questions.

I was paid twice as much as my African brother and deservedly so.

This guy is really lovely and teaches kindy. He asked me if I could get him some gigs teaching adults English.

I have invited him to my home for dinner. We need to talk.

One thing that I did notice that the student's responded more to the black guy than to the 2 native speakers who were white.

I liked that, we hear that black people will frighten the children and what not in China.

The Chinese teacher pisssed me off even more. One of the students was telling a quite funny joke and she was not even listening and cut her off before the punchline.
I did intervene at this stage, I wanted to hear the rest of the joke.

My point being an American Afican or an American born Chinese comes here to teach. How will they know if they are native speakers or do they care? Give copies of the teachers passports?

[Cognition]

[lychee]

Well cognition what one usually does in speech competions. Listen to their prepared speeches and grade them. What else do you think I would be doing?

This is a no -brainer but what really annoyed me was tht it was not a fair playing field for the students to be asked questions that they didn't understand, from a judge whose English was not up to scratch.

I have met non native speakers from different countries whose English is near perfect. I have met non native teachers whose English is way below standard and they should not be peddling their wares.

Coming back to the OP, I think that the test should not only be written but also an oral test.

[dave_merk]

If it's true it doesn't surprise me. Shenzhen, unlike most other places in China, has a huge selection of FTs to choose from. They can afford to be more stringent.

[vikuk]

There was a stink about a month ago - in the Chinese press - about a Shenzhen FT who was luring young girls, on the basis of learning English, to something rather more saucy. It looks like male FT's aren�t the toast of the day in Shenzhen - and if an action has taken place it could a knee-jerk reaction with regard to the local public opinion with respect to the latest popular image of the white monkey.

[7969]

[Kurochan]

[vikuk]

sorry kurochan - my wife found and read it to me (as she was surfing current Chinese info on visas) - she can't remember which Chinese news site she read it on.

[JiuGui]

This recently happened to a friend of mine. It�s just a sort of �heads-up� about the reality of life in China.

My mate, whom I�ll simply refer to as Mr. B, was working at a training center in Shenzhen. He had all the proper papers, a �就业� residence/work visa, everything squared away and above board.

For whatever reason, Mr. B decided to quit his job. He found work at a local school (or maybe a training center, I�m not sure, in fact).

Now, he should have got a new visa. But, the place where he was working never sorted it out, and he (foolishly) let it slid. A few months ago, the local police started visiting schools and training centers, checking that foreign teachers had the proper stamps and visas.

Well, Mr. B didn�t meet these requirements, so he was taken to the police station. They put a new (*) �visa� in his passport. This �visa� said that Mr. B�s work/residence visa was revoked, and that he had to leave China by xx/xx/2007. That, and he had to pay a 1000RMB fine.

Now, Mr. B is a married man. His wife is a Chinese woman, and they have a baby girl.

As the exit date approached, Mr. B collected all the necessary documents he thought he�d need on his visa run to HK. These included his marriage certificate and daughter�s birth certificate.

Off he went to HK, but much to his dismay, and no doubt the dismay of his wife and child, his visa application was rejected in HK. So that was a pretty big brick wall to run into.

He�s back home now, not really too sure when he�ll be able to return to China. His wife doesn�t have passport, and visas take a long time.

An unfortunate situation.