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Charlemagne
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 40
Location: Res Publica Popularis Sinarum
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 Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:05 pm Post subject: Breached contract, no Z Visa and changing companies. |
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Hello. I came to China on a 3 month tourist visa about 1 month ago to work for a company that had hired me from my home country. After a few days, I decided that I didn't like the company and left their company apartment to camp out at a hotel and find a new job. Now I have my own apartment and a new job which I am going through the visa process with right now.
My problem is that I signed the contract and opened the bank account with the first company. They made copies of my passport and probably started the work visa procedure, however I left and did not give them the required 5 pictures or did my health check so I don't have a working visa on my passport.
Do you think that the new company that I want to work for will have problems getting me a visa because I signed the contract with the first company even though I never did a healthcheck for them or got a visa from them?
Do you think that the first company will try to find me and get the breach of contract fine from me or worse report me and block me from leaving the country?
Is a contract alone worth anything without the whole Z-visa process finalized?
Thanks. |
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Voldermort
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 597
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| Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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The short answer is, without a Z visa and or Residence Permit the first company has no legal hold over you whatsoever. You were working for them illegaly! You still have your passport which is a good indication that they never started the visa process, infact I would go as far to say that they would have probably dropped you a week before your visa is due to expire.
There are two problems that you might now have. The first being that you have a tourist visa and this is difficult to exchange for a Z visa while in-country. You may very well have to do a Hong Kong run with all the required doc's and return with the Z visa. Second, your first company may be pissed that you ran out on them and try to bad mouth you to their contacts in the community. Of course this is only a problem if you are in the same city. Just try to keep a low profile, explain the situation to your new company and hope that they have more guanxi. |
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Mister Al
Joined: 28 Jun 2004
Posts: 840
Location: In there
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| Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:04 am Post subject: |
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| Pretty sound advice/info from voldermort but I wouldn't mention the last job to the new employer unless necessary. You are in the country as a tourist and if you do want to work for the new guys just do whatever is required to get your RP. Relax and yes, keep your head down |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589
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| Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:14 am Post subject: |
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good advice
agree, try not to mention the 1st job |
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mikefriend
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
Posts: 118
Location: Sleep walking around the world. But don't wake me up, you might kill me.
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| Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:13 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Do you think that the first company will try to find me and get the breach of contract fine from me or worse report me and block me from leaving the country? |
They won't block you from leaving the country. The breach of contract fine is unenforceable as you are not a legal worker. And even questionable if you are a legal worker.
| Quote: |
| The first being that you have a tourist visa and this is difficult to exchange for a Z visa while in-country. |
This depends on many factors. The school I am working at has changed all the new teachers TOURIST visa to RPs without a question. What that means is all the new teachers came here on L visas from their home country and the school did what was necessary to obtain them a legal working visa.
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| After a few days, I decided that I didn't like the company and left their company apartment to camp out at a hotel and find a new job. |
This shows guts! Glad to hear you came, you saw, you didn't like, and you left. Can you share what exactly you didn't like with this company/school that made you decide to leave. You may omit school name and other personal details of course.
| Quote: |
| Is a contract alone worth anything without the whole Z-visa process finalized? |
Answer: The contract means little in reality regardless of visa status. |
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Voldermort
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 597
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| Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:50 am Post subject: |
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| Mister Al wrote: |
| Pretty sound advice/info from voldermort but I wouldn't mention the last job to the new employer unless necessary. You are in the country as a tourist and if you do want to work for the new guys just do whatever is required to get your RP. Relax and yes, keep your head down |
I say mention the last job and running out on the contract because if the new school were to learn about his runner, he may be flagged as a "flight risk" and we all know how school's feel about that. In my experience, being honest about such things, buttering it up of course, minimizes unexpected surprises for the new school and at the same time makes the FT look that little better than the rest.
Just my two cent's. |
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Mister Al
Joined: 28 Jun 2004
Posts: 840
Location: In there
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| Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:10 am Post subject: |
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Fair point, Taff.  |
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eddy-cool
Joined: 06 Jul 2008
Posts: 1008
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| Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:22 am Post subject: |
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I don't know of any provinces that allow their PSB to convert a tourist visa into a Resident's Permit or just an 'F' visa (for 'working as a cultural agent up to six months'). Methinks your first employer overlooked certain regulations applicable to the city where they are based - hence I don't see how they can act against you.
You will probably have to make a Hong Kong visa run and return with a work visa valid for 30 days, then apply for an RP. |
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Charlemagne
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 40
Location: Res Publica Popularis Sinarum
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| Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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| This is Shanghai city, just to clarify. God I don't want to leave...the suspense is killing me! |
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Charlemagne
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 40
Location: Res Publica Popularis Sinarum
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| Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| This shows guts! Glad to hear you came, you saw, you didn't like, and you left. Can you share what exactly you didn't like with this company/school that made you decide to leave. You may omit school name and other personal details of course. |
I didn't like that they stalled in helping me find an apartment. Granted it was during the Sept holiday time but they had me cooped up in the apartment on the second floor of the company's 3 story building for a few days. The place had a crappy clogged bathroom drain which created a pool of water everytime I showered, bars on the windows and a security gate that closed at 11PM. This mind u was in the middle of the city. I wanted to get out! Not only that but they would chain the front door to the building every night and, one time, I wanted to go out and get some food and water but I realized that I couldn't leave the building. This was on my 3rd day in China so add that culture shock to not being able to leave the building after 11PM. I have taught in other countries before and I know that being able to endure hardship is often important in this line of work. However, I will not tolerate any situation that even remotely resembles imprisonment. The Chinese are all about looks and appearance so why shouldn't we? In my humble opinion, the first impression that that company gave me was atrocious. Face is a double edge sword and I think that a lot of Chinese need to undersand that most foreigners have self respect and honour. |
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brsmith15
Joined: 12 May 2003
Posts: 1142
Location: New Hampshire USA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Care to mention this rather horrid school for the benefit of others? |
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Charlemagne
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 40
Location: Res Publica Popularis Sinarum
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| Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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| brsmith15 wrote: |
| Care to mention this rather horrid school for the benefit of others? |
No, I'm not going to drop dimes. Actually, the school isn't that bad. The only problem was the the timing. I would have adapted had I survived the initial hell. It was their fault for not providing me speedy accommodation and it was my fault for losing my patience and falling victim to culture shock.
It's funny now that I think about it. Coming to Shanghai after working in Japan, all I could think about was how filth-ridden this city is compared to glistening Japan. However, now having been in SH for over a month, I kinda like the whole grimyness of it all. The filth gives it character. Hehe. Life is strange. |
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mikefriend
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
Posts: 118
Location: Sleep walking around the world. But don't wake me up, you might kill me.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:21 am Post subject: |
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| Charlemagne wrote: |
Coming to Shanghai after working in Japan, all I could think about was how filth-ridden this city is compared to glistening Japan. However, now having been in SH for over a month, I kinda like the whole grimyness of it all. The filth gives it character. Hehe. Life is strange. |
So far I have not seen any filth is Japan. Would you kindly tell me where to look? |
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Charlemagne
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 40
Location: Res Publica Popularis Sinarum
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| Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| mikefriend wrote: |
| Charlemagne wrote: |
Coming to Shanghai after working in Japan, all I could think about was how filth-ridden this city is compared to glistening Japan. However, now having been in SH for over a month, I kinda like the whole grimyness of it all. The filth gives it character. Hehe. Life is strange. |
So far I have not seen any filth is Japan. Would you kindly tell me where to look? |
um I think you misread that |
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mikefriend
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
Posts: 118
Location: Sleep walking around the world. But don't wake me up, you might kill me.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:32 am Post subject: |
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| Charlemagne wrote: |
| um I think you misread that |
Probably... |
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