Job Discussion Forums

DaveW125 · Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 54

My fiancee and I are in the process of getting our Z visas for China. we are currently in South Korea. We are trying to get our stuff together for the visa but we're getting conflicting information with regards to the health check. Our contract is only for 4 months so our recruiter seems to think that we will not need one. I can only get information on their website regarding 1year contracts that say it is required. As we are in South Korea the people at the embassy only speak Korean and Chinese. Does anyone know if the health check is a z visa requirement for contracts under 6 months.

thanks in advance

Mister Al · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 840 Location: In there

The local PSB where you apply for your Residency Permit will decide whether you need to get it done or not but I suspect that the rules are that an RP will not be issued unless the application is accompanied by a medical certificate. So don't worry about it until you are here unless the Chinese Consulate in Korea insist you get one done before they issue you with your Z visa. Some consulates do and some don't but actually you shouldn't have to I think. So you need to get information from them. Get someone to help you before you apply for the Z visa. Even if you get a medical examination done before you arrive in China the local PSBs often make you get one done locally anyway.

Halapo · Joined: 05 Sep 2009 Posts: 140 Location: Jiangsu, China

Yeah, they almost never accept a heath check from outside of China.

It can be done, but finding a Chinese government employee who will take the time to file the paperwork for you will be near impossible. The two stories I have seen about it were done from Chinese Embassies in Hong Kong ( so really China, but not ) and Australia ( they must have some good people in that office, cause they often work miracles for my friend when he renews his contract ).

I bet your recruiter is thinking you will be gone before anybody starts asking questions, or he can keep bidding his time. It takes my school about 1 1/2 months to get all my work done, and I consider them to be pretty fast. I am sure if a company wants, it can drag its feet for 4-6 months and they you are gone.

JZer · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3898 Location: Pittsburgh

How about the companies who try to insist that you need a medical check before coming to China?

Is that legit or bogus?

Halapo · Joined: 05 Sep 2009 Posts: 140 Location: Jiangsu, China

They might know the way to do it, because it can be done. Now when you say company, to you mean you would fill a "non-teaching" role. I think people working outside the education field in serious manufacturing and research businesses can get the Z without the medical check being done in China. I have a few friends in Shanghai that have never been to a Chinese doctor or hospital, but their company sorts most of it out for them.

Or, if you cant pass the medical check in your country, you wont pass China's. So the company is just trying to test you before they sign you and fly you over, to make usre you are not yanking their chain.

What they really want to know is:
A) do you have HIV, AIDS or any other STD
B) will you die while in China and cause them lots of trouble

And thats the order they care about it to.

jamesmollo · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 276 Location: jilin china

The contract doesn't come into play until you apply for your actual working visa(r.p.f) you need a medical to get a z-visa and as others have said it most likely will need to be done again apon entering China.
As far as I know you can get either a 6 month or 1 year working visa, so you need a contract, of that length, to accompany your application. I am refering to a residence permit not a z-visa(general work category) You said you just have a 4 month contract? be wary that they may have you working on an illegal visa, such as an F or L.

MisterButtkins · Joined: 03 Oct 2009 Posts: 1221

They aren't really that strict about the medical checkups. As someone else said, the main thing they care about is, do you have HIV/AIDS. My employer requested I get a physical before I came. I got an HIV test at planned parenthood. For the physical, I went to a cheap, walk in clinic, a place that I had heard pretty much gives people what they want. I walk in and the doctor asks me what I need, and I tell him I need written confirmation that I'm in good health for my Chinese job. He asks me if I need blood work and I say no. He did the normal physical stuff and wrote me my note, that was it.

When I got to China, all I got was a blood test.

JZer · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3898 Location: Pittsburgh

So do you think that the standard medical test in Taiwan that is required for a work permit for foreigners would be good enough? That test test for HIV. That would be the easiest thing that I could do in Taiwan.

Halapo · Joined: 05 Sep 2009 Posts: 140 Location: Jiangsu, China

Well, that might be enough for the school that wants you, but something another poster said reminded me of something...

Your resident permit is what you need to stay and work in the country. It is all done from inside China. They are almost 100% going to ask/tell you to go to a Chinese hospital and have their doctors sign off that you are ok to work.

It scares the hell out of me every time I go, too. I might start to trust them, but the x-ray and them taking some of my blood creeps me out.

rogerwallace · Joined: 24 Nov 2004 Posts: 66 Location: California

Having done the "health check" thing several times, yes it gets you a z visa but once in china you get to be stuck for blood once there. Its about the money... be sure that the needle is in the sealed package though!
The med form on the chinese embasy site is not complex-just tell your doctor whats going on and that nothing will come back on him(like some chinese is going to phone him). Mine just checked ok/no to everything.
The school needs the examine form to get the work visa.