Job Discussion Forums

rick_martin_78 · Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Posts: 35

What should I know about them?
priviledges, limitations, etc...

What about the Foreign Experts Bureau?
where can i find info about them?

Peter · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 161

These booklets make you legal; the equivalent of the green card in the US.It enables you to send money home and gives you unlimited entry and exit for the duration of the Visa;one year.

Peter · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 161

In regards to the Bureau, this is another body like the Security Police and the Ed dept, you do not deal with them. It is the employer who has to trotuphill and own dale to deal with them.

rick_martin_78 · Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Posts: 35

I have a foreign experts cert, but when I went home for xmas, my school took me to the visa office to arrange for a re-entry thingie to be put inside my passport.

maybe they don't know that much about this certificate either...

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

As Peter succinctly said, without such a document you cannot transfer money out of China unless you opened a bank account in the said foreign currency in the first place, but who would do that?

The foreign expert cert is sometimes kept by your employer. It states your local address and if you want to move to another place but still work for the same outfit you will need it too.

A work permit is needed if you want to run an advert in a local paper. I have advertised my services as a private tutor, and they wanted to check my background. A FE cert might do too.

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

I'm not sure what the foreign expert certificate has to do with entry and re-entry, that is, if you came on a single entry visa i would imagine you would have to go to the visa office (or your school for you)
Like every one said, ditto, except, I really disagree about the PSB office or especially The State Bureau of Foreign Experts not being something we should know about. I now know several people who went there and had problems taken care of. The court system in most places it not designed for this.
In many quite real ways, the Bureau is your reeal employer. Do you have any idea how much they reimburse your school for each foreign worker? I know one person in Urumqi who was put off by the armed guard in front, but that was because it was in Urumqi, not to keep foreigners out. Hey we work here, we should learn how to protect ourselves.

noyb · Joined: 22 Feb 2003 Posts: 93

There are several documents that are relevant to your *legal* stay in China, and a Foreign Experts Certificate (aka FEC) is not one of them. In addition to a valid passport, you will need a green residence permit (aka green card). The FEC is beng phased out and few employers will get them for you, but for universities. The purpose behind the FEC used to be that it allowed you to exchange a certain percentage of your wages, upon which you paid tax, into US dollars or some other "hard" currency. This no longer the case, and even when it was it was such a hassle as to be practically useless. The process now is that the school gets you a green card and a "Z" visa. You must also apply for a re-entry permit should you plan on leaving and returning to China during the course of your stay. It is important to remember that the re-entry permit (visa) is totally different from your "Z" visa. Re-entry permits are available in fixed entries up to multiple entries. If you don't get them in advance, expect to find that you have to apply and wait several days before they're issued. By the way, your school, if authorized, can do the necessary things to enable you to exchange money without you having to have a FEC.

zacharybilton · Joined: 23 Apr 2015 Posts: 118