The International Schools Review Forum

As I was reading previous posts, people were mentioning that you need to have two years experience to obtain the visa. China seems to be one of the countries mentioned. What do they require for proof of two years experience? Thanks.

Are you sure it's for getting the visa, or the actual job? Most schools require a minimum of two years, but in some cases that may be a country requirement for working in certain professions. The school should be advising or helping you. If they've hired you, they should certainly know by now how much experience you have and can provide the proof. (Note, I'm not familiar with China specifically, so maybe it does have different requirements.)

Since when is proof of two years previous experience required in China?
I've been in and out of China for years and never had this hurdle to cross.

If it is a new requirement, I wouldn't worry about it. You could just forge something and put any kind of stamp on and you'll be fine.

It's been the "requirement" for at a few years now but like everything in China whether it gets enforced depends on many factors (e.g. who you ask, who approves your application, who your employer is, etc).

I think it was adopted in response to the many english teachers who flooded the country with little to no qualifications. I don't really remember what they required as proof.

I taught in China last year and all I needed for the visa was my degree, resume and a stamped health check.
The health check was sent back for "stamping" and since I was coming from a country that used signatures, I was at a lose.
I wound up stamping the document with a parking validation stamp that had the hospital name on it - it worked fine.

This is the first I'm hearing about a 2-year teaching requirement.

They probably just used your resume to check that you had the experience. Not a great system but like a lot of things there it lets them say they have the requirement without really costing them anything to actually verify it.

Your resume needs to show at least two years experience after you graduated. They do not count experience before granting of the degree. When dealing with schools in China, it is important to remember that each city may implement the rules differently or simply have different rules. It also depends upon which government agency the school has to work through to get the visa.

The government agency in Shanghai may require two years experience, while the one in Xian may not. This also applies to "retirement age". Most schools in Shanghai cannot get a work visa for someone who is 65 or older, while the schools in Beijing can.