The International Schools Review Forum

In my opinion, you should only accept if the school is getting a z visa for you. It is technically illegal to enter on a tourist visa with the intention of being employed.

tx and jstwatchn what schools ?

[quote="tdaley26"]In my opinion, you should only accept if the school is getting a z visa for you. It is technically illegal to enter on a tourist visa with the intention of being employed.[/quote]

That's what I thought as well. However, there still is the factor of things being done differently in different countries. Having lived in South America many moons ago, I know that many a bureaucratic issue was in practice carried out very differently than it was supposed to be done on the books. There is more than one translation for "Jeito".

On the other hand, I sure don't want to find myself without a job on arrival, turned around at the border or worse just because what I had been told was a cultural issue turns out to be something else altogether...

And thank you everyone else for your input as well. It truly is appreciated.

Getting a visa for a foreign teacher used to be pretty straight forward. Small schools that had permission to hire foreign experts could hire someone who entered on a tourist visa, and it was very common. But because of abuse China started to crack down and tighten the process to obtain a Z visa. In the province that I live in you cannot enter with a tourist visa and change it to a work visa, it must be done out of country. Most people come in on a temporary Z visa and have it changed to a residence visa after arrival. This being said rules are rules in China but with the right guangxi (relationship) rules don’t always apply. An example of this is many high schools have illegal summer programs taught by from people from N. America. These folks come as tourist and run summer language camps. These camps are not legal but the government turns a blind eye because it is incredibly mafan (problematic) to do this legally. This said if a school cannot provide the letter of innovation then as others have already said it may not be worth your time, but that depends on the reasons you want to go to China. I have spent the last eight years sacrificing my resume to aid in the development of rural China, but if you are looking to pad your pocket and expand your professions then stick to schools that do this right. Just my two cents.

No Z visa paperwork, then no go for me.

I'm currently teaching in Shanghai at a Chinese-run "international" school. All the foreign hires entered China on a tourist visa, and then had work visas sorted out upon arrival - with no problems whatsoever. I understand the anxiety about being screwed over, but do understand that many schools in China arrange visas this way. Do your homework on the school - read reviews here, search Google, etc - and if the school checks out ok, then there should be no problem.

I just recieved my Z visa today for departure in July. All the government websites in China advise that it is illegal to work on an L visa. Given schools will take time to make the change and almost certainly you will find yourself working when you shouldnt be, I highly advise against it.

I entered a country one time as a tourist on the say so of a school and it turned out that the school cut more corners than immigration. Not making you legal is a bad bad sign in my experience.

[quote="danny514"]I'm currently teaching in Shanghai at a Chinese-run "international" school. All the foreign hires entered China on a tourist visa, and then had work visas sorted out upon arrival - with no problems whatsoever. I understand the anxiety about being screwed over, but do understand that many schools in China arrange visas this way. Do your homework on the school - read reviews here, search Google, etc - and if the school checks out ok, then there should be no problem.[/quote]
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I'm glad it worked out for you and your fellow teachers, but literally no school in Beijing that I was aware of worked that way (even down to some of the fairly dodgy/smaller schools). If you are feeling adventurous, I guess, but I wouldn't move my family to China if the school wasn't willing to do their part in getting the legal/appropriate visa.

I suspect that any school that does not follow the official (legal!) route to getting you into the country to work might be best avoided. If they don't follow these procedures properly, what other procedures/policies might they do poorly?

For the record, I have worked in 3 different schools in China (great one, good one and terrible one). Each got me into the country using the proper work permits etc.

[quote = hallier] For the record, I have worked in 3 different schools in China (great one, good one and terrible one). Each got me into the country using the proper work permits etc. [/quote]

I'm curious about the procedure each of these times.
Did the school provide you with a letter of invitation, which was then used to get a Z-Visa, which was then turned into a residence visa, the health check being done in China. That was my experience.

OR did the school require you first get a health check in your home country, send them the health check with appropriate notarizations and then send you a letter of invitation? Thats what the school I'm going to now wants.

higgs - I have heard that the procedure to obtain a z visa has recently changed and added documents are necessary. Just wanted to check whether I am the only one who has been told this...

Btw., I have been told about the health check now needing to be done ahead of time as well.

[quote="higgsboson"][quote = hallier] For the record, I have worked in 3 different schools in China (great one, good one and terrible one). Each got me into the country using the proper work permits etc. [/quote]

I'm curious about the procedure each of these times.
Did the school provide you with a letter of invitation, which was then used to get a Z-Visa, which was then turned into a residence visa, the health check being done in China. That was my experience.

OR did the school require you first get a health check in your home country, send them the health check with appropriate notarizations and then send you a letter of invitation? Thats what the school I'm going to now wants.[/quote]

The second process. But the health check was pretty laid back - there was a form for the doctor to fill out. I know one question was along the lines of "are you mentally ill?" I sent this off with all the other documents, then got the invitation letter etc. It was a pretty easy process. Once in China, I then did another physical with all the other newbies.

The big issue with the new health check requirements is that teachers would arrive and test positive for something and then they cant get a work permit and the teacher had to leave. That proved to be both damaging to the schools reputation, expensive and now has to rehire at the start of the term. This way the school is far more assured you wont fail the official check when you arrive.