ISR Received the Following Warning
From a Concerned Member

I would like to warn people about coming to Hong Kong to teach in any International School.

I have been teaching for around 25 years.  During that time I worked in the UK, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, and China in International schools.

Recently, I signed a contract and was planning to move to Shanghai for my next assignment. I began the Foreign Expert Work Permit process for China. With the new rules you must have a non-criminal police check from all the countries in which you have lived or worked. I thought everything would be fine. I was able to very easily obtain my UK, Kazakhstan and China non-criminal police checks.

Hong Kong, surprisingly, refused my request.  The reason I was given was that Hong Kong does not entertain personal or private organization’s applications for non-criminal police checks.  It is stated very clearly on the Hong Kong home page.

I spoke to the CEO office of Hong Kong, upper level police officers and the CNCC office. The answer was the same, “we do not entertain personal or private organization requests.” Finally, they mentioned that I could get a non-criminal police check if I could get a letter from the Chinese Education Department stating the reason for the check and the address it should be sent too. Unfortunately, the Chinese government’s answer was that this would not be possible, that it is not part of their job.

So what did all of this mean for me?  My contract had to be cancelled. I can no longer work in a Chinese international school or in any country in which the government requires this police check.

I am very troubled by this situation.  I feel that I have explored all possible paths and continue to get the same answer. NO.

Please report this and tell potential teachers who want to work in Hong Kong to be very aware of this situation and also to those already in Hong Kong, you may have problems if you move on.

Yours,
A Concerned ISR Member

Dear ISR

Thank you for posting my story.

For your information, to date the Hong Kong Police Department has still refused to process my police check.  Officially, the response to private requests for police checks are always going to be a NO.

I did find a work around to the problem however.  As a holder of a British passport I was able to get the Hong Kong British Consulate to produce a letter for me which states I will be working in UK. In actual fact I will be working in China. This letter has allowed me to get the police check that I need to complete my visa application for China.  I think it is important for other international teachers to know this information.

I firmly believe that if I didn’t hold a British passport my International Teaching Career would be finished.

Yours,
A Concerned ISR Member