New Members chrisisinasia Posted November 10, 2015 at 09:32 AM New Members Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 at 09:32 AM Hey, so I've been living in Sichuan province with my wife since April 2014. We are currently on student visas, but would like to switch to a work visa in the spring of 2016. We have some local Chinese friends who own a small consulting business and would like to hire us to teach English with their company. However, they currently don't have the qualifications required to hire us as foreign teachers. My wife and I both have bachelor's degrees - they are not teaching degrees, but they are degrees nonetheless. We are also planning on doing a CELTA (the TESOL offered by Cambridge) in January 2016 before returning to China in March 2016. By that point, we will need to decide whether or not to come back on tourist visas. Is there an Chinese agency that could help assist us in acquiring a work visa? Because of our existing relationship with these Chinese friends of ours, we want to specifically work for their company. And legally, which makes the tourist visas not really the best option for us. Thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted November 10, 2015 at 10:23 AM Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 at 10:23 AM The only way you can do this completely legally is to get your friends company qualified to employ you. I don't know what the procedures are, but it's likely to be a fair bit of hassle and expense. They'd need to get in touch with, eg, your local 外国专家局. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChTTay Posted November 10, 2015 at 03:55 PM Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 at 03:55 PM It sounds like you might be on your way to meeting the requirements to teach English in China anyway. Why not just apply to a school that is actually able to legally hire you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members chrisisinasia Posted November 11, 2015 at 05:58 AM Author New Members Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 at 05:58 AM The only way you can do this completely legally is to get your friends company qualified to employ you. I don't know what the procedures are, but it's likely to be a fair bit of hassle and expense. They'd need to get in touch with, eg, your local 外国专家局. Thanks for the insight! Yeah, our friends have done some research (asking around, visiting government departments, etc) and it sounds like it's a lot of hassle for them, too. It sounds like you might be on your way to meeting the requirements to teach English in China anyway. Why not just apply to a school that is actually able to legally hire you? That's a possibility, but our preference is to work for our friends' company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChTTay Posted November 11, 2015 at 07:28 AM Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 at 07:28 AM Is your friends company a school or a business? If it's a business I'd say the chances of them being granted permission to hire foreigners to teach them English being next to none. If it's a school its a long process and I don't believe it's cheap. In Beijing, I believe the school must have been operating for a number of years before they can apply to hire foreigners. Even then I don't think it's easily granted. If it was easy and cheap then there wouldn't be so any cowboy schools around hiring foreigners illegally. Honestly, from what you've said and in the time frame you have. I'd apply to a school that can already hire foreigners and get everything sorted. You can go back home, apply for the right visas, then come to China with everything sorted. Also, working with friends sounds great... But you will be working FOR them. If something goes wrong, ... Difficult times perhaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members chrisisinasia Posted November 11, 2015 at 08:15 AM Author New Members Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 at 08:15 AM Our friends own a consulting business with English teaching for students taking the TOEFL, IELTS, or who are preparing to study abroad. In doing the research, we discovered that the government is super particular about foreigners getting jobs with Chinese companies. But we hopeful that something can be worked out... we'll just keep digging. Thanks for the input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChTTay Posted November 11, 2015 at 11:10 AM Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 at 11:10 AM Ah! that might be more promising ... good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catherineak Posted November 20, 2015 at 03:53 AM Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 at 03:53 AM working visa as long as that you have qualification and also your school or your company have qualification to provide working visa for foreigners ,then working visa will be get it as usual . you can ask your chinese friends help you go to local police station to confirm what documents needed to apply working visa ,and what is the requirement about working visa for foreigners. And for working visa ,please be prepare documents very well ,as that once you failed in processing it ,in the government working visa sysyterm will leave a record ,so we usual will advice that to find a expereinced company to help you sort working visa documents will be better ,even if you will pay something ,but it will be worth it is ok ,it will make you got the working visa legal will be fine. Just advice from what we done before for working visa in shenzhen city .we are also helped most of foreingers about working visa in shenzhen .so these suggestions based on my experience ,hope that will be helpful to you ,thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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