Tricked into Overstaying

[Shumira99]

Long story short, a friend of mine has been with a school for a year now, they arranged his visa just fine last year but this year there were issues.

 

February- They took his passport for visa renewal

March- Visa expired

April- They returned the passport (without a new visa)

May- Signed paperwork promising they will "fix everything"

 

At this point he has overstayed his visa by more than 2 months. They continue to say they will handle it but we trust them less every day.

 

The management is different this year, I wonder if the current school management even knows how serious this is. What can he do? What's the worst that can happen? Is there even a good outcome left to him? Is there any amount of guanxi that could make this go away?

[Huina]

I would honestly seek legal advice (not internet advice) about this one asap. Get copies of the "fix everything" paperwork and all the documentation about their promises that you can. Does the original contract say that they will renew his visa? After two months, I don't think this will end well. At worst he could get some time in China superjail, a big fine and deported. At best he gets sent home and blacklisted. Considering how bad a "worst case" outcome might be, you should, as the internet says, "lawyer up".

[roddy]

Any school with the connections or ability to make this problem go away would have been able to get him the visa in the first place. Therefore, the school is not going to help. He is on his own. 

 

1) Phone your consulate and ask for advice and to make them aware of the situation. What I expect they will say is:

2) Stand up, gather your documentation, pack a bag, and go to the PSB. Explain what has happened, apologise, say you realise you have been foolish and that all you want to do at this point is leave China. 

3) See what happens. 

 

The only variations I can see to this are possibly getting legal help. The consulate can hopefully advise there. I don't know which they'll be inclined to treat better, someone who's walked in and thrown themselves on their mercy, and one who's lawyered up.  Might be worth booking a flight home, but I honestly don't know. 

 

Good luck, friend. 

 

Edit: Might make sense to get out of whatever province you're in and head to wherever you'd fly home from. Might save you being stuck there while they investigate the school or something. Hard to say. 

[889]

In a lawyerly country, you'd certainly want a lawyer with you.

 

In China, you'd also want someone with you, but I'm not too sure I'd look for a lawyer in a case like this. Lawyers really play a different role in China, and may well not provide the somewhat aggressive intervention with the authorities you might need.

 

What you need is the most influential Chinese person you can muster, keeping in mind that most Chinese people, for better or worse, go out of their way not to have any but the most necessary dealings with the PSB.

 

It's a difficult situation.

 

Of course we could consider what would happen if you told the school you're heading to the PSB on Monday unless you've got your visa in hand. The repercussions if this becomes serious will probably hit the school as hard if not harder than they hit you.

[onebir]

If your friend is a Foreign Expert, it might be worth talking to the local Foreign Experts Bureau; they might want to help smooth over his problem to avoid looking bad themselves. (Just a hunch.)

[Huina]

@889 thank you for the tip about the lawyer issue. I would say that it makes more sense to gear up against the school than the PSB. Hopefully this will resolve well for OP's friend and he won't get too much more than a small fine. Especially since the friend didn't do anything wrong himself. Sending you and your friend good vibes and best wishes, OP.

[Chris Two Times]

...and then when it all said and done and if said friend has any energy left, name and shame this school publicly on the Internet so that others can't fall into the same trap. Tell others to avoid this place like the plague. Hit back at the school, they deserve it. As roddy indicated, schools that can't really get teachers a visa in the first place have no business presenting the illusion to others that they can. That would make them Grade-A scammers (骗子！).

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[Shumira99]

OK, in spite of all better advice it looks like he is going to wait a few days longer. Looks like the boss has come up with some guanxi and thinks she can make the issue go away. He may still have to do a run to Hongkong but he is at least hopeful now. . . lets see how this goes

[roddy]

I'd even be wary of bringing in someone 'influential' - even assuming an English teacher at a shoddy school knows anyone of that description. Attempting to exert influence at this point strikes me as the wrong approach. Chinese police place huge emphasis on confession, apologies and regret. 

 

And as I type the OP posts to say they've fixed it with guanxi. Shows what I know ;-)

 

Let's see what happens...

[imron]

That being said, I know of a teacher who transferred to the school I was teaching at, and for some reason there was an official stamp missing on some paperwork which meant he had essentially overstayed his visa.  The issue was discovered when the school went to get him a new residence permit and the PSB was going to fine the teacher 5,000 RMB for overstaying and the school 5,000 RMB for allowing someone without a relevant permit to stay there.

 

After various attempts at negotiation, the PSB wouldn't budge and the final meeting had been held at the school with the PSB and it was all done and settled minus paying the fines.  As the teacher, the PSB and other school officials were walking out of the meeting room, the previous head of foreign teachers just happened to be passing by and asked what was up.

 

He asked to speak to the PSB guys and a few minutes later they walked out of his office, with the fines reduced to 1,000 RMB for the teacher and 3,000 RMB for the school.  After the PSB left, he then went to the principal's office and said that seeing as it wasn't the teacher's fault and seeing as the school's fine was reduced to 3,000 the school should also pay the teacher's fine, which altogether would still be less than the original 5,000 RMB fine the school was going to pay, and the principal agreed.

 

The teacher got off scot-free, and everyone else was reminiscing about how much of a pity it was that the old head of foreign teachers was no longer in charge of foreign teachers - he had been moved to a different position because he couldn't speak English, which was unfortunate because he was amazing at getting things done and solving problems for us, which for the job at hand was a far more valuable skill than being able to speak English.  His replacement was the opposite - spoke really good English but wasn't so good at solving problems.

 

Back to the topic at hand, if the current issue isn't resolved in the next couple of days, I would advise your friend to start looking out for himself, rather than thinking the school will do so.

[Chris Two Times]

OK, in spite of all better advice it looks like he is going to wait a few days longer. Looks like the boss has come up with some guanxi and thinks she can make the issue go away. He may still have to do a run to Hongkong but he is at least hopeful now. . . lets see how this goes

 

Question: who will foot the bill for this visa run to Hong Kong and how likely will it be that such a visa run will result in a valid Z visa in one's hot little hand anyway?

 

I'd say, time to cut the losses and move on, if that is immediately possibly. After all, I imagine this isn't some kind of dream job to hold on to.

 

Is making like Dexys an option/a consideration? Your friend will need a vacation after enduring this colossal migraine.

 

Continued good luck with it all. It sounds very, very stressful. 

 

This is indeed the gold-standard piece of advice at this point:

 

Back to the topic at hand, if the current issue isn't resolved in the next couple of days, I would advise your friend to start looking out for himself, rather than thinking the school will do so.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[onebir]

Judging by Foreverbright's page, Hong Kong is ok for non-tourist visas as long as the paperwork's in order.