Applying for Chinese work visa in BKK

[ozmeldo]

I'm interested in how anyone has gone about securing a proper visa for China here in Bangkok. I've heard these apps must be made from one's home country.

 

Some months back I'd emailed the Chinese embassy but they never responded.

 

I'd read you need some sort of proof of residency. A non O visa comes quickly to mind. Would multiple copies of work permits also suffice? Letters of reference? A letter from your landlord stating you've been paying rent for x years. A 5 year Thai drivers licence perhaps?

 

TEFL...this is rubbish, but they want one. I recall there might be exceptions, maybe if min two years experience. Can experience be shown with work permits?

 

I'd heard that China recognizes sketchy degrees such as those out of Philippines. Such as MA or DipTEd.

 

There was some other requirement that having min two years experience satisfied??

 

There are two levels of teachers. Foreign expert and general douchebag. What's the difference?

 

I'm not at all interested in teaching at language schools and hope with 5-7 years experience jump to a nice school for stupid money. I've got a good gig here, but if it goes south, China is appealing on an adventure level.

 

I also don't want to teach kids. Maybe as low as Prathom 4-5 but that's it. No babies. My experience is in middle school and M6 but have taught all. I love never taught Prathom and no real desire to.

 

I've been led to believe bringing the wife is is relatively easy after 90 days and your paperwork is sorted.

 

What's the price for imported scotch?

 

In your top five websites to get a job, include Facebook or LinkedIn?

 

How does one avoid shonky agencies and forged z visas?

 

Is Beijing, Shanghai a grind or a buzz?

Is it difficult to make money in Yunan? Chengdu?

 

Many jobs look like a shitonna work in many job postings. I'm not altogether impressed that it's worth the move. I've a friend in China decade +. He does as little as possible.

 

Possibilities of administrative or managerial positions with a BA and five years experience

 

 

Thank you

[gerryBScot]

Against advice I entered China on a tourist visa at a school's behest and then at the same school's expense travelled to Hong Kong to apply and get a Z visa which in its turn became a Foreign Resident Permit. I ended up working in a very dodgy school where I was treated like a piece of dirt. This insistence on entering to work on a Tourist Visa was basically an announcement that the school in question was dodgy and intended to screw me which it then did. I paid and paid big in order to break contract at the end of one academic year but I got the paperwork to transfer and work in a new and much better school where I now have all the trimmings of an international standard teacher's contract.

 

The problem is the best jobs are in the international sector and as in Thailand they tend to do 90% of their recruitment through job fairs and in the  NES countries; they are looking for qualified teachers with PGCEs and Qualified Teacher Status  and experience teaching either a national or international curriculum. These guys always enter on Z visas which they apply from in either their home countries or wherever they are working.

 

You can obtain a Z visa in Bangkok and the consulates in other parts of Thailand but you'll need to have a Non B and a work permit. That should suffice. You'll also need to get  a police clearance and notarised copies of your academic credentials certificated by a Chinese embassy too. It can be a protracted and expensive process .

 

Of course nothing is straightforward; in Guangdong province you are barred from obtaining a Z visa in Hong Kong - they require you to return to your home country. In provinces like Jiangsu you can go to Hong Kong. Different provinces have different rules, different bureaux in the same province have different rules  - sound familiar to anywhere you know?!!!

 

There's bundles of work though the majority of it is in training centres. Franchised language schools are opening up everywhere and NES are in huge demand. TEFL qualification usually suffices for these places. There is work in schools but often in dodgy places which are trying to cut corners and costs. Just be careful when they tell you they want you to come in on a tourist visa.

 

The problem with the big cities is the cost of housing. You would likely need a housing allowance of 6,000 CNY per month to get something basic in either Shanghai or Beijing and you might need to travel a little.

 

I would say I took a big risk, had a very stressful and expensive year but now I am reaping the benefits. Plus my wife and two kids walked in effortlessly on the strength of my residence permit though the translations, notarisations and certifications cost a tidy sum.

[ozmeldo]

Thank you, much appreciated

 

It's about what I expected. I'm doing alright for the time being.

 

Good luck with it, your family