F-Z Visa Conversion for Teaching?

[Craig]

I am American, I have received a job offer from a school in Chengdu, but the job starts September 1st, and there isn’t enough time to acquire a Z visa, due to the new visa policy. So, they are asking me to come over on an F visa to start. They said they would start applying for Z visa right away, but it might not be approved until mid to late September. They said that, after I get here, they will pay the travel and visa fees to go to Hong Kong to get a Z visa. I meet the requirements for a Z visa.

An F visa isn’t always the best idea, but I think I am willing to take the risk. It appears to be a good school with a good location. But, am I able to apply for Z visa in Hong Kong? If it turns out, for whatever reason, that the school is very bad, and wont sponsor my Z visa, could I just leave the school without much penalty? Because they are not supposed to hire me on an F visa in the first place. 😛

In the worst case scenario, I can always run to Thailand where I have some family. I can stay there for up to 30 days without a visa 😀

I really hope it will work out in Chengdu, I have some good friends there 😀

Thank you

[Charlie]

You can get a Z-visa in Hong Kong as long as you have all the necessary paperwork that your employer can provide for you. If you want to leave the school and you’re on an F-visa, no problem. If you’re on a Z-visa, they can yank your visa and cause problems for you. I would consider F-visas to basically be off-limits at this point, I don’t think we’ll be seeing many of them, for now at least.

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