Working in Chengdu with a Tourist Visa?

[Ausra]

Hi everyone,

We have been offered a job in Chengdu in an English school. At first, we talked about working visa, but we were informed that to work in Chengdu, one should have graduated from university 2 years ago + one should have 2 years of working experience. So at this point, we were told that it’s impossible for us to get a working visa since I’ve only graduated last year. (Even though I’ve been working as a teacher since 2010)

What they are suggesting right now is to come with tourist visa which would later be changed to visitor’s visa in a local police station and then we would reapply once again and then go to HK to apply for a new one.

Basically:

Tourist visa (1 mnth)–>Visitor’s visa (1 or 2 mnths) –>Extension of visitor’s visa (1 mnth) –> Reapplication of tourist visa in HK. (1 mnth)

So the questions that I’ve got:

1. Is it true that you can apply for working visa only if 2 years had passed after the graduation?

2. What other visas is it possible to get in China to stay longer?

Any insights would be very useful.

[emmapope111]

I feel this a quite a standard procedure, come to China on a business / tourist and then they can change it to a Z visa. This happened to me and all of my friends, inc my boyfriend who works for a British International School. Some people even work here on a tourist visa and leave every 3months to HK to renew.

I managed to get a working Z visa from HK and had only passed my graduation after a year. It is possible, it’s just harder for the school. As long as the school is legit and they’ve promised you a Z visa you should be fine.

However the visa policies have changed, but theres always a way around things in China. I wouldn’t worry about it…

[Charlie]

1. Yes, that is true

2. Marriage visa, student visa, and tourist visa. If you are American you are eligible for a 10 year tourist visa, with a duration of 60 or 90 days for each stay.

If you are employed, work visa is definitely the easiest way since in basically all cases your employer will do all of the heavy lifting for you.

Good luck!

 

 

[Vincent]

Charlie wrote:

2. Marriage visa, student visa, and tourist visa. If you are American you are eligible for a 10 year tourist visa, with a duration of 60 or 90 days for each stay.

Don’t forget the business (M) and commercial visas (F) that generally allow stays up to 90d, 6M or 1Y and can be obtained through many visa agencies – but almost never by trying on your own. (unless maybe the visit is actually legit and you have all the proper paperwork and companies and a real good purpose to back things up).

None of which you would be allowed on to legally work.

[Charlie]

Vincent wrote:

Don’t forget the business (M) and commercial visas (F) that generally allow stays up to 90d, 6M or 1Y and can be obtained through many visa agencies – but almost never by trying on your own. (unless maybe the visit is actually legit and you have all the proper paperwork and companies and a real good purpose to back things up). None of which you would be allowed on to legally work.

Are those still available? For years people lived in F visas in China (me included) and then those transitioned to M visas and I remember for a long time they were either very short duration (like 1-3 months) or were unattainable. Previously anyone could get them in Hong Kong but I thought that was no longer the case. If a long duration M visa is available, that seems like a great option. True that you cannot work on it legally but in practice I find that this particular law was broken virtually all the time and is still widely ignored (I’m aware there are stories of companies and individuals being penalized for this, also).

[Vincent]

It’s true in Hong Kong those are not as easily available anymore as they were before. In Chengdu, it’s business as usual (with the occasional downtimes depending on the situation).

[Ausra]

Thank you all. Very helpful.

We are also taking our dog. Has anyone done it? I was wondering if it wouldn’t raise any questions when travelling with tourist visa. What do you think?

Have a lovely day,

Ausra

[Charlie]

Ausra wrote:

Thank you all. Very helpful. We are also taking our dog. Has anyone done it? I was wondering if it wouldn’t raise any questions when travelling with tourist visa. What do you think? Have a lovely day, Ausra

There are some posts on bringing animals to China here on the forum. In short, it is a huge hassle and a lot of paperwork and preparation is required.

[Author]

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