Teaching in China

Start investigating the paperwork required to teach in China, and you’ll quickly find yourself paddling in an Alphabet Soup of bureacracy. Should your visa be X, F, Z or L? Do you need your FEC before or after getting your visa? At what point do you encounter the PSB?

In theory, the procedure is this:

- Get a job. Ask your employers to send you a job offer - this is the “invitation letter”.

- Use that to get your Z, or working, visa from your friendly local Chinese embassy. Yes, the one that never answers the phone.

- Get your visa. Go to China. Impart knowledge.

In practice, there’s a bit more to it than that. Firstly, what kind of visa do you need? See here for a breakdown of the different types, but as a teacher, you ideally want a Z visa. This is a document which lets you enter China once and remain for up to 30 days. Within that time, you must get a residence permit. Some employers will suggest you get an L (tourist) visa instead of a Z, as it causes less work for them. I’m not saying that nobody does this - in fact, it’s fairly common. But it is illegal to work on a tourist visa, and will leave you dodgy ground when dealing with both your school and any authorities who happen to come across you.

Once you arrive, your university should take the lead in getting your residence permit within the 30 days. You’ll need to go for a medical - yes, even if you had one at home , but it’s quicker and cheaper at this end, so don’t fret too much.

Following that, you’ll need your Foreign Expert Certificate (FEC). This is issued by the local Foreign Expert Affairs Bureau. Your school should apply for it on your behalf, but you might need to visit the bureau to collect it.

Once you’ve clambered through these hoops, you can get your residence permit from the local Public Security Bureau. Don’t confuse this with registering at your local police station - these are two different processes, but chances are your school will handle it.

You should now have everything you need. Go forth and impart with confidence.