The Employment Process

The Employment Process

We often find that teachers are unsure of how to proceed with getting employment in China and in fact it has now become more difficult than ever to obtain legal work. Many people opt for illegal working but the government is also starting to take stricter control over that. So, if you are sure you want to come to China, here is the qualifications as we understand it and the entire legal process as it stands of late 2006. If you are communicating with another company and they tell you any differently than the procedure outlined below, they are either doing something illegal or are unaware of the current regulations. (See 'Things To Beware' for further information)

The Employment Process

This section deals with the employment process at Golden Apple and the legal process for getting you here.
Firstly, at Golden Apple, to apply for a place as a teacher here we would like to have:

An email on why you are interested in working in China and at Golden Apple
A scanned copy of your passport information page (and your family if you want to bring them)
A very brief single page resume stating your name, age, address and telephone number, your highest education details (school, major, date, level of degree) and a chronological list (last job first) of your previous employment (only needing your position, dates, and the company name). Please keep it short because we may have to translate it into Chinese later. Also state if you have worked in China before and where.

Once we get all these we will start a dialogue to make sure you think you will enjoy working with us and that we will enjoy working with you. We send you a copy of the contracts that must be signed and you look at the details and you can contact some of our teachers to make sure we are on the level. Then we confirm the time you would be needed and whether or not you can make it. Finally, we will make a simple formal offer by email and, if you accept, we will start the legal process. (This part usually takes about two weeks or maybe less)

** Note: If you are already certain you want to come to China, get a medical done before you do anything else to save time and to ensure you can come here and work.

The Legal Process

China has become much stricter on what qualifies a person as a teaching professional and the process has become much more standardized since late 2006.

First of all, we need to get you an invitation letter from the Bureau of Foreign AffairsNext you need to get your 'Z' working visa using the invitation supplied.Next you need to hop on a plane and come to ChinaFinally, we get you a Foreign Expert's License and a Residence Permit

The entire process takes from 8 weeks to 3 months depending how fast you are at getting things done.

Getting an Invitation Letter

The first part of the process is the most complicated and requires the most effort on your part and on ours. For the first step you need to:

Get a medical examination on the forms approved by the Chinese Embassy. Downloadable from http://us.chineseembassy.org/eng/hzqz/zgqz/t84240.htm It’s best to have two copies made, just in case (One for the visa application in your home country and one for in China). The medical is also best done at a designated hospital so contact your local embassy for details of where to do it, but you may also be able to do it near home. If you are bringing family with you, all your family members will need to have a medical done. Young infants under a certain age (about 2 years old) do not usually need the medical done but please check with the Chinese embassy.
We send you three copies of Golden Apple's contract and two government contracts (presigned by us) by mail. You sign the contracts and send them back to us by scanning them in email and posting them to us, but keeping one copy of each for yourself. We only need scans of any pages you signed or filled in information, i.e. first page and last page.

Sometimes the government accepts scanned copies and sometimes not so we need the mailed copy too just to be sure).

(The above part of the process should take a few weeks )

At the same time you send this information, send us:
A scanned copy of your completed medical certificate
A scanned copy of your degree certificate.
A good scanned copy of six 2-inch passport photos so we can make a printout of it. (one portrait photo is also OK)
A scanned copy of your passport page (if not sent before) and the passports of any dependents coming with you.
A copy of your marriage certificate and the birth certificates of your children (only if you are bringing dependents)
A single page resume (if not sent before, see above)

We use all the above information to apply for an invitation letter from the Foreign Expert's Bureau. The government takes about 20 working days to process an application (a ridiculous amount of time but not much we can do)

Apply for a 'Z' visa

Once we have your invitation letter we send you a copy by email and the original by express mail. You then use this invitation to apply for a 'Z' working visa. Maybe you can use the scanned copy for your application but not usually.

Make sure you have at least three full blank pages left in your passport or their may not be enough space left to get all thenecessary visas put in.

Below are details on the visa process as released by the Chinese government

Come to China

The next step is for you to come to China and we will meet you at the airport. Make sure you bring originals of all the information you have collected during the visa process

Foreign Expert's License and Residence Permit

Once you have arrived we will get you a foreign expert's license and a residence permit. For this we will need a certificate of temporary residence, originals of your health certificate and all the above information. However, we will do all this part of the work.

(This part of the process usually takes about a month to six weeks but you are legally allowed to work at our school because you have the 'Z' visa in our name)