Are there part-time and full-time work visa's in China?
xiaophil
June 09, 2010, 04:20 PM posted in General DiscussionCalling all you foreign expert certificate experts! Are there part-time and full-time work visa's in China? The reason I ask is that I might be offered a job at a new school. The thing is, they sent me an email today asking me if I currently have part-time or full-time work. I told them that my hours are quite low, and so I wouldn't call it full-time work. They then replied that according to the State Administration of Foreign Affairs, I might not qualify for the job because my current job isn't full-time, and that they would have to look into it. I don't get it. I have a contract and a foreign expert certificate. I have never heard of a person such as myself not being able to qualify for a high-school teaching job in China. Has anyone heard of the Chinese government not handing out a foreign expert certificate because the previous job wasn't full-time? Is it even technically possible to have a foreign expert certificate issued for a part-time job?
xiaophil
It confirms what I already thought. Hopefully, they just got it all wrong. Thanks.
bodawei
June 10, 2010, 12:29 AMHi Xiaophil, your current contract and foreign expert card would assume F/T work regardless of the number of hours you work (you cannot get these for P/T work). So the answer to the seemingly unnecessary question is: full-time.
I believe that contracts usually state a minimum of 12 hours work a week (technically F/T in China) but you may negotiate fewer hours with your employer. Your Chinese colleagues would probably also be expected to work 12 hours if asked, although they may not have a contract as such.
Second and third jobs are obtained by agreement with employers - underground work really, but common. Maybe your issue arose because they assumed that you wanted the new job as a second job? If you want the new job as your sole job, your new contract becomes the basis for issuing the foreign expert card.
ji_li
June 09, 2010, 10:55 PMAs far as I know, there is no specific "part-time" work visa.
However, in order to get a work visa and employment permit, you have to satisfy the authorities that there is economic substance in the work, which may be a problem for a part-time type of contract where the hours are low.
That doesn't explain the connection your potential new school seems to be making between their employment offer and your current status though.
Hope this helps.