Back in November of 2016, we reported that the Public Security Bureau of China was cracking down on illegal migrant workers in China, and that turns out to be about 40% of all the foreign teachers now working in China. Fortunately, they only found 2,987 of them as you can read the details here. http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.com/2017/02/almost-3000-foreign-emp....
But we want to share a letter we received from typical teacher who thought that he was "randomly selected" for a visa check in China, and what happened to him. We will call him "Mike" but that is not his real name...
"Dear CSP,
I read your post online about China Job Frauds and want to thank you for warning everyone. Both me and my roomie were arrested right before the Christmas holiday. Here is our story...
We both got our jobs through different foreign teacher agencies. He was hired through ESLJobsLounge.com and I was recruited by a free-lance recruiter named Rosie Wang, who I have learned from the police used over 40 different names in just the last two years. "Rosie" is an agent for "Good Teachers Union" aka "GT Union" although the owner Sophie Yue now denies she even knows Rosie. The Police say Sophie used different names as well when she worked for"Owen English" in South China. I also learned this morning that "Rosie" is also a recruiting agent for HAIDA HR, and ChinaTEFLNetwork.com in Hangzhou, China as well.
Long story short: DO NOT BELIEVE ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU THAT IT IS NO BIG DEAL TO WORK IN CHINA WITHOUT A Z WORK VISA. It is a very big deal and it is the law that you MUST have a Z visa (work visa) to even tutor a private student 2 hours a week![/b]. Last year more than 2,500 foreign teachers in China were arrested and thrown in jail for weeks before they were deported. http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.com/2017/02/almost-3000-foreign-emp....
My roomie got deported, and only because I just married my Chinese partner who works for the central government of China at a state-owned enterprise was I allowed to stay in China and given 30 days to get sponsored with a real Z visa. It cost me $7,000 to fix all my problems and avoid the deportation including the $2,000 mandatory fine. Let me tell you that 30 days in a Chinese jail is no picnic.
The PSB grabbed both of us coming out of our school and we later found out that one of the TAs in the school had collected a big reward for telling the PSB that we were working on F visas that were arranged by our employer (since they were fined 100,000 and learned their lesson, I will not disclose their name other than to say they are one of the top five ESL training school chains in China, and besides, I do not want to get blacklisted for ratting them out.) Anyway expat teachers need to know that local Chinese and even colleagues get paid 10,000 yuan for snitching on other foreign teachers who do not have real diplomas or the wrong visas [url]https://eslwatch.info/en/eslwatch-forum/china/76-china-foreign-teachers-...
When we were at the police station, we both called our recruiters to ask for help in solving "the problem" they created with their visa lies. Rosie said she was sending a lawyer to help me but then when no lawyer showed up within 24 hours, I tried to call her back and realized the bitch blocked telephone number. My old roomie was flat out told, by ESLJobsLounge.com that "your problem is common and YOU need to hire a lawyer." When he tried to explain that they had created "his problem", they just said they were busy, wished him good luck, and hung upon him!
My roomie and I talked on Skype last night and he told me that because he was deported from China, he is now flagged as an "illegal migrant worker" even though he is Canadian, and now he cannot even get a visa to go to his sister's wedding in Korea in June! So I hope all of you will remember this the next time some asshole recruiter tells you to "work your first 90 days on a L, M, or F visa"!
FYI: More info about China's visa laws applies to both jobs and internships http://antifraudintl.org/threads/china-internship-visa-scams.96692/"
We think this letter speaks for itself. We just want to remind all China job applicants to read these links BEFORE responding to any advertisement for a job in China or you can easily end up in a very expensive legal jam like "Mike".
https://www.scam.com/showthread.php?704467-UPDATED-China-Liars-List-ESL-...
