Internship - Work Internship Issues

[Ren_st]

I just got off the phone about a potential internship position in China.

I am a US Citizen and have been to China twice for vacation and once as a student at a university.

How hard will it be to get a work visa ? I plan to do the internship for 8 months and maybe study some Chinese as well. However, I heard that if I decide to apply for the CSC scholarship, I can only get a student visa and cannot work. I guess I might not be eligible for the CSC scholarship then if I decide to work.

So my question is,

1. Do I just apply directly for a work visa myself? Do I need my employer to help me?

2. Is it possible to convert a student visa to a work visa?

Thanks!

[BrandeX]

First you need to get a job with a company authorized by the government to hire foreigners, then they will take care of getting your work permit ( z visa is for entry to be converted to work permit, technically its not a "work visa", its changed for a "work permit") You will need to apply for the initial entry Z visa yourself in your home county after receiving the documents from the host company. Don't trust anyone who asks you to come on a tourist visa and they will get you a work permit later. It may happen, but it is also more likely they are not really authorized to hire foreigners, and don't have the ability to register your work permit.

as for number 2. not usually. At the minimum you will probably have to leave the country (which can just mean a trip to HK), where you will stay for a day or so and apply for a new visa.

[Ren_st]

Thanks for the reply!

The representative for the company I want to intern for sent me the following reply:

Confirmed by Shanghai Social Security Center, the foreigners cannot be intern in Shanghai. Details please find the files below.

And he is not qualified the following items for the Certificate.

《外国人就业许可证书》

◆申办条件

　　1.身体健康，不患有精神病和麻风病、爱滋病、性病、开放性肺结核病等传染病，以及所从事的工作不能患有的疾病；

　　2.有确定的工作单位；

　　3.具有从事其工作所必需的专业技能和相适应的学历以及从事相应的工作两年以上的经历；

　　4.无犯罪记录；

　　5.持有有效护照或能代替护照的其他国际旅行证件；

　　6.男性一般18至60周岁；女性一般在18至55周岁；

　　7.法律、法规规定的其他条件。

where the bolded parts are the ones which I don't qualify for.

Is there any way I can get a work visa without going through the company?

[roddy]

An internship would often be done on an F visa, for which the requirements are perhaps less strict - could maybe try that route. It's not really a legally-recognized category of work, just a low paid job, so if you don't meet the Z visa requirements that route is probably closed.

[Ren_st]

Roddy, Could you please elaborate more on why the F visa route would not be feasible? The company I want to intern for is a large multinational company. Is it possible for me to ask them for a Invitation letter and then use it to apply for a F-Business Visa . Will I be legally allowed to work for them then ?

[roddy]

The F visa is the feasible one. Ask if they're able to write you an invitation letter and you'll try and get an F visa, see what they say. But if they've been told there's no such thing as an internship - (which from the point of the view of the authorities makes sense. Coming here to work? Yes. Getting paid in any form? Yes, but not . . .Well, that's a job then. Z visa) - and you don't qualify for a work visa there might not be much they can do.

There are other options - come in on a tourist visa, convert to an F visa here, use L visa extensions, etc. But a multinational employing a number of foreigners is unlikely to want to bend the rules for one intern.

[Erbse]

F-Visa is for business. That means foreigner who want to check if some operations is going well, or attend some business meeting, negotiations, etc.

Z-Visa is for work, and that's what you do in an internship.

Huge companies can easily obtain Z-Visas, small companies might want to avoid the trouble or don't even have the means to obtain one. I did my internship on an F Visa, but at that time I didn't know it wasn't really perfectly legal. I'd never work in China on an L-Visa.

[phyrex]

The F visa is the feasible one. Ask if they're able to write you an invitation letter and you'll try and get an F visa, see what they say. But if they've been told there's no such thing as an internship - (which from the point of the view of the authorities makes sense. Coming here to work? Yes. Getting paid in any form? Yes, but not . . .Well, that's a job then. Z visa) - and you don't qualify for a work visa there might not be much they can do.

I have friends who did internships in Shanghai, so I guess it's just another Chinese expression for "we can't be bothered to do the paperwork right now. If he really wants it, he'll come back".

What I once heard about "being paid" (which technically isn't allowed on an F visa) is this: It only counts as 'being paid' if you get substantially more money than you need for living. So up to a certain amount it's okay to be paid on an F visa. Just hearsay though.

[fanglu]

F-Visa is for business. That means foreigner who want to check if some operations is going well, or attend some business meeting, negotiations, etc.

But not just that. From Sydney:

"Business Visa (F-visa ) is issued to a foreign citizen who is invited to China for visit, research, lecture, business, exchanges in the fields of science, technology, education, culture and sports, or attending various kinds of trade fairs or exhibitions, or short-term study, intern practice for a period of less than six months. "

What I once heard about "being paid" (which technically isn't allowed on an F visa) is this: It only counts as 'being paid' if you get substantially more money than you need for living.

My understanding is that salaries of any kind are not allowed. Certainly I have denied applications for F visas where invitation letters said that the applicant would be paid a dollar amount per month. However, it is allowed for a company to provide accommodation, food etc. I suspect (although am not sure about this) that it would be possible for them to package the 'salary' as various daily allowances (eg 30rmb per day for food, 40rmb per day for accommodation) and be legal. Obviously the amounts could only be small though.

[Ren_st]

Thanks everybody! I really, really appreciate it

I will relay this info over to the representative and see if they will allow me to do the internship on the F visa.

[gougou]

First of all, I'm surprised that a large multinational company can't provide you any better assistance for this. Don't have they have an HR department?

I have done two internships in China, both on an F-visa. For both the length of stay was less than six months, however at my current employer many interns prolong their internship period (and thereby, their F-visa) beyond the six months once they near the end of their internship - apparently without problems.