Job situation for F-Visa in Beijing

[bad_dream_house]

Hi all,

I'm hoping some people out there might be able to fill me in on how the situation is in Beijing just now for potential english teaching work on an F-Visa? I studied for a year in Beijing in 2006 and remember that at that time there was a large number of people doing various pt/ft english teaching jobs on F-Visa, however, recently I have heard that since the lead up to the 2008 Olympics things have changed a little. Basically I had been planning to return to Beijing this September to study on the CSC scholarship while looking into other things in Beijing, however, today the EU window list got posted and sadly my name was not on it. [i share your pain if you also missed out!] Anyways, not having the funds to pay for tuition myself, back-up plan is to head to Beijing, do some teaching work, study on own etc. Not being too familiar with the job situation just now, can anyone comment on the following questions?

1. Can UK nationals still get 6 month F-Visa easy enough from Hong Kong travel agency's?

2. Is it still possible to rent apartments in Beijing with F-Visa?

3. Are there still many jobs out there that will hire on an F-Visa? [i'm thinking part-time mainly]

4. Is it true that it is getting considerably harder for UK English speakers to get jobs cf. American and Canadian?

5. Is experience a must [i have only limited, i.e. 6 month, experience from a company I can't get reference from. Also have no teaching qualification. Do have MA degree]

6. Is it the case that if you do score a "legit" job you need to go back to your own country to apply for the Z-Visa?

Thank you for your feedback,

bad_dream_house

[roddy]

1) No.

2) Yes.

3) Yeah, most likely. If I was doing this I'd want to be taking private jobs, rather than dealing with a school though.

4) Don't know, but it's unlikely to be *much* harder.

5) If you were looking for an actual job, maybe, but part-timing will be no problem.

6) Hong Kong seems to be an option also.

The F visa situation is uncertain at the moment, and I wouldn't make any plans that rely on getting one.

[bad_dream_house]

Thanks for the reply Roddy.

Can I ask, how are people currently obtaining visa's for China in order to teach english, besides Z visas, if they cant get 6 month F Visa?

[roddy]

Don't know. Some combination of giving up and going to Korea, doing constant visa runs out of the country to renew tourist visas, agency visa extensions (normally six months are available at a price, but this is up in the air at the moment it seems) and giving up and going to Japan, I guess.

[valikor]

I used to work for a company that issued visas to some people, usually due to them being "too young" to easily get a work visa.

The company would provide a letter of invitation, etc., and you would just take that to a Consulate or Embassy in your home country (or hire a visa agency in your country, if you don't live in a city with an embassy. Or have a friend do it) and apply for an F visa.