Working on a student visa

[joshuawbb]

My apologies first for bringing up another topic that has likely been done to death in some ways.

I've been here in Xiamen for a few years now and mostly haven't been working (student visa), though I spent 6 months last year though at a small centre teaching young children English. That was a wonderful experience, but in the interest of finding private tutoring instead I decided to quit in January.

But I'm having second thoughts. On the one hand there's nothing whatsoever dodgy or unsafe about private tutoring, but on the other, training centres like King's, Meten or Web pay 5,000 per month for 16 hour weekends-only. My ex-girlfriend worked before in several of those so I know them inside out, and I've seen that around 70% of the teachers there aren't on working visas anyway. Tutoring would require careful scheduling on weekdays depending on students' needs, whereas the age-old training centre work keeps things at the weekend for more. 5,000 would mean being financially self-sufficient (taking the burden off my parents) and saving over 2,000 per month too. I could bring my girlfriend home with me almost yearly with that.

Xiamen is not Shanghai or Beijing and does not have a high percentage of teachers on working visas. But still I've always been concerned about that issue, after all, I need to be in China long term.

So, one final question. If you were me, which way would you choose? Being at a high profile centre doesn't feel as safe, but private tutoring currently requires a complicated schedule.

Many thanks as always to you all

[anonymoose]

If you want to work at a "high-profile" centre, why not just go the legit route with a proper visa? It may be quite safe working without the visa, but you never know when there will be a crackdown, and since you want to be in China for the long-term, it would be a shame to be barred because you were caught once working without a visa.

[joshuawbb]

That would be ideal, though I'm currently studying at Xiamen University and that is my BA degree, so I wouldn't be able to apply for a working visa until I graduate I presume.

[anonymoose]

Could you not get a work visa, and study at university at the same time? Would the university not allow you to study there unless you have a study visa?

[joshuawbb]

It's possible yes, and may be a route worth looking into, but the only problem is that the degree I'm studying here will be my original first degree; I don't have one yet. That said, I'm not sure how strict the Xiamen PSB enforces the degree rule on Z visas.