Can I work while getting my BA or Can I get a Z visa and keep studying?

[Qinghai guy]

Here is my situation, I am three years into getting a BA in Chinese language and I am running out of money to keep going. I am an American who married to a Chinese lady and we plan to stay here for at least the next ten years or so. I have no degree from the US but a fair amount of work experiance and there is an American company here that wants to hire me now and thinks they can get me a Z visa even without a degree.

I want to finish my degree and work at the same time for the next year. Is there any way to do that? I read on here that I met be able to get a part time work permit and will be looking into that more. I have also asked the school and they said it is not legal to study for a degree on a Z visa, they said I could study no problem but could not get collage credit for my studies, this sounds kind of like a made up rule to me and the PSB in my area have no idea because no one has ever asked them to do this before.

So, does anyone have any ideas about how I could make this work legally? I live in a small city and very well known as is the American company I am hoping to work for, there is no way to just do it and not get caught so this kind of advice will not be very helpful.

Thanks,

[kdavid]

I believe there's a fine shade of grey on both sides here. As such, how the "law" is interpreted will be completely contingent on whether or not you're "discovered" and the disposition of the "discover".

While your employer is more likely to catch heat for having you work on a student visa, the authorities will only make trouble if they want to and/or your employer doesn't have any guanxi.

As for the Z visa--remember that this is only a temporary visa designed to be converted to a work resident permit. You can likely study on an RP no problem, as I'm currently doing. I don't think there's anything saying you can't study on an RP, but, as I said, this depends on who's interpreting the "law."

[anonymoose]

But the residence permit does state your purpose of residence on it.