Doing an internship on a F visa

[simplet]

Hey everyone today I have a slight variation on the very tired "Should I work on a so-and-so visa".

I was planning to do an internship in China in a very serious language school called L'Alliance française (french alliance). I'm studying in a master to become a french teacher for foreign students, so everthing should have been just dandy except for the fact that my university absolutely refuses to sign an internship agreement with me and the school before I am in the second year of my master. Therefore it seems impossible for the school to get the right visa for me.

What I thought I might do, is register for a chinese course in one of the schools in Hangzhou (this is where I'm supposed to do my internship), get a F visa, and then do my internship on this visa. The internship is only 4 months, and I'm being paid just enough to survive without losing too much money (200 euros/ month). Let's imagine that the school doesn't tell anyone I'm being paid or find some way to pay me in euros at the end of my trip, and that I'm only going to be teaching 8 to 15 hours a week during this internship, is this arrangement very dangerous? Is it very very illegal or just stretching the boundaries of legality?

[edelweis]

Will "a very serious language school called L'Alliance française" help you skirt the law? I was under the impression that being paid during an internship was just plainly illegal in China. (Even though it is not always enforced).

Have you actually asked them whether they really need your university to sign an internship agreement to get a lawful visa?

In France, for an internship to be legal, you need a formal 3-party internship agreement between the school/university, the employer, and the intern.

However it may very well be different in other countries. So I don't know about China. Perhaps you can do a legal (thus probably unpaid) internship without such a formal agreement.

[simplet]

Initially they were ready to take me in without the internship agreement with the university, but they realized a few day after that it was going to be very difficult to get a good visa (I think they said student internship visa?). Maybe they'd be able to get me a F visa for an unpaid internship, but I'm not so sure. I'm pretty sure they'd pay me under the table in any case.

I'd still like to know about this system in case the french alliance can't do much for me, and they accept this.

[edelweis]

Perhaps your university give you a letter stating that you are a student etc., something that might be good enough for Chinese authorities, without being a formal internship agreement as defined by your home country?

Not that I know whether this is enough or not in China of course. Perhaps someone else can give details of what document is required exactly.

[Cat Jones]

The only visa on which you can undertake paid work legally, is the Z work visa.

You can undertake an unpaid internship on an F visa legally. Truth is, there are plenty of people undertaking paid work/internships on an F visa. They just fly under the radar.

[chaiknees]

You can undertake an unpaid internship on an F visa legally.

That's not correct. Any internship on F visa is illegal, paid or unpaid is not relevant.

[Cat Jones]

Really? I thought an unpaid internship could be undertaken on an F visa legally?

The Public Security Bureau states the F visa being for internships

http://www.bjgaj.gov.cn/eng/contentAction.do?methodname=getArticleContentWsgs&id=234864

Is this information out of date?

[chaiknees]

Just checked the link, maybe it's worth a try in Beijing. The Chinese version states 访问、考察、讲学、经商、进行科技文化交流及短期进修、实习等活动的外国人。It seems to depend on the region and the interpretation of the term 实习. Note that there were some "crackdowns" in the past, though, in case of paid internships. Schools are, of course, not the most uncommon workplace for foreigners in China.

Maybe you could sell your stay as "cultural exchange"? However, the payment might be a problem, as (if it's legal) your employer needs to pay taxes and social insurance. In whose account shall they book it? You won't have one without a work visa.

Flying under the radar is quite common in China, of course. But please be aware that you as well as your employer bare a certain risk.

[driftman]

many companies pay their interns legally (including big international companies, who I assume have legal departments checking this), but it is never labeled as a salary but as "work expenses" or "support for accommodation". I think 2000 RMB can easily be labeled as support for paying your apartment (in fact, it probably wont even be enough).

[edelweis]

you mean big companies such as Goodyear and Adidas

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/36948-major-shanghai-intern-crackdown/page__fromsearch__1

[yis_xxx]

Hi, simplet, did you end up doing the internship?

Cat Jones, do you know, if people working or interning on a F visa are paying taxes?

[simplet]

Hey yis.

The answer is no. I sent them an email to suggest looking into these kinds of solution and haven't heard a word from then since.