Chinese Visa/Work Permit for foreign spouse of foreign HK Permanent ID Card holder?

[matt76]

Hi

 

My situation:

 

- I am a EU citizen and I have lived and worked in Shanghai for nearly 3 years now, on a work permit sponsored by my employer

- I will be leaving employment later this year, with a few months left to run on my residence permit until the beginning of 2015

- I am aware my employer will cancel my work permit upon termination of my employment, and although technically possible, will not cancel my residence permit (my relationship with my company is good)

- I am married (and have been for 2.5 years) to an EU national, but she also has a permanent '3-star' HK residence card and a 'home return card' - she is of Chinese descent, I am not.

- We are planning to stay here in Shanghai, my wife also works here, so I will need a solution to my expiring residence permit without - quite likely - having an employer at that time to provide me with sponsorship for the renewal.

 

Questions:

- My wife has a work permit in China as well sponsored by her employer, because of her HK card she doesn't need a residence permit. Is there any way my wife's HK status and employment here can provide me a way to obtain a visa/work permit to stay and work in China, separate from any employer sponsorship?

- What are the chances of obtaining, whilst I am still employed, in the next couple of months a two year residence permit which would at least provide me some 'space' to look for alternative employment without having to worry about my residence permit expiring at the beginning of 2015.

- I understand there are several 'routes' through agencies to secure a work permit and residence permit even if I have not yet secured a job after leaving my current company. Has anyone got any positive experiences with this type of scenario and any agencies they can recommend? What are the things I should be careful of, obviously I do not want to make things difficult for when I have then secured a new job (and a subsequent transfer of my work permit to my new employer).

- I understand the alternative in order to stay here legally is to apply for a tourist visa, however isn't it easier to go from having a work permit to a new employer, rather than having to start from zero applying for a Z-Visa etc?

 

Thank you very much for your help.

 

Matt.

[Shelley]

That sounds like a complicated situation.

 

I am not the person to help, but I just wanted to say hello and welcome to the forums.

 

If anyone here can help, I am sure they will.

 

Good luck.