Visa for PhD and postdoc

[Sal]

Dear Hamad,

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

Will you please try answering following queries. I will be grateful

 

1, How long, after the positive decision has been made on your application, you are provided with admission notice/invitation letter?

 

2, What kind of salary package post docs are offered at Fudan, especially at school of management?

 

3. Is separate residence given to fellows who are willing to live with their families? Is this residence financed by university or fellow has to finance it herself/himself?

 

4. Is there a prerequisite for post docs regarding publication at SSCI/SCI impact factor journals? I mean how post doc work is evaluated by the school/supervisor?

 

I'll wait for your answer. Thanks mate.

[Hamad1]

Hi Sal,

 

First of all, congratulations on being accepted in the school of management. I have tried to answer your questions:

 

1. I think that it was like this for people applying in winters: Application submitted: Nov., Decision: Jan., Letter received (based on ChenZH's reply): End of Jan. So, I would say 1-2 months seems to be a normal time, but ChenZH can shed more light on it. I do not know about Fall semester applications.

 

2. I do not know about the school of management, but for engineering school I was told that it would be a maximum of 100,000 RMB/year. It may vary from school to school.

 

3. The residence is separate for everyone, the old residence has an apartment with one room and attached bathroom, kitchens are common. I saw people with families living in same building. For the new residence I am not sure about the number of rooms, but you can ask your supervisor to arrange the residence and inform him/her that you will bring your family. You have to pay for the residence. I think around Fudan, the university residence will be the cheapest, so it is better to stay there. Also make sure that the residence is rented out in your name as the university has to register your address with the Public Security Bureau (For private residence you have to go yourself to the Public Security Bureau Office with the landlord). I do not know how the registration works for the foreigners who have a family staying with them at the university residence, but the university will know about it so it is better to tell them your requirements so that they can give you the information. I think ChenZH must have passed by this stage so he can inform you with more recent information.

 

4. Normally in China, there is a lot of emphasis on publishing in high impact factor journals, but again, it depends on your field. In some fields it is easier to publish, while in others it takes a long time to get anything published. You can check your supervisor's profile and see where he/she and his/her students publish. I think the supervisor will understand and accommodate the required publication time/effort. Still, it is better to have some submitted/provisionally accepted/accepted publications as soon as possible.

 

I am sure you will have a very good experience there, Good Luck! 

[ChenZH]

Hi Sal,

Sorry for the late reply. Congratulations on getting the post-doc fellowship.

 

1. Just as Hamad has kindly summarized, I applied sometime in Nov/Dec and received my offer letter in Jan/Feb. The professor assigned one of his students to help me, so I'm not sure if that expedited the process a bit.

 

2. At the risk of sounding like I'm just reiterating what Hamad said above, I believe PDF salary is very dependent on the department (I think it could even be different within the department, depending on the professors). So I would pass on the suggestion that I received, that you could simply ask your future supervisor regarding this. I heard it is a very common practice in China and that you should not hesitate to ask about it, making it clear before you start. I did not do it due to my being overly reserved though. I believe it's around 100k-150k (after tax deduction). The salary varies from month-to-month, so I still don't know how much I'm getting exactly.

 

3. You do have to pay for the residence yourself. I did hear something similar to what Hamad said, that it is cheaper to rent from the university than if you were to rent it yourself in Shanghai though (around 2000/month vs. maybe 5000/month). Unfortunately (well, not for me..), this was being taken care of for me by the super helpful student, so I don't know much about it. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. I do believe you could live with your family.

 

4. This again depends on your professors (I don't think this applies only in China, as each professor would have his/her own expectation. I recently overheard that a professor in Australia expects at least 5 papers/year from each post-doc. Mine's pretty chill though). Seeing as our major is very different, I am not comfortable to speculate what it's like on your field. However, if your goal is to secure an academic position, you yourself would want to publish at least several high-quality papers during your post-doc anyway (at least that's how it is in my field). 

 

Sorry for not being able to help much and if I sound too vague. However, these kinds of things are very dependent on your professor/department (at least that's the impression that I got). All the best for your PDF! The people that I have met here are friendly, hospitable, and eager to help.

 

@Hamad, very unfortunate that you didn't take it. Was looking forward to meet. Are you doing PDF in another country then?

[Sal]

Dear Hammad, Thank you very much for detail answers. This was very helpful indeed. Much obliged

 

Dear ChenZH, Thanks for your answers and sharing your experiences. Much appreciated  

Today my professor mailed me that my salary would be partly financed by the funding he receives from government and partly by the school. So I did not get the exact answer. Moreover, he also asserted that post doc project(s) will be defended in front of a committee after 2 years (just like PhD defense we went through, perhaps?). And minimum requirement stipulated by school is 3 publications in SSCI journals within time span of 2 years. So, it does not sound chill there    

[ChenZH]

Wow, I havent heard that kind of requirement from my prof (granted I've never asked). A previous postdoc in my group didn't publish anything after 2 years, so it wasn't something that I worry about. Ignorance is bliss, I guess (for now haha).

Best of luck, Sal. Let me know if I could once again be of no help and give you more vague answers.

[Hamad1]

Hi Sal,

 

I heard that at the end of your postdoc in Fudan, the fellow receives a certificate of completion. I also heard from a professor at another Chinese university that postdocs have to make presentation of their work, so perhaps this is what your professor was talking about, although these rules vary from one university to another. As far as publishing is concerned, it may depend on the requirement of the professor/school, or it may not be a formal requirement, but rather an informal requirement. You can confirm by seeing the publication profile of your professor and his/her students. As far as salary is concerned, I think you need to get a little more information about the salary, perhaps an estimated amount. I think it is okay to ask more information about it from your professor as a salary range should be known. Part of the salary coming form the government and the other part coming from the school is normal, this is what I was told. Also, I was told by the professor at Fudan that there would be no tax on the salary, so you may need to ask that. You can email a list of questions like: Salary amount? Tax? Residence for family? How much rent?

 

@Chen Yes unfortunately it got delayed too much beyond my expectations and I started a job for a company after waiting for a few months, so it was not possible to pursue the PDF further, hope all is well for you. 

[Daly CH]

Hi , 

I read all the answers and I'm very happy to find some important informations about a PostDoc in China.Well , I get an offer from the University of Shenyang (salary about 90000 rmb in year) and they will pay also the apartment cost.

But, my problem is that the University want that I sent by post:

1.     Original certification of degree of doctor;

2.     Original passport;

They want the original passeport to prepare the official invitation and after 2 months they will send me my documents with the invitation.

I replay that I can only sent a copy from my passeport and I don't why they want the original one ?

Please help me ? what I can do in this situation?

[ChenZH]

Hi Daly,

 

I did NOT send my original certificate nor my passport to the university. I only provided them with an e-copy of these documents. They then mailed an original offer letter/invitation for me to apply visa with.

 

I'm not sure if the rule has changed or if each university has its own process, but that sounds odd to me. Personally, I don't know if I would mail my original certificate and passport to obtain an offer letter...

 

Perhaps you can contact international students/post-doc in Shenyang University to share their experience? Seems like for students they only require scanned copy of the documents instead of the original (http://syu.ciss.org.cn/Admissions/49277)

[Daly CH]

Hi Chen,

Thank you very much for your answer. Me too I find this demand strange.

Well , for the certificate I can sent the English version no problem , but for the passeport it is illegal here in my country to sent it by post.

I don't know what I can do in this situation , but if they don't accept the scanned copy I think at the end , I don't have any choice and I will refuse the offer 

[MJ]

Hey guys, So happy to find this forum. I am moving to Shanghai at the end of April and supposed to work as a postdoc at Fudan uni. I have 3 questions.

1: Could you please let me know where the location of the new building for postdoc is? they told me that I will get a 60m2 single apartment there!

2: since my salary will be around 15000(I am not sure) I am wondering whether it would be enough for 2 (my partner and I) or not?

3: Is the insurance included in the contract or we should pay from our salary?

Thank you so much in advance

 

[Evolim]

Hi, all!

this winter i get PIFI grant for Beijing institution, after i needed to change the group, and till now process of the job permission is continuos!!! How i was informed, it was rejected, and submitted newly. also, i listen a lot, that z viza politic is changed this year. anybody know which reasons could be for the work permission rejection?

[Evolim]

Finely, from the instituton told me that the main problem was the working experience, which for job permission must be discontinouce (with no intervals more than 6 month), and i was not working during post-doc such in my field... Seems very restrictive, somebody now about those details for job permission? I have PhD degree from university of Barcelona, and two years of practice, which was included in my PhD-contract.

[Dr. Sadeh]

Hi 

recently, i talked to a professor for my postdoc study. but I don't know what kind of visa can I apply for (Z or X)? also I don't know the conditions in the contract!

 

[Hamad1]

According to my knowledge, different cities have different visa types for postdocs (It may have have changed in the last year). In some cities, X visa is needed, while in other cities, Z visa is needed. You can ask the professor to inquire about the type of visa from the International office of the university, and then apply the type of visa that the university tells you to apply for. 

[Dr. Sadeh]

thanks Hamad, and do u know what they gonna ask me in the Skype interview?