Z visa MA degree but without work expriences

[mingandjuan]

Hi there,

 

I graduated 2 years ago with a Bachelor's degree and last year November with a MA in Arts degree. Right now I want to find a job in China (I studied Chinese Art History!!). I've already got some interviews but they asked me to figure out the visa issue by myself. So far as I know, without two years work experiences I can't get a Z visa. I saw some people said that you can modify your resume and add some work experiences, but I don't know how actually I can do that. Do I need to find a sophisticated visa agency? Does everyone have recommendation, sine there are full of scam on website? Or is that impossible for me to work in cities like Beijing or Shanghai? If that was true, what are other possible cities I can choose? I looked up some cities like Hangzhou, Xi'an... all of them require the work experiences thing. I really want to work in China. Does everyone have any suggestions?

 

Thanks a lot.

[LinZhenPu]

The two years experience rule isn't greatly enforced and usually isn't a problem, but I think the biggest problem in your case is that your potential employers have told you to figure out the visa issue by yourself. That is a big red flag, your in employer is an integral part of applying for a Z Visa and subsequently your work permit will be tied to that employer. The basis of a Z working visa application is that you have a job offer from a company that has a permit for employing foreigners. You need specific paperwork from your employer to be submitted and if they have indicated they won't be part of the process in getting you a visa then you won't be able to get a legal working visa by working for them.

Keep searching around for employers until you find one who is familiar with the process and has the requisite paperwork and permit and is wiling to offer you a job. Most likely those who have interviewed with you already and have told you to figure out the process yourself are hoping you will coming to China on a tourist visa and work for cash in hand. You risk getting screwed over on your wages and deported and blacklisted from re-entering the country for 10 years.

It would help if you mentioned what kind of work you're looking for. If it's English Teaching you want to do, it is best to apply for a big chain school like English First if you are applying from outside the country.

If you have savings in the bank to support yourself you can come to China on a tourist L visa and then do some legwork yourself handing in your resume to various schools. Secure a job offer from a school that can prove to you that they are familiar with the process of legally employing foreigners, then fly back to your own country to apply for a working Z visa. Using this method, you can find yourself a job with better pay and better conditions than applying through agencies/applying for a big chain school.

It's best to do this in lower tier cities since you don't have any teaching experience, outside of Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.

But if you don't have much savings, apply to English First or a similar company, build up your experience and English teaching credentials (ie. CELTA, Trinity College) for two years and then you will be able to get a good job.

Don't come to China to work without a Z visa. Coming to China to find work on an L visa is OK as long as you don't work to earn money in China while on your L visa.

 

BTW, the fact that you have an MA is a good thing because you will be given a higher paid position. Maybe not at first but definitely after two years of teaching experience in China.

[mingandjuan]

Thanks for LinZhenPu's reply. That's really helpful.

 

My case might be a little bit different, because I am a Chinese Canadian who can speak Chinese fluently. Since graduating I have been searching for jobs relating to my study area in Canada, but found nothing. All I can do are jobs like office administration, but mostly of these kind of jobs require many years experiences. I was so depressed by this long term job searching, so I'm thinking about going abroad to find more opportunities. I love books, so I want to work in publishing houses or something like book copyrights agency, which allow me to use Chinese, English and Japanese (I do speak Japanese as well). Most publishing houses are located in Beijing and Shanghai, but I don't think hat they could get a Z visa for me. I'm still searching for jobs in Canada desperately and feeling so overwhelmed by whether I should forget about going to Chinese completely or I should come to Chinese doing some legworks. Or should I get a TEASL certification and come to teach English. 

 

Even if I found jobs in Canada, it won't be relative to neither my study area nor the jobs I want to do in China. Is it that I'm just a daydreamer to think about working in China?

[LinZhenPu]

I would say yes you are a daydreamer, the fact of the matter is you can't get a regular job in China unless it's something that can't be adequately field with someone from the local workforce.

Except for the fact you can speak Japanese as well as Chinese and English. How good is your Japanese? Did you do any Japanese studies in either of your Arts degrees? I can imagine that you might find a job in some publishing house in China that needs someone with skills in Chinese and Japanese with English being an added bonus, such a position might be harder to fill with someone from the local work force. Although Japanese is quite a popular language for Chinese people to learn (my Chinese wife is fluent in it having lived in Japan for over 10 years) I don't know how many Chinese people living in China have a high level of Japanese.

Anyway, why don't you go and get a TEASL certification and come to China to teach English for a year and during that type search for a job that's what you want to do related to your area of study?

I wouldn't assume that the publishing houses in Beijing and Shanghai *can't* get you a Z visa. You have a Master's degree which really counts for something in China. Look at it this way: You have 2 years of post-graduation experience related to your area of study because you went that one step further and got a Master's degree, which took you two years, right? Plus you're nationality is a country that has very good relations with China.

They might not have experience in employing foreigners but if you come to China to teach English for a year you can find out everything an employer needs to be able to employ a foreigner and work with employers who have offered you a job to get all the requisite paperwork in order. If you can find an employer who is willing to take the time and effort to work with you to get a work permit tied to them, then they are probably a good employer to work for.

[mingandjuan]

Thanks for your reply, and that's really helpful. I past the JLPT N1 level, so I have confidence to my Japanese. However, the TEASL certification program is about 1 year + 20hr internship and 30hr observation, so that means it is too long. I think I'm going to continue searching for jobs in Canada. If finally I can't find any, I will think about going back to school to get the certification for teaching English. 

[LinZhenPu]

Oh, you can get an online 120hr TEFL certification that's good enough to teach in China that you can finish easily in 3 weeks. You don't need to go back to school and I wouldn't bother either. i-to-i has a good one where they set you up with an internship for 1 year, no working permit required. (Inside knowledge - how they manage this is that they are affiliated with a university in Hong Kong and teachers in their internship program are officially under a vocational training contract). This is a good way to get into China legally for a whole year and they can even extend the internship to 2 years - suddenly you have the experience needed to meet all the stipulated requirements for a Z visa. Again the 2 year requirement is often overlooked and since you have a Master's degree you're looked upon more favorably.

You might find that you enjoy teaching so much that you want to continue and if so you will most likely get a job offer from the school you do the internship at.

http://www.i-to-i.com/

Congrats on passing the JLPT N1 level. That's the standard needed for foreigners to work as doctors in Japan so should certainly be good enough to work in a publishing house. Yeah man, you might have a shot - but the best bet for you is probably going to be to come to China, ask around, hand your resume into places. Don't trust anyone who wants you to work for them without having a work permit tied to their company.

[Christy]

If they ask you to figure out the visa issue by yourself, you should not consider any of them... Don't work in black, if the company is reliable, they should solve this problem. 

It's really annoying to take care of the visa while you work, you might probably ask some days leave to do the visa, or maybe there are some problems, or maybe the visa might make you worry, anyway, it will make you can't fully concentrated on your job... 

[leeovisa]

Beijing Leeo can help you out the visa issue. For next interview, you can ask if the company can pay fully or partly the fee. 

cn-visa.com/beijing_work_visa_application.asp