Ask Headmaster Ken

Hi Ken,

My situation is "unusual". I am a degreed and CELTA-qualified experienced English teacher at a private school in Beijing. I am 64.

My contract does not expire until-mid 2012, but my Z-visa (year to year) expires June 27--just days after I turn 65. My school says it believes it cannot obtain a further visa for me to teach my final contract year because on the application for that final year I would be 65 (though not OVER 65).

Complicating the issue is some suggestion that if the head of HR (a woman with a degree of guanxi) had not retired this last week or so such a VISA extension WOULD (have been) be possible.

IS THERE A RULE? A STATUTE? A REGULATION? or is my school not prepared to go the extra mile? Am I being discriminated against by my employer or the Chinese Government or some part of it? Can accept the latter, not the former.

It's important to understand that China has laws, lots of laws, of which many are routinely enforced and some which are only selectively enforced.

In China, local authorities have a LOT of leeway in interpreting and enforcing regulations. So, while one official may see a particular color as black, his coworker at the next desk may see the same color as white.

That is why it is utterly pointless to appeal based on the wording of any regulation. If the law says "Mailboxes MUST and SHALL all be painted white--WITHOUT EXCEPTION", a local official may interpret that to mean, "some mailboxes, in some circumstances, may be painted black" and he'd be within his rights to do so.

So if you are being told you are not going to be issued a further visa, that decision probably has been already made. The reason probably has little, if anything, to do with any regulation, and you'll waste energy and time fighting a phantom trying to find the real reason or countering the decision.

So, yes, some 70-plus-year-olds are free to work in places in China. And, apparently, you are not, not in your specific location.

If you are looking for a solution, then I'd suggest polishing your resume and finding a new job.

It's not a matter of "accepting" or not accepting how decisions are made in China. Not anymore than one accepts the weather. Both are monolithic entities made up of innumerable, independent, and often conflicting forces that sometimes manifest themselves arbitrarily and capriciously at the local level.

One could attempt to fight it, but the lack of support at the local level is a very strong indicator that you'd be tilting at windmills.

Best wishes.

PS. You can find FTs over 70 years of age teaching in China.