Ask Headmaster Ken

I have a cart before the horse question...I am moving to Chengdu and getting married. We will make our Chengdu our permanent home. I know once we are married, it is a simple matter to get a residency permit. I want my residency permit based on my marriage, not on a school/employer. However, once I am there and settled, I would like to teach English. I have more than the required degrees. What I am still confused about is...how does my L visa and residency permit based on marriage convert to a Z visa so I can legally work once I am in China? Will I have to go to the expense of making a Rambo run to HK for the day? Can this be done in an administrative way in Chengdu? Thanks!

There are three basic and very different issues here: visas, residency, and employability.

The type of visa you should apply for depends entirely on your purpose for entering China, e.g., tourism, education, employment, etc.

Foreigners who will reside in China for more than a month should apply for a residency permit within 30 days of arrival and that generally applies to students, businessmen, and foreign teachers.

Foreigners who are married to a Chinese national for a period of at least five years may apply for permanent residency. For a copy of that law in English, please see Permanent Residence Requirements for Foreigners in the appendix of our guide. This is by no means a simple or automatic process. As a matter of practice, most public security bureaus (PSBs) simply issue perpetually renewing 90-day tourist visas to foreigners married to Chinese nationals, especially if they own an apartment.

We have no confirmation of foreigners who have successfully been able to convert an L- or F-visa into a Z-visa by traveling to Hong Kong since several months before the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. It is possible that you might be able to find a private school whose owner has sufficient guanxi with the local PSB to do that but, it is highly unlikely a university will attempt it on your behalf. We know of at least one foreign teacher who recently allowed himself to be talked into entering China to teach on an F-visa, as he was assured this would be no problem, only to be later told that he would have to return back to his home country to reenter China with a Z-visa.