Ask Headmaster Ken

Hi Headmaster Ken!

I just finished up a semester studying at a university in China, and now I want to teach English for the following year. I have found a school in a second tier city that I am very interested in working for, but I am concerned that they might not be able to provide me with a legal Z-visa.

Here is the situation: the school I am interested in is a large training center in China which has many branches in many different provinces. My branch is brand new and just opened for business in the last month. It is the company's first school in this city, and also the first school in this province.

My student visa expires at the end of September, and they want to start processing the paperwork for the Z-visa now. I need to go to Hong Kong and apply at the consulate there. I am not clear if our branch is able to get me a visa. It sounds like they have some sketchy plan to have another branch (which is helping us to set up the school) apply for my residence permit, and then tell the local government that I work at the other school, but am being temporarily sent to the new branch. The other branch that is helping us is in a neighboring province.

I am the first foreign teacher that they have hired in this province, so I am not really sure what will happen! Does this sounds like something that could work?

Also, I have a second question. Some people have said that Hong Kong is not issuing Z-visas right now, and they ask people to return to their home countries to apply. Is this true? I know people who claim to have done it recently, but I hear many conflicting things from different people. I have a U.S. passport．

The SAFEA license is specific to a city. A new school would not have an SAFEA license.

The proper way to issue visas is to form a written agreement with a local governmental entity that can issue visas.

However, it is not uncommon--although technically not in full compliance with the letter of the law--for chains to issue visas from a nearby chain for the new branch employees.

If the chain of schools is well established, they can usually get away with this with little or no difficulty.

We don't have sources in Hong Kong who can advise us as to the current visa situation. Your school should provide you with an invitation letter that specifies Hong Kong as the place where the visa must be processed.