Two of my co-workers teaching in Beijing were arrested last week by the Chinese visa cops (PSB). They both had Z visa and real diplomas so I thought they might have been caught with some pot or something. Then my other colleague sent me this from his CSP newsletter. I thought having a Z visa was good enough to work in China but now I know better!
"The Public Security Bureau of China is now cracking down on a large scale on foreign teachers using illegal Z visas and 132 of them were arrested in the last 27 days alone. It looks like they plan to meet their New Year's pledge to deport 3,000 illegal foreign teachers this year. What is an illegal Z visa?
It is a visa sponsored by a third party and not your actual employer. So if you look at your invitation letter and it does not match the legal name on your contract or the schools website or their SAIC business license, you have been bamboozled and are at risk of being arrested and deported. Granted there is a 50% you will not get caught. But do you want to risk a felony conviction on basically a coin toss?
A guy named Guo Bin was just recently arrested in Beijing and the PSB is going through his hard drive and cell phone records as you read these words. If you got your visa through him or any other shady broker or unregistered black agent who charged you a fee to get a job or visa in China, CHECK YOUR INVITATION LETTER NOW, and voluntarily leave China before you get caught, or demand that your employer get you a new Z visa in THEIR name. If they refuse, check with SAFEA in your Province if your employer is even allowed to hire foreigners.
This is now the biggest scam targeting foreign English teachers in China and it is one of the best kept secrets. Please warn your colleagues."
Why is it such a pain in the butt to work in China? It seems if we do not do everything ourselves we will get ripped off!
China Foreign Teachers: Watch Out For Illegal Z Visa Scam!
Moderator: Joe
Re: China Foreign Teachers: Watch Out For Illegal Z Visa Scam!
This is NOT a new scam friend. The agents have been doing this for years. The only "new" thing is that the PSB has adopted a "no tolerance" policy on work visas and they have gone from one extreme of selective enforcement in 2012 to "arrest all who are not 100% legal" Their chief of enforcement Captain Zhou Lai pledged to arrest 3,000 illegal foreign teachers in 2016 right after the Chinese New Year on BTV News following some incident where a foreign teacher from America spanked an unruly student in a primary school.
Re: China Foreign Teachers: Watch Out For Illegal Z Visa Scam!
The problem is the agents and recruiters do not explain these things to the newbies and they find out like these 49 teachers who got to spend their Christmas in a Chinese jail. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/962377.shtml
Re: China Foreign Teachers: Watch Out For Illegal Z Visa Scam!
Guess what guys? The Chinese government raised their reward bounty to 10,000 yuan and their posters in the post office and some subways are telling Chinese locals it is their "duty" to report "loud, rude, and suspicious foreigners who may be working illegally in China"!!!!! To make matters worse, check this out...http://eslwatch.info/forum/china/76-chi ... e-psb.html