However, we have been hearing from some of our viewers that the Chinese government may be tightening its grip on some aspects of obtaining a work visa. We are hearing that:

1. It is much harder now to obtain a work visa from a public institution if you do not have a four-year bachelor’s degree. While a Bachelor’s degree has always been required by the government, teachers have often been able to get away with just having a TESOL certificate, especially if the institution really needed teachers.
2. In the past, public institutions were interested in hiring foreign teachers right out of college. This may be changing now as institutions are looking for teachers who have been out of University for at least 2 years and have some teaching experience.
3. Schools across the country are still able to hire teachers who are here in China on an L visa. We had been hearing earlier in the year that perhaps teachers were going to start being forced to leave the country first and then apply for a Z-visa but so far, it seems that this has not been enforced.

If you have any information about these three points or anything to add to our visa update, please leave us a comment below. As always, we welcome your stories and questions about obtaining visas in China.