Click Here to Subsribe to the 'Ask Jean about China' Feed Dear Jean,
I recently found a great teaching job in the south part of China. Next week, I am supposed to meet a school representative who will give me the contract to sign. There is one problem, however, that is bothering me about this school. They have told me that they cannot get me a work visa. When I asked how I could work with without a permit, they said that I could use my tourist visa and that they would even pay to have me go to Hong Kong and have it renewed every couple of months. This job is exactly what I am looking for but I am unsure about the visa situation. Should I go for it?
Thank You,
James
Jean answers James’ question
Dear James,
Please do NOT sign that contract or have anything further to do with that school. Schools that are unwilling to obtain a work visa for their employees almost always have something to hide. Teaching on a tourist visa is a crime that could easily send you to jail or out of the country. Besides that, if a school is so willing to break Chinese law, what makes you think that they are going to honor your contract? They are cheating the government and they will be glad to cheat you as well.
There are plenty of legitimate schools out there that will help you to work in China legally. Please, for your safety and peace of mind, forget about working at this school.
Sincerely,
Jean
Ask Jean about China is a weekly feature on TeachAbroadChina.com. We welcome any questions related to living and working in China. Feel free to submit your questions by clicking here. We look forward to hearing from you.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Agree, don’t get into that situation. Know many horror type stories to do with working on T-vizas & illegal work vizas..there’s better work on offer without the need to have that stress.
[Reply]
I work for a school that has given me a legitimate work visa, but I never knew that the schools who hire teachers on tourist visas are actually breaking the law!
I have friends who are already involved in such a situation. They are under contract to a school that is providing them with only a tourist visa. So here’s the question:
If I tell them of how illegal this is and they proceed to break contract with that school, could the school hit them with breach of contract stuff that might prevent them from teaching at other schools?
[Reply]