Visas, Taxes, and Legalities - What should I do? laowai - June 20, 2005 - 03:49 PM Post subject: What should I do?
Hello everybody! This is my first time posting. I have a few questions about going to college in China.
Should I wait until being accepted into a university to apply for a student visa or would it be best to get a visa first.
Secondly, I'm going to need to get some kind of job to support myself while I'm in college. Does a student visa allow me to work? And if it dosen't, when should I apply for a work visa, before or after arriving in China? And what kind of job would I be able to get? And last but not least, what are the requirements to get a work visa, and/or a student visa?
Thank you for your patience. Any help would be much appreciated.
olesechka - June 20, 2005 - 09:51 PM Post subject:
Welcome on board!
Quote:
Should I wait until being accepted into a university to apply for a student visa or would it be best to get a visa first.
It probably depends on the college. If you pay for your studies then most probably they will accept you (even if there are too many applicants, they tend not to refuse any money). So this way you can start with your visa. But why do you need to hurry? Usually it is not very long.
About different types of visa you can come with L (tourist) visa and then change it here into X(student) visa. Or you can ask the college to send you a letter that you are accepted and apply to the Chinese Consulate in your country for X visa. In both ways once you arrive you will have to pass a medical examination(unless you bring ALL of the originals of all the tests) and register yourself (college will provide required documents). So I would say it more depends on teh cost of X and L visa. X visa here is not expensive at all, if I am not wrong about 440 yuans. If you pay for one semester, then you will have a new X visa close to the expiry date and pay again the same sum, otherwise the visa price will be for 1 year.
As for working, do not know for sure. But it seems to me that you are not allowed officially to work under X visa. However many do work and never have any problems. I do not believe yu can have X and Z (working) visas at the same time. The best chance for you as work is to teach English. Other languages are rarely demanded and even if English is not your mothertongue you still can find a job ( a bit more difficult, though). 50 yuans per hour is the lowest that you can be offered for teaching, it IS low. 100-150 yuans/hour is a good deal for part-time.
Looks like I covered all questions. Again for X visa your college will provide you with necessary documents, if you have a contract for work you can make a Z visa, but looks like this is not your case.
Good luck!
laowai - June 21, 2005 - 05:31 AM Post subject:
Thanks for the welcome!
And thanks for answering my questions. The answers were better than I expected to get. It's hard to get info on China.
As far as not beaing able to get Z visa, I wonder if I can't amend the student visa to allow for a part time job like they do in Japan?
I'm not sure how good I'd be at teaching English. I don't know where I'd start. Probably just use textbooks and coach with pronunciation?
Thanks again for all of your help. Much appreciated!
