Consider all of this to be a hypothetical proposal.

We are relocating to Shanghai with our two very young boys. In the US, the boys are kept during the day by a very dear "Aunt" that is not a blood relative, but is definitely one of the family. We pay her a salary as a nanny, but the word "nanny" sells her short on what she means to us.

She's willing to come with us for our ExPat (3 years) so she can stay with the boys & live the adventure with us. Our company is will to count her as a dependent for living, etc, but they can't get her a visa & work permit.

Through our relo company, we found a nanny agency that can get her a 1 year F-visa (no work permit), so she can stay with us. The relo company tells us they can handle her residence permit "no problem". We'll continue to pay her in the US as we have been, so the work permit is not a huge issue.

In China, she will simply be our Aunt (in the English sense of the word), and nobody in China will really be aware we are still paying her in the US. I will handle her payroll in the US just like I have been, so the IRS won't really care where she is, either.

I have a few questions about our plan:
- Does "no problem" really mean NO PROBLEM in China?
- How does the residence permit work? Will she have any issue leaving & returning? Does the residence permit supercede the 30 day limit on an F-visa?
- I know if somebody at the PSB gets a bug up their butt, deportation for all of us is possible. Is that a very remote occurance (i.e., getting struck by lightening) or a real possibility (i.e., getting ripped off by a taxi driver). Again, we're not paying her in RMB & from the China side, she's just a long-term guest of the family.

Thanks in advance.

1. No problem doesn't mean no problem, if you get caught in a spot check and your nanny isn't a Caucasian you'll get deported immediately
2. Residence Visa is valid for 1 year and you can leave and reenter as often as you like (I'm guessing that the Visa you're going to get is obtained illegally as you can only get a valid residence permit if you're having a Z-visa (work permit) or a spouse)
3. You're always at risk if you get caught in a spot check or get reported by your neighbour because they don't like your nanny. In 2006 more than 50 families were deported among those CEO's and GM's

She can only get a residence permit if she is on either a "Z" work visa or an "X" student visa. Otherwise, she'll be required to keep within the limits of her "F" business visa or "L" tourist visa which may very well mean she needs to make periodic trips out of the country.

As long as your "Aunt" is white and a native English speaker, chances are you can pull it off on an "L" or "F" visa without getting hit by lightening.

On the other hand, if she isn't white and / or you try the illegal residence permit trick, your chances of an early retirement from China are about the same as getting ripped of by a taxi driver.

Even if Horse's statistics were true, 50 families out of an estimated > 1 million foreign families in Shanghai shouldn't be a great concern.

Depending on what this "relocation agency" is charging you you might want to consider doing this yourself. Assuming that the auntie is from a western country you can get her an L tourist visa to come to China, and then use a local agency like visainchina, or emoo to get an 1 year F visa (check out their sites for pricing information). With the 1 year F visa the visa is valid for 1 year from the date of last entry into china. At that point she'll have to leave and re-enter China on another valid visa (go to HK for example).

BTW, are there are really > 1 mio foreign families in Shanghai? That seems like an incredibly high number to me.

Yeah, I thought so, too, but this is what the Public Security Ministry claims. They say there are about 2.? million in China and more than half in Shanghai. Of course, this could be a lot like any other statistics in China.

Is it possible to get an "L" or "F" with a one-year continuous stay period? They change the visa rules so much on those things.

According to last years report there should be app. 120.000 working expats in Shanghai and 50 caught is the unofficial number, I'm trying to see if I cat "obtain" the real number through a friend working for the government.

I wonder what "working expats" means? I would guess expats with a Z-visa... if that is the case then there certainly are many many more working illegally on F visas and such.

It certainly was possible to get a one year continuous stay F visa for a Canadian earlier on in the year. The easiest way to find out is to call one of the agencies and ask

Yes dfoo,

Its common knowledge for expats living in Shanghai that they can get a 1 year continuous stay F business visa. Quite simple and easy to process.