Work Permit cancelled. What about my Residence Permit?

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … It was time to move from one job to another as a foreigner in China. It was a time of anxiety and a time of promise. You get the picture…

One of the key issues in changing jobs as a foreigner in China is what happens to the  residence permit for work (RPw) after the work permit (WP) is cancelled. Some say you have to keep the RPw to apply for a new WP, some say you have to cancel the RPw after the WP is cancelled. And both positions are right, at least some of the time with law and practice caught in a symbiosis seemingly striving for integration despite fundamental and tragic separation, the rose and the briar of Chinese bureaucratic practice.

This state of connected separation between the Exit Entry Administration (EEA)/RP side and the Foreign Expert Bureau (FEB)/WP side of work related documents for foreigners in China means that the constraints of the two sides create contradictions in a clash that practitioners are forced to solve with creative adaptations in practice. This leads to what I call the the issue of the Beijing system vs. the Shanghai system. In the former, if you apply for a new RPw and have a valid RPw when you do so, the EEA will not check or will ignore the dates of issue for your Contract Release Letter and/or your WP Cancellation Letter. Thus for people getting a new RPw, the 10 day rule in Exit Entry Administration Law (EEAL) 33 is, in effect, suspended. This works with a strict interpretation of FEB rules that only allow applicants with the trifecta of valid RPw, WP Cancellation Letter, and similar job title to apply for a new work permit using “update of employer” (option 2, the one with the least paperwork) in the domestic (境内) channel of the FEB online WP application system (formally “Service System for Foreigners Working in China” https://fuwu.most.gov.cn/lhgzweb/).

In the Shanghai system, the 10 day rule is enforced. So if you go over 10 days from the issue date on your Contract Release Letter or WP Cancellation Letter (not exactly sure which trumps the other in practice in any particular locale) you are likely to be fined. What you do in the Shanghai system to move from one RPw (with one company) to a new RPw (with another company) is to, within 10 days of leaving the first company, get a stay permit, and then cancel the stay permit when the new RPw is issued. This is combined with the ability to apply for a WP using the domestic channel even when on a stay permit which exists in Shanghai, but not for most people in Beijing as noted above. These are two ways to solve the problem that the 10 rule does not actually allow enough time for almost anyone to apply for and get a new WP.

Note: These practices, though long standing, could change at any time, or could even have changed by the time you read this. Thus there is always the possibility that you would be fined under EEAL 76.4 for exceeding 10 day time limit in EEAL 33. It is also possible for employers to apply to the EEA to have an RPw cancelled (EEAL 67; Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners [RAEEF] 34, 35) which could put one immediately in overstay. Thus in most cases it is advisable and prudent to check in with the EEA within 10 days of producing any paperwork that documents leaving a job.

References

Entry Exit Administration Law (EEAL)

http://english.www.gov.cn/archive/laws_regulations/2014/09/22/content_281474988553532.htm

中华人民共和国出境入境管理法

http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2012-06/30/content_2174944.htm

Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners

http://cs.mfa.gov.cn/wgrlh/flfg/t1060665.shtml

http://cs.mfa.gov.cn/wgrlh/lhqz/lhqzjjs/t1120987.shtml

中华人民共和国外国人入境出境管理条例

http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2013-07/22/content_2477673.htm

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