Working Legally as an Int'l Student in China
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On January 1, 2016, the School of International Education of the China Pharmaceutical University issued a notice clarifying that international students currently enrolled in schools in Nanjing can be engaged in temporary employment and obtain some labor remuneration in accordance with the laws.
An excerpt of the post is shown below.
As far as I know, this is the only official document clarifying working for international students that has been posted in English. If you want to read the full post, tap the card below and then choose "message" (if you don't see "message" then you need to follow the account first.) to go to the chat section and then send "Study" to receive the full official post.
But as we all know, the student visa and residence permit clearly states that students can not partake in any activities to make money in China. Still, there are some students who are working legally in China and I'll give a few examples below.
Legal
Joshua from Equatorial Guinea, worked as a Portuguese teacher at his university while pursuing a master's degree in the early 2010s. He was filling for a position after a teacher left the University and went to the United States to pursue further studies.
Ethan (pseudonym) from Canada worked as an English language instructor at HUST while studying Chinese in the same university.
Lucas from the DRC taught French to students at a foreign exchange program preparatory school in central China while studying for his master's degree in Chongqing in early 2010s.
Friedrich from South Africa worked at the Bank of China while pursuing his master's degree in Liaoning in 2016-2017.
William, a semiconductor technology prodigy from Germany, was recruited by a company in central China as soon as he started studying bachelor degree at a university in central China in the early 2000s.
These are just a few examples and they all had permission from their relevant universities, had signed a contract with the employer and the contract was verified by their international students office management before they took the job.
Gray Area
Joel from Tanzania worked at his supervisor's office in central China while studying for his master's degree in the late 2000s. His supervisor paid him 3,000 yuan each month just to show up at his office when he was needed, a classic case of a foreign face for a company. He didn't sign any contract and he never got into any trouble.
His instructor exploited a loophole in the system, that is, the professor can give allowance to a research student. But Joel was not doing any research work at the office, he only needed to show up.
Illegal
Andre (pseudonym) from South Africa, worked as a marketing person for a company in Shenzhen while studying at a university in the city during the late 2010s. He got the job through introduction by a friend and did not obtain a study-work license. You can imagine the troubles he went through after immigration authorities paid him a visit asking questions about his employment status at the company.
Study-work License
Study-work license was put into effect in China in 2013. Before that, for a student to work legally in China, they would need to be in a category of a rare talent that is badly needed in China. Like the German prodigy we have seen above or an urgently needed position that has to be filled such as the Canadian and the Equatorial Guinean we have seen above.
Interns such as the one who worked for a Bank of China were and are still common in the country, so I would not write much about this subject, you can read all about internships in this article.
It's needless to say, but I will still mention that to work in China, one needs a work permit. And this not only applies to students, but also to tourists, family member visitors, married people, etc.
So, in short, students with student visa and residence permit still up to this day, need a work permit to work in the country.
That's were a study-work license comes to play for students.
Since it's first implementation in 2013 and until the latest notice published on December 29, 2021 by the Ministry of Education, study-work license articles stipulates that a student can not just work under student visa or residence permit—one can't start to legally look for jobs just because they have a student visa or residence permit (with study as a purpose).
A study-work license is issued after an approval from the university that the student is currently enrolled in, it makes it legal for a student to work part-time jobs or take full-time employment while pursuing their studies in the country.
To get this permit is extemely difficult, although not impossible, as the schools in China expect their international students to concentrate in studies and spend less time on distractions.
The difficulty is also attributed to the fact that the majority of the international student office staff are not aware of the study-work license. Just a cursory enquiry by BAFLA reporters to more than 20 universities revealed that most of them didn't know about this permit.
But some schools and regions have officially announced that they are making adjustments on the management of study-work license to their international students, albeit, none of these announcements are in English language.
And this explains why many students, employers and recruiters are not aware of this, and they will just conclude that students are not allowed to work in China, oblivious to the fact that with proper documents a student can work legally in China.
Some Examples
Guangxi University of Science and Technology issued a notice on the implementation of the pilot management of international students study-work program in October, 28, 2020.
Hunan province's Higher Education Department issued a circular announcing management of study-work license for international students studying in the province in January 2020.
Even earlier, in 2015, a circular by the National Immigration Authority mentioned that if an international student needed to work while studying, they must declare their situation to the local immigration authority.
In January 2018, Hainan PSB issued a circular directing schools in the province to properly issue study-work license for international students who are working outside the campus.
And these are just a few I managed to gather after quick search and inquiry on relevant bodies concerning the matter.
What?
In conclusion, students can WORK LEGALLY in China since 2013, but they can not work using a student visa or a residence permit, they need to apply for a study-work license which must be approved by their university and relevant authorities (PSB, NIA, etc).
The latest announcement by the Ministry of Education, is published in Chinese and there is no official document in English, but it is mostly the same as the earlier announcements (See the introduction of this post) but has made ammendments to the time limit and requirements on part time and full time employment to students who are on study-work permits.
The time limit is capped at 8 hours per week and a maximum of 40 hours a month, but during summer and winter holidays, the cap will be relaxed to 16 hours a week.
But note, students are required to get approval from their relevant university along with the local immigration authority to be able to work legally in China.
In conclusion, the concept of students not being able to work legally in China has been thoroughly misunderstood or misinterpreted. I hope this article has answered most of your questions on how to work in China as a student, legally.
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