Official employment of a foreigner in China

Before any work activities, including IT, you must officially get a job in a Chinese company. The most frequent (and the most reasonable) option is to start your own company, self-assign as a director, and recruit staff from the Chinese locals. Any intermediary can help you create a company (I strongly recommend not to choose some foreign "businessmen" who will easily charge you 20 times more than it actually costs). Naturally, there is another (and much more common) option: an employment in an existing company.  Either way, the process is the same.

Since we agitate for fair work and reported salaries, we need to get a job officially. Unreported employment (and the further, the worse) will end in one of following ways: either "fine and forced removal at a specified time"; or "arrest and deportation".

So, how the employment process goes from the employer's side will be discussed in this article.

The information is relevant for Beijing for 2018. Things did not change much in 2019, the difference between regions is slight. In some localities the documents originals are required, somewhere else the scanned copies work fine. In certain places you have to travel abroad and make an entry under Z-visa, in others, you can change a business visa to a the work one without leaving. And so forth. You can check the details directly with your city SAFEA and with the immigration office.

Before starting employment, the company must be fully registered (that is means, the company stamps must be on the hands, 营业执照 (Business license) must be acquired and a corporate bank account must be opened). If this is not the case, then it is too soon for you to hire someone.

So, all the way can be divided into several big steps:

Have a look at the admin panel of the SAFEA (State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs) , the main government body that issues work permits to foreigners.

The first step is to complete completing  the registration of the company as an employer for foreign employees at http://fwp.safea.gov.cn. In order to do this, you only need basic documents and information about the company (营业执照 - a business license, its photocopy with the company's stamp on it and a power of attorney from the company to its representative). Once you upload everything and submit for verification, it takes a few days - and voila, you can create an application for a foreigner’s work permit.

IMPORTANT NOTE: the portal does not send any letters or notifications, nobody calls you. All progress information is available only after login and checking manually. Accordingly, if someone writes to you or calls, those are scammers in 99% of cases. Of course, all sorts of extraordinary cases can happen, but they are typically excluded.

IMPORTANT NOTE NO 2: absolutely everything on the portal is done free of charge. If somebody asked you to pay, they are scammers in 99% of cases.

Given everything went fine at the first stage, you can proceed to the registration of a the notification letter. This applies only to long-term (up to 5 years) work permits of category B. Here is some information about the types of work permits in the PRC:

Specific permits to work outside the categories - for journalists (J-visa), scientists (R-visa), aircraft crew members and airline ground personnel, and so on.  We will not consider them in this article, they are too specific, very few are required, and if you need such a visa, then you obviously have a better source of information than this article.

Typical work permits are go under the categories A, B, C. Let us dwell on them in more detail, because they cover 99% of cases.So:

A work permits for highly qualified specialists (高端人才）. It can be received by workers in specialties chosen by the state, founders of new enterprises (with special requirements for taxes and profits in the future), talented youth in particular, and so on. For example, the requirements for an investor are investments of at least 500,000 USD (of which 30% must be personal funds of the applicant), while the company must have exclusive rights to intellectual property, scientific and technical developments, etc.

This class of work permit gives no benefits, the only difference from class B is that after three years and compliance with the conditions for taxes, wages, etc. you can get a Chinese green card. Also you can hire as much foreigners as you want without any quotas.

B-type is the main type of work permit, which will be discussed in this article. An applicant must meet one of the following criteria:

a) to have a university diploma of a bachelor's degree at least and relevant work experience in the applied position for minimum of two years;

b) have a certificate of internationally recognized skills or be a specialist, the lack of which is recognized by the government of the PRC and in which there is an urgent need (the list is published on the SAFEA website，Human Resources and Social Insurance Minsitry website etc.);

c) to be a certified foreign language teacher;

d) to claim a Chinese income 4 times higher than the average one in the region for the previous year.  For example, for Shenzhen in 2021, the monthly salary must be at least 39,760 RMB (about $ 5500);

e) meet the requirements of the PRC government agencies of the for foreign specialists;

f) score more than 60 points according to the eligibility criteria. Points are awarded for the size of the salary, for the passing HSK exam, for continuous work experience in China and for a lot of everything else. Detailed lists can be found here. To obtain a work permit of the B class, you need to score at least 60 points, the A class requires 85.

C class are short-term work permits (up to 90 days) and for graduate trainees.

The list of criteria for a category B work permit

We will also discuss the types of documents that those need to be obtained, the procedure for getting them and the rights that they give. The process is described for obtaining a permit when an employee is abroad. If he is already in China (not on a visa, but on a residence permit), the process will be slightly different, but this is a topic for another article. So, in chronological sequence, you need to obtain the following documents and complete the necessary formalities:

1. Issuing a notification letter for foreigner’s work permit (notification letter) (外国人来华工作许可通知) - A4 sheet, which contains information about the applicant, the employing company, etc. Despite the fact that it says “has the right to work”, this document grants a right to NOTHING.
2. Obtaining a work visa (green-blue sticker with your photo in passport), where the category Z is stated. It gives the right to ONE ENTRANCE INTO THE COUNTRY (nothing else). Going to work with such a visa in your passport is also illegal employment with all the consequences.
3. Obtaining a work permit (looks like a bank card) gives the right to WORK, but DOES NOT GIVE THE RIGHT TO RESIDENCE.
4. Obtaining a residence permit (green-blue insert in the passport with a photo) entitles you to RESIDENCE, but DOES NOT GIVE THE RIGHT TO WORK.
5. Complete employment (payment of salaries, personal income tax, contributions).

The process of hiring a foreigner is divided into the following stages:

1. company registration at http://fwp.safea.gov.cn. That we have examined in clause 1;
2. issuing of a notification letter for foreigner’s work permit (申请外国人来华工作许可通知） - A4 sheet;
3. registration of a Z category work visa - a green-blue insert in the passport;
4. obtaining a work permit (申领外国人工作许可证）- bank card like document;
5. obtaining a residence permit (外国人居留许可）;
6. processing of other related formalities - registration in the social insurance system, obtaining a social insurance card (社保卡), payment of contributions to 社保局.;
7. registration of an employee in the tax office and payment of personal income tax;
8. payroll.

So now you need to complete a notification letter.

IMPORTANT: after creating an application and sending it for consideration, it is possible to change something only after 5-10 days, when the status of the application changes from "in process" to "denied". That is, any mistake will make the entire process by 5-10 working days longer. Please fill out carefully.

Documents required:

a) application with information about the applicant - information is taken from the passport.

b) a certificate of the absence of dangerous diseases - a blue piece of paper, issued in a single institution for the entire city at exploitative high prices. For example, in Beijing it costs about $ 100. When creating an application, if the applicant is not in China, you can write a receipt stating that the company undertakes to provide the results of the medical examination upon his arrival in China.

c) a labour contract, which contains clauses about the terms and place of work, salary, and so on. This also can be skipped and postponed until the employee arrives in China by writing an appropriate receipt;

d) scanned copies of passport;

e) lack of criminal record of the applicant issued in the country of his citizenship or the country of permanent residence;

f) diploma of graduation (if you fall under the first criterion from the previous paragraph);

IMPORTANT: a diploma and a certificate of no criminal record must go through the consular authorization procedure. In most cases, documents authenticated at the embassy of your country in the PRC are NOT ACCEPTED, the stamp of the PRC embassy in your country is required. Sometimes they even find fault with the fact that on the police clearance certificate there is the stamp of the municipal services office, and not the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and refuse to authenticate it. Legalization takes 1-2 months and the easiest way is to find a good intermediary, give him a power of attorney to carry out legalization actions and pick up the documents in 1-2 months. If you want to save money, legalization is quite a quest called "accredited translator-notary-Ministry of Justice-Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Embassy of the PRC". That I would not advise, as since intermediaries take a little, and the nerves saved are beyond money.

g) work experience certificate (if you fall under the first criterion from the previous paragraph). This is a regular certificate from the previous place of work with the signature of the person in charge, the stamp of the company and a telephone/mail for contacting him. This document must be translated into Chinese and certified by the stamp of the Chinese employing company.

h) if the applicant is traveling with his wife or children - passports or travel documents of other family members and documents confirming their connection with the applicant (of course, also passed the legalization procedure).

Then you fill out the form on the website, upload scans of all documents and wait up to 10 working days. It is usually finished a bit earlier.

This is how the list of uploaded documents looks like before the final submission to obtain a work permit itself. In the picture, the last item is available Z-visa or R-visa. We will be Back to it a bit later

Application processing statuses:

• 用人单位提交 - the application was sent by the employer;
• 一级预审 - preliminary check;
• 受理中 - waiting for the original documents to be submitted (depending on the city it may differ, in some cities the originals are checked already in the process of issuing the card itself, in Beijing, the originals are required in advance);
• 审查中 - checking documents;
• 决定进行中 - decision on the case;
• 发放许可通知 - issuance of a notification letter.

IMPORTANT:  THERE ARE NO notification letters in paper form. An electronic version only, which is downloaded from the site admin panel and which actually IS a legally significant document and is accepted by the PRC embassy.

This notice is downloaded from the SAFEA website after a positive decision and printed. Available in English and Chinese, both versions are of equal force

After receiving the notice, the employee is required to submit documents to the PRC embassy in the country of citizenship or permanent residence within 3 months from the date of issue. Well, no explanation needs be given here - passport + notice from the previous paragraph - waiting for 7 days – Z-visa in the passport.

There should be a letter Z in the category box. The stamp “Canceled” is placed on a visa if you apply to a immigration service to replace your visa with a residence permit

Of course, still there is st an option to change the visa category without leaving China, but for in order to do this you need to provide the migration service with documents confirming the difficulty or impossibility of leaving the country to obtain it in the country of citizenship or permanent residence. As a last resort, you can try to go to the PRC Visa Application Center in Hong Kong.

Upon arrival of an the employee in China with a work visa in his passport, you need to send him for a medical examination (if he did not pass it before), sign a contract (if not signed earlier) and upload the missing documents to the SAFEA admin panel. Another box has been added - visa category R or Z. After that you send all these documents to the admin panel.

What you need to send:

1. a newly printed application form, in which the visa clause and its number were added;
2. a scanned passport page with visa;
3. a scanned passport page with an entry stamp under this visa.

Processing statuses:

• 一级预审 - preliminary check;
• 受理中 - waiting for the submission of documents;
• 审查中 - checking documents;
• 决定进行中 - idecision on the case;
• 证件打印 - print the document.

After receiving a positive decision, 10 working days after the submission of the documents, you will be able to go to the place where the originals were handed in (Office of Foreign Specialists or the District Department of Human Resources) and pick up your work permit card. The specific period is indicated in the receipt that was given to you when the original documents were handed over. Or, in some cities, the work permit card will be mailed to you.

It is almost impossible to do everything and send it on your own on the first try. In a the best-case scenario, the process will take a month and a half

Let’s go further. You make the employee to register at the place of residence (in case he rents an apartment) or tell him to take such a paper from the hotel where he is stays, send him to the city immigration service, where, on the basis of a passport, registration, work permit card and sheet with the decision to issue a work permit (where the period of its validity is indicated), a residence permit in the territory of the PRC will be pasted into his passport. Additionally, you will need to give him the consent of the company to apply for a visa - in free form, the template can be found at the request 同意办理签证证件的意见函. This takes 10 days sharp.

Here, only after receiving such an insert in your passport, you have the right to reside in the PRC. In 2019, the format of the insert has changed, now it is of a different colour, and with a photo

At this stage, the procedures associated with the fact that you are a foreigner are completed, and the general civil procedures for applying for a job begin. And, yes, even though you have received all the documents, you still cannot receive your salary officially. To do this, you need to add the employee to the list of employees of the employing enterprise in the social insurance and tax systems.

Social contributions and personal income tax for the employee must be paid by the company. We will talk about the size of the salary, its calculation, taxation and the like later, but for now we will consider only the basic procedures for adding workers. Everything is pretty simple- take your 法人一证通 - a digital token that gives access to all government services via the Internet - something like an e-signature, connect it to a computer, go to the website of your city branch of Social Insurance Fund, and in the section about workers press 增员 (Add worker). Then fill out the form for the employee - full name, salary, age and other basic information, make an appointment with them and go to the address at the appointed time, having with you all the above-mentioned documents. Then you will be given a temporary social security policy. Having it you can already go for treatment (it's useless to talk about the benefits of the insurance - everyone understands that it is cheaper to have it) As an example, a basic doctor's appointment in Beijing costs 30 RMB, insurance covers 28 of them.

Your social security number will look like UKR (RUS/USA/GER/etc) XXX + zeros + passport number

With the tax office, it is pretty the same, with a few nuances. Add an employee, specify the size of the salary - and voila. After that, you will receive similar monthly SMS about the automatic debit of all contributions.

Dear company, Social Insurance Fund contributions for November 2018 have been successfully paid

Within 3 months, a courier will deliver you a permanent employee's social insurance card(or, in some cities you have to contact any bank to issue a 2nd generation Social Security Card); contributions are paid automatically if you set up the automatic salary payment (or, if there are few employees, transfer it manually.) That's it, employment is complete. At the end of the process, you should have four documents that make your stay in the PRC and employment completely legal:

1. residence permit;
2. work permit;
3. social security card;
4. temporary registration at the place of residence for the duration of the residence permit.

Congratulations on successful employment.