Extension of work permit in China

So, the work permit, which was considered in the previous post “Official employment of a foreigner in China” and which you have received, will soon expire and you now need to extend it. Let’s take a look at its prolongation in this article.

Now then, obviously, everything here concerns (as in the previous article) long-term work permits of category “B”, which are issued for a period of 90 days to 5 years.

The first thing you need to remember is that the validity of the residence permit (blue paste-in slip in the passport, or, from 2019 – a multi-colored paste-in slip in the passport with a photo) and the validity of the work permit (a card in the format of a bank card) are absolutely different things. This directly relates to the following point.

A work permit can be renewed from 90 to 30 days before its expiration. This is important – not “30 days before the expiration of the residence permit”, but “30 days before the expiration of the work permit ”.

Accordingly, to create an application, you need to go to the item “许可延期，变更，注销及许可证补遗 (extension, change, cancellation and addition of work permits)”

SAFEA admin panel interface in terms of extension of work permits

After entering the number of the current work permit and seeing its status, you need to click “select”. After that, you will have the same forms in front of you that you filled out when you received it, filled in the same way. You need to leave unchanged what has not changed and change what has changed (yes, this is such a tautology). You are looking at the field, let’s say the HSK level. Last time you filled it in as “level five” and it remains the same – you leave it unchanged. You are looking at the “salary” field, which contains the salary from the previous permit – and it has changed. Then change it.

In general, you check all the fields, change what has changed and do not touch what remains the same. The only thing is that we need to supplement the work experience by entering there the place, term and position from the original work permit.

The following does not raise any questions – we upload the scans of the application (which at the last step we will need to print out and affix the seal of the company), a scan of the new contract and scans of the original work permit and residence permit. This is where the part that depends on the SAFEA admin panel ends and then you will need to move on to the part that directly confirms that you actually worked for the previous period, and did not receive a work permit for some obscure purposes.

Document upload interface

That’s it. Now please wait five working days (more often it happens earlier) and check the status of the application. If you see the same thing as in the screenshot below, then everything is alright, and you only need to pick the permit on the appointed date. If not, there are options.

This status means that everything is alright and the permit has been extended

After you have received your work permit card (the card itself remains the same, only the data on the link changes) and the decision of 外专局 about the extension, you also need to renew the residence permit (blue slip in the passport, which since June 2019 has a photograph and is not quite blue anymore).

To do this, as before, take consent from the company for a visa (同意办理签证证件意向函), registration at the place of residence, a decision of 外专局 to extend the work permit, a certificate of payment of income tax (完税证明), a certificate of payment of contributions to the SSF (社保缴费明细), 2 photos (the list of documents may vary from city to city). In some cities this is not required – check specifically with the migration service of your city. You hand it all over, wait 10 working days – and enjoy the view of a new residence permit in the passport.