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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Does the government care if you leave a position before your contract is over?
For example, I want to leave my job to study Chinese in a university. That requires a switch to a student visa, which means no more working (which I'd prefer to be able to fully engage myself in my studies anyway). In applying for a student visa will I be denied for not finishing my contract first? Does the government care? And if so, if I can prove that my school did not fully honor the contract (in terms of pay or benefits) can I use that to my advantage as a way out?
Any serious advice would be greatly appreciated
12 years 28 weeks ago in Visa & Legalities - China
The contract won't mean anything to the employer, if they have dishonoured then you already have grounds to leave, people here leave jobs all the time with no repercussions, they would like you to think that the contract is set in stone but really not worth the paper it's printed on. I would start applying to study and ready the student visa process.
No, the government doesn't care about that at all...
No worries.
Do what Straw said. Start to prepare for student visa.
Good luck.
The government won't care. However, if you want that experience to count, your job will probably not give you a letter of recommendation. In other words, if you are currently teaching (I don't know if you are or have another type of job) then it will be like do not have any experience when you apply for another one. I assume you don't care about that, so like other people said, no worries.
I have a similar situation like yours, its good to know the answer before I had to ask the question..
If your employer's contract is conditional on your zed, you bet your ass the government will care.
There's a government for each province in China; if you break a Z Visa the government of the province you work in will take note and may refuse you another work related VISA in the next years (but you can still try, nothing's sure). But Visa for studies should be fine (X Visa).
In terms of work, the school you worked for will take revenge, not letting you use your Foreign Expert Certificate for another Z Visa job, so you might not be able to get another Z Visa in the near future anywhere in China, although eventually things will sort out one way or another; like you can get a job on a Business VISA or let your new employer put pressure on your old school for them to eventually release your Foreign Exp Cert to them.
I even heard that a whole new Foreign Expert Certificate can be made, but that depends on the local government and how good the schools’ relations with that local gov are.
Take note that there are 2 kinds of Certs in China: Foreign Exp Certificate for all education related jobs, and Scientific Expert Cert (not sure the exact name) for other jobs.
Worth knowing that you’ll probably never see your cert; it’s the property of your employer, who passes it on to your next employer.
The Foreign Exp Cert has an expiry date on it, but even after expiration you still need a release from the last employer who has it to get your next Z Visa job.
In the end, it’s just loads of red tape (bureaucracy); and where employers and governments like you and get along well together things become very easy.
However when you break a contract you burn bridges, make relationships bad, and that’s what you don’t want in China.
If you break a Z Visa contract, change province, and eventually start working on a Business VISA that doesn’t tie you down, cos F Visas (business) can be broken without future consequences I think.
However, regarding the Chinese gov and it's VISA Bureau the F Visa is not proven work experience, because F Visa is not official employment; only Z Visa is.