By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: What is an EXIT letter?
What exactly is needed on an exit letter for release from previous employer? Is it just a reference letter?
11 years 23 weeks ago in Visa & Legalities - Other cities
It is called a "Letter of Release". Many of the provinces have taken to using, and demanding the use of, what is now known as the "Unified Letter of Release/Letter of Recommendation". It is a one page form in Chinese only that should be completed and stamped by the school. It will list your name, your passport number, your nationality, and questions such as whether you were too political in the school or not (those are far from the exact words but they convey the meaning of the question); whether or not you were ill and absent a lot from your classes (same caveat as before); whether or not you were a good teacher, etc. It looks very simple and it is but beware because it can be very damning it in its own right.
The release letter simply needs to state that you are no longer employed by the company that you get it from. It is required to get a new Alien Work Permit/Experts Certificate. Foreigners in China are only allowed by law to have one job, and the permit must reflect that job. It DOES NOT need to contain information (as said by 981977405) regarding absence, tardiness, political beliefs, or any other personal information. A Release Letter and a letter of recommendation are two different things.
The Release Letter just needs to state that you quit, were fired, or finished your contract, and it needs to have the offical company chop (red stamp) on it.
There is a standard form that has a check box performance review on it, but nothing about political affiliations or anything like that. Here's a link to a sample of the form:
http://bizpanda.org/download-chinese-letter-of-release-reference/
It is not necessary to use that form, a simple company letterhead that says "so and so quit on 2012/x/x and no longer is employed by XXXXX" (company chop) signature and date will suffice.
It's next to impossible to get another job without this letter, although it can be done.
981977405:
Sorry Mr. Tibbles but I regularly prepare these letters (or at least several times a year) and as I said, I was not quoting verbatim but inferring the meaning and I was referring specifically to the one used for ESL teachers. I will download and then upload a copy here for you to see.
And as I said, the new procedure in place from the Foreign Expert Bureaus which issue the Foreign Expert Certificate which permits the trip to the PSB is to use in most provinces what is now called the "Unified Letter of Release/Letter of Recommendation". I cannot speak for the Alien Work Authorization but I can very much speak to the Unified Letter.
MrTibbles:
Thanks for the info. It might be a different standard because a lot of ESL teachers get the Foreign Expert Certificate as opposed to the Alien Work Permit. For the AWP, you just need a simple letter stating you no longer work for a company, at least in Shanghai. Rules may differ based on city/province.
But a downvote? Was that you? :)
I think the contents of the letter depend on your industry. In my industry (IT) it mainly says that the person has been released from their contract, returned all company materials and is not bound by any non-competition clause.
Yes..it must be Relieving Letter or Release letter..there is nothing like Exit letter i heard in 8 years of career..
