Recommendation Letter and Release Letter.

Hi all,

I need some advise on recommendtion letter.  Is it a requirement that it must be on the designated SAFEA form or
can my school just give one using their own letterhead?  I have requested for a recommendation letter and the school
told me that they can't give it to me on the SAFEA form as it would require my new employer's name. Is this true?  I
remembered my previous employer gave me one on the SAFEA form without any details of new employer on it.

Any advise is very much appreciated. 

I have gotten recommendation letters in China but never on a SAFEA form, just on the school's own paper. A recommendation letter is a letter, short and simple, why does it have to be on a SAFEA form?

The SAFEA forms we can use in Henan don't have the new employer's name on them anywhere.  Although this may very well vary from province to province. 

However, we normally use recommendation letters on headed paper with an official chop - they work fine.  We actually give out both to departing staff because we are just lovely people.

One point to note is that for many provinces a scan is no longer enough - the original must accompany the final application.  In the past we were able to get away with a printout of the scanned copy if the transfer was from outside the province but now we have to have the original for the final stage of the paperwork.   

Did you come to your current employer through an agent of any kind?

Thanks for the replies! 

I did not use any agents, applied directly.  Yes, I am in Henan, that's why my school said that they can't issue it on the SAFEA form.  My previous school in Fujian gave me a recommendation letter on the SAFEA form.  So, I was a little confused. 

The SAFEA form requires the stamp of your current employer, so unless your boss is suffering from focal paralysis then I don't see why that isn't possible.  You can find copies of the form online by searching for "外国文教专家推荐信".

Have a look at a digital translation yourself and see if you can spot any problems.  I think that people sometimes don't know which box t tick about the FEC and therefore shoo the whole thing away.