Best time for securing a (public) university position?

Great, I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to take a quick look for last-minute university hires for the Spring semester. Do you think you could give me specifics on the uni you were talking about, Ruth?

This is all I know about it. You'll have to ask CaTigeReptile. I used this as an example of what is taking place in universities all over China as classes begin without new hires showing up or teachers failing to return from vacation.

Yesterday, I got my invitation letter/work permit/etc! Finally! I'm so excited! Etc! North China University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power, located in Zhengzhou, here I come!

So anyway, I'm not going to go to Zhengzhou. I've decided to go to this study abroad program, and also to maybe apply to a master's program at Tsinghua. I like this message board so much, though! I'm gonna stick around, anyway.

bump

This is great information. Thanks to all who have contributed.

Excuse my naivety, but can someone enter China on a tourist visa and get hired by a university if they were not working illegally (Mandarin study...)?
Based on Joshua's post I gather you have to receive the Z visa prior to entry for a Uni job.

You really need to get to get hired by a school who will do all the paperwork for you so you arrive with the proper documents.  Otherwise you'll be working illegally.  You can certainly show up on a tourist visa and find some work, but there's a legal risk, and you'll be at the mercy of a possibly abusive school.

There may still be time to land a Uni job through the proper channels if you find one who's a teacher short and needs someone desperately.  The problem for you here is that the contract signing and paperwork for a Z visa takes time, and classes start soon.  I'd still look around, but hurry.

Anyone go from studying Mandarin first to a teaching position without leaving China?

It's not impossible and will depends on the University in question.
Most love Z visas as their FAOs and international staff all are covered in dust and would rather die than learning a new way to process a visa haha.
Most Universities probably won't waste guanxi on a convert for a foreign employee, and being able to speak Chinese is nice but not really a huge bonus as most school will make it very clear you are not to use Chinese in class if you can speak it because they have a stable of Chinese teachers that can do that if that's what they want.
Some Universities will allow you to do a Hong Kong run to get a Z visa so in this case instead of leaving for your own country at least you can just make a trip to HK.
I haven't personally heard of a University doing a convert straight from a L visa before, but that isn't to say its never happened before just that I haven't heard of it.
Probably a reason for this would be that their hiring practises are probably held up to a more strict process being a government school. While the language schools are probably not held up to such a high standard and tend to see teachers as monetary assets and will go the extra mile to secure the cash cow, while the Universities only hire foreigners as a national requirement to expose their students to a foreigner. 

Thanks for the response.

The Mandarin first approach would just be for my benefit, and limited in duration, as I would like to get a head start on what will be a long journey (learning Mandarin). I've lived abroad before (Africa) and I know once I start teaching it will be easier to put off my own language learning. I might go a year without learning much if I don't make it a priority from the beginning.

A trip to HK sounds doable.

I recently had my tourist visa converted to a work visa in Hong Kong- but I think even that required some amount of guanxi as it seemed going back to your home country to do the conversion was the norm (here in Shanghai). When I was in Beijing, the universities seemed very adamant that a conversion needed to be done in an applicant's home country.

So I think the feasibility of a university converting the visa is really an issue of local regulations and guanxi.

Oh and there is a point for to me made for the smaller places being more flexible in regards to regulations over the larger places.

I recently had my tourist visa converted to a work visa in Hong Kong[

I do not see it as a 'conversion' of one visa to another. The two visas are not related.

A Z-visa can only be issued outside the borders of China, with Hong Kong being accepted as a de facto foreign country for some nationalities, in certain circumstances ... for the time being.

Since 2008 China has required an increasing number of foreign teachers to return to their home country to make application for a Z-visa. Some provinces/cities (eg Beijing)are more insistent than others. Changing jobs from one province to another may increase the risk of that happening.

Because my college took so long to muddle their way through an application for a Zvisa (11 months!) I was forced to get by on a tourist visa for 3 months. Once I crossed over into HK that visa expired/terminated/died. I presented my application and documents for a Zvisa and got what I wanted.

I tend to think of stories of universities using their guanxi to 'convert' a visitor visa into a Zvisa as the stuff of urban legends. I sure do not hold my breath in the hope that it is ever going to happen for me

So just to make this perfectly clear : the only way to teach/work legally in China, as with a Z-visa, is to arrange the job from one's home country?

** I should clarify that I'm speaking in full generality here, not just for university jobs.

A backup plan that I had was to just book a flight to Beijing, find cheap accommodations, line up a bunch of interviews online, and interview in-person. This strategy is aimed to help me get a better feel for the employer, rather than just 5 or 6 emails. I had never really heard this detail about the Z-visa before.

No. Quite often if you are already in China you can go to Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand or wherever and make a "visa run." You'd get your work permit paper from your employer here, take it to the Chinese consulate in one of those neighboring countries, and get your Z visa there. Then you'd come back into China and process your residence permit. Whether or not Hong Kong (or another country closer to China than home) is an option will be something you'd have to ask your employer but up until very recently it has been a common solution for teachers needing to change visa type.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Has there been a drastic change very recently, then?

Yes, but it seems mostly confined to the big cities. For example, in Beijing a lot of schools, but not all, will now tell you you have to go all the way back to your home country to process the Z visa. This isn't the case everywhere though, just in some places. I think the Hong Kong route should still be possible for most people. Maybe someone who has done it recently could chime in?

LD has it as right as you can get it in the amorphous mass of China visa requirements.

The HK visa run is still a goer. Over the last 3 months of last year I had to go there from Shaanxi for:

1. L Visa (visitor - double entry) that was good for 2 months ... but I had to 'renew' it by leaving China and re-entering China after 30 days

2. a fast trip through to HK to meet requirements described above

3. Z Visa


From all that I learned:

1. before you sign a contract try and find some way of ascertaining that your future employer actually does have a licence to employ a Foreign Expert

2. it is important that your contract states Party A will pay for the FEC and Residence Permit. I held my college to it and they paid for everything, including all airfares and hotel, once they got their licence to employ me.

3. If in doubt use a visa agent. The college, at my prompting, used a HK agent to do the paperwork and I just had to get my body across and back through the border. I do not know what it cost but they took a lot of stress out of the process and it saved a lot of time. While my existence in China depended on getting a piece of paper I was happy to get the experts (with connections!) involved in the process.       

Came across this information from ChinaTravel.net dated 2 December 2010:
http://blog.chinatravel.net/china-travel-tips-advice/december-2010-china-visa-update.html

In the run-up to Expo, as with the pre-Beijing Olympics fervor, and even the recent Guangzhou Asian Games down south, there were a number of confusing changes afoot, ready to rumble the plans of the uninitiated, unprepared, or just plain unlucky.
So in the interest of shedding light on the current situation, we got in touch with our old pal and visa mastermind Mr Magic at Visa in China in Shanghai and Yuri at Get in2 China in Beijing to get a quick rundown on the lay of the visa-land....
Chinese visas in Shanghai
L visa: L visas (tourist visas) can be extended twice in Shanghai for 30 days each time and then you'll have to head out to re-apply. At present, L visas cannot be changed to F or Z in Shanghai; you'll need to leave for Hong Kong or your home country for that.
Do note that in Hong Kong, L visas are currently still restricted to 30 day single entry, instead of the usual 90 and, for some nationalities, they've cut back even further to just 7-15 days. It's wise to check with a local agent like Sunrise International Travel beforehand.
F visa: It seems the Shanghai government is protecting the job market for Chinese employees. This means things are looking a little tight for F visa holders in Shanghai, with only 1-3 months available for bona-fide business people (though with a heavyweight investment capital company or Fortune 500 name behind you, there is still a chance of  6 months). If you've had too many L or F visas before though, beware, they may well refuse your application and suggest you apply for a working Z visa instead.
Magic also says the Shanghai government are unlikely to approve further F visas for foreigners on internships or who have been working freelance for more than 6 months already, and rejection rates for small, local companies looking to hire foreign employees are on the rise.
Z visa: First-time Z visa applicants will need to go through Hong Kong and for any dewy-eyed interns out there determined to stay and live the China dream, be aware that even with company sponsorship Shanghai is still looking for two years' proven work experience to get a Z visa, though with the right connections there are ways around this. Getting a first-time Z visa in Hong Kong should pose no major problems for most nationalities, but do be aware that very low capital-investment companies are seeing a higher rejection rate.
On a side note, from Magic, things have loosened up for French passport holders who were having a hard time of it earlier in the year on the mainland and in Hong Kong. Inside of mainland China the same policies as above now apply, but for applicants in Hong Kong, there's still no express service available and you'll need at least four working days to process your application.

Chinese visas in Beijing
Yuri at Get in2 China tells us that things are somewhat more relaxed in the capital than down south, with L, F and Z visas all available as follows:
L visa: If you're on an L visa you can extend it twice for 30 days each time (single entry), and then you have three options:
Leave China and reapply
Switch to an F, X or Z visa. If you have the right paperwork for this, you can make the jump in Beijing and there's no need to leave the country.
A third L visa extension is possible, giving you a 6-month, single entry L visa.
F visa: 3, 6 and sometimes 12-month single, double and multiple entry F visas are available when extending your F visa or changing over from an L visa.
Z visa: With the right documents, extensions and first time applications are all possible in Beijing.
However, Yuri does point out that some nationalities, including north African nationalities, Kazakhs and Pakistanis will find it difficult to get anything other than an L visa.
He also mentions that although L visa, 30-day extensions can be arranged just 1-2 days before your visa expires, you should be sure to leave at least two weeks for an application for any other type of visa. People often ask what happens if you overstay your visa and there are many tales to be told, with varying outcomes, but the best advice is:  just don't do it. An overstayed visa results in a fine of RMB 500 per day (to a maximum of RMB 5000) and an overstay record with the government which could affect any future applications.
For those who do manage to get themselves either multi-entry F or L visas with stay restrictions, here's a handy China Travel tip--check out the tiny Taiwanese island of Jinmen (Kinmen) just off Xiamen as a south China alternative to Hong Kong to get your China exit/re-entry stamp... flights to Xiamen tend to be a heck of a lot cheaper!
As with all information pertaining to visas in China, everything here is a guideline only and can change at short notice and according to your individual situation. If you're not sure which visa you need to apply for, you can check out the FAQs section at Visa in China for a thorough breakdown of the Shanghai situation, and if you still have questions then give Magic a call to see what tricks he's got up his sleeve. Alternatively, for Beijing-based info, contact Get in2 China for more info

* Interesting to see some companies in Beijing claim they can process a Z Visa without you leaving China.

       

^ Excellent post. I am* focusing  on Beijing so the waters do seem a bit murkier, but based on the quoted info, getting a Z-visa within the greater Chinese area (i.e. not flying back home) seems doable. Of course all this is assuming I can't or prefer not to negotiate an employment offer before leaving my home here in the US.

If you do go an an L-visa, my biggest advice would be to get the longest duration possible for each stay. If you have a US passport, all visas cost the same- so might as well apply for a 90-day per entry with a year of validity. Even if the employer can get you the docs to go to Hong Kong or whatever, it will take some time to get everything in order. The L-visa I came over on was good for a year- but only 30-days per entry (and it took 2 months to get all the docs in order from my employer). A longer visa could save you a few headaches.