Hold Your Own ID Documents!

It's normal for schools to keep the FEC.

Really?

I've been here eight and a half years and have always held it myself.

Me too. I always got mine, over a comparable period of years.

Me three.

x4.  The FEC is issued in my name and as the 'bearer' of the document I am "entitled to conveniences and treatments for experts provided by the government of the People's Republic of China."

I live in the hope that one day I will be able to use my FEC at a toilet reserved for foreign experts. I also hope that the scope of treatments will be extended to cover those provided by massage girls.

In the meantime I look on the FEC as the only proof I have that I actually had the jobs listed on my CV. For that reason (and a couple of others, including making it easier for banks and supermarkets to get my employment details recorded)I always make sure they hand over the FEC as soon as it is available.

 

My passport says "This passport is the property of the Canadian government." in several places. It also has this paragraph (page 4 for Canadians):

" If your passport is surrendered to any person or agency outside the Canadian government (e.g. to obtain a visa) and is not promptly returned, report the facts to one of the above offices.

Unfortunately, most of us don't jot down those contacts before some "helpful" FAO decides to "safely" keep a passport.

I live in the hope that one day I will be able to use my FEC at a toilet reserved for foreign experts. I also hope that the scope of treatments will be extended to cover those provided by massage girls.

Someday, I'll find a way to get an FEC.  In the meantime, all I've got is an Alien Employment Permit.

Most schools keep the FEC.  Some don't.  It's not a problem.  You don't need it.

Why do you say most schools keep it Paul, I don't any that do and if you don't need it, why is it issued?

Why do you say most schools keep it Paul, I don't any that do ... ?

Over the years, I've worked at five schools that got me FECs, in four provinces. I have yet to have one ask to keep the FEC.

When I first arrived my uni gave me my passport but kept the FEC for a little over one semester. I'm not sure why.

Possible dumb question alert! So if I now have my passport and FEC and plan to leave this uni at the end of my contract, I can keep them until I get to the next stop in my Chinese adventure?
 

I kept my FEC from both universities I worked at when I left.   

The regulations say that you have to hand the FEC back to the uni when you leave. There is a statement on the inside of the back cover to that effect.

I always keep mine. If asked to hand it in (as I have been at 2 places) I just say that I have lost it - 'but I will keep looking'. It has not been seen as a problem - we have just moved on to the next item on the agenda. 

it can be a problem if your next job is in Shanghai. The PTB there require a chopped doc from the government people responsible saying that you have returned your FEC from your previous employer. I had to courier mine back to the FAO at my old school in Wuhan so she could turn it in and send the docs back to the new school. But that is Shanghai. 

I,ve never had posession of my FEC either. Seen it in the FAO's office and even held it in my hot little hand. Just something else for me to lose if i have it at home.

I'm in my 6th contract year at my current place of employment. I asked for my FEC when I was first hired. They told me they keep it in the office. I've seen it and they do, in fact, keep it locked in a cabinet in the FAO. Yes, it's got my name on it, but it is issued to me because of their employment. One less thing for me to worry about, IMHO.

My school keeps the FEC. I asked them and they said the Guangdong bureau told them to keep it at the school and they also said that they have to put a notice in the paper if a teacher loses it or doesn't return it to the school at the end of the contract, and also that a govt. inspection will want to see it with the teacher's contract. They also said it causes them trouble if it's lost and is absolutely no good to the teacher for anything they knew of.

I asked if I could take it home to make a high quality scan and they said no problem, so that way I have a record of my employment in addition to the other paper work.