Aihua

Aihua is fully licensed by the Chinese government to hire qualified teachers to work legally in China. To be eligible for a work permit, a teacher must be over 25, have an undergraduate degree and a teaching certificate. If one of these criteria is lacking, an application may be made based upon evidence that other strengths may balance the lack. Approval of the visa application is not, however, certain in such cases.

After an offer of employment has been made by the Academic Director, the foreign teacher must send a number of documents to both the Academic Director and the Foreign Affairs Officer. These documents should be scanned and emailed. They are as follows:

 The photo page of the applicant’s passport;
 Any degrees held by the applicant;
 a TEFL cert;
 a CV;
 Two letters of recommendation. These should be from referees with some idea of the applicant’s academic and/or teaching abilities.

Once our Foreign Affairs Officer has received these documents, she will translate them, and take them to the Foreign Experts Office. Approximately 3 weeks after these documents are submitted, our FAO will collect the foreign teacher’s work permit. She must then take this to the Foreign Affairs Office, and after approximately one week they will issue a work visa permit. The FAO will then mail both the work permit and the work visa permit to the foreign teacher.
This process should take between four and five weeks, although on occasion this time may be either longer or shorter.
We recommend that the teacher should book a flight when the FAO receives the work permit.

As soon as the teacher has sent the required documents to the Aihua FAO, he should check with the nearest consulate regarding any other requirements that this consulate may have. Whether or not a teacher needs to undergo a medical check in China or in the home country depends not only on the specific country, but also on the specific consulate. If a medical check is required prior to entry into China, Aihua will pay only 644.50 RMB toward this.

When the FAO has the teacher’s work permit and work visa permit, she will mail these to him by express post. The teacher should receive these in two to four days. Upon receipt of these documents, the teacher should take them to the nearest Chinese consulate. A z-visa should be issued within two days. Aihua will not pay extra for express visa services without prior agreement from the Academic Director.

When the teacher arrives in China, he will be collected at the airport by the Aihua driver and an English-speaking member of staff, if possible a senior member of the foreign staff. Depending on the traffic, it is a roughly one hour drive to Shijingshan and the teacher’s apartment. Within 24 hours of the teacher’s arrival, he will need to register with the local police, and the FAO will organize this. The z-visa on which the foreign teacher arrives is good for only 30 days. The FAO must assist the Foreign teacher to process a Foreign Expert’s Certificate and a Residence Permit. Within 2-3 days of the teacher’s arrival, he will need to undergo a medical examination. This is a painless affair, which the FAO will organize. The FAO will take the results of the medical examination, along with the ___ to the Foreign Expert’s Office. After a week, the FAO will collect the teacher’s Foreign Expert’s Certificate. The foreign teacher will accompany the FAO to the ___ to make an application for a Residence Permit. This may be collected by the FAO after a week’s processing time.

Visa Fees Met by Aihua for Foreign Teachers
Aihua will cover the standard costs for a visa application as set out by the Beijing government.

Accident and emergency insurance: 540 RMB
Medical Exam: 644.50 RMB
Residence Permit: 400 RMB
Total: 1744.50 RMB

Aihua will also refund the cost of the visa application, provided the teacher supplies a receipt. Aihua will not fund any other charges incurred in the teacher’s place of origin, such as medical checks. If a medical check is done in the country from which the teacher travels to China, the results of this test needs to be brought in order to make an application for a resident permit. If teachers leave before the completion of their contracts, the cost of z-visa application should be returned to Aihua.