More Difficult Chinese Visa

Over recent months， Chinese gov- ernment have been mulling over the issuance of visas to foreigners. On the one hand there have been crackdowns on those working illegal as well as deportation for some， on the other， alternative solutions have been posed such as a 48-72 hour visa free stay for those flying on business or flight layover tourists， an idea Shanghai’s local government have championed.

Many of those who have done business， travelled to， or studied in China will have a story (or two) about how the visa process can be difficult and many expats are likely to know someone who constantly flies to Hong Kong to update their short-term tourist visa.

As China possesses the world’s largest labour force it is immediately obvious to see why the necessity for visa’s exists (especially work)， after all every country wants to protect work opportunity for its own citizens. Additionally， as many of China’s post-80’s and 90’s generation come back from earning degrees or work experience abroad， the need to hire foreign specialists and professionals is seemingly in decline – Western firms now believe their Chinese employees have similar skill sets (and lower wages) while those with international experience can become the ‘experts’ in Chinese companies.

Visa’s restrictions are particularly difficult for the next wave of ‘China experts’ – the foreigners who want to gain a greater understanding of the middle kingdom. There is no doubt that education bodies such as the China Scholarship Council and Hanban offer excellent scholarship options but the visa prohibition from allowing students to work parttime is somewhat baffling， especially for the students who aren’t awarded full scholarships.

Often English teachers are the subject of visa-crackdowns as many are thought to stay and work illegally or to do so under incorrect visas e.g. tourist or student category. A large number of students do choose this type of work to supplement the cost of living abroad so it would seem a plausible solution then to allow those particularly on student visas to work a set number of hours per week or month to combat this problem.

While this of course doesn’t solve the problem of illegal workers fully， it would reduce figures somewhat and allow for employees and the businesses that hire them to more accurately report staffing numbers.

There are also challenges for foreign graduates and businesses in China wanting to hire them. Unless the employee has at least two years experience post graduation， they will not be awarded an F-type work visa. This has all the makings of a headache for China’s Confucian Institutes where students might reasonably expect employment opportunity after completion of their studies.

Difficulty for foreign graduates to obtain visas is not a problem unique to China however. Taking the UK for example， if the situation was reversed and Chinese graduates were looking to get a British work visa， they would struggle just as much as the foreigners wanting to work in China. In Britain， it has reached a point in which it is deemed by some to hinder the economy and its recovery. Influential business leaders such as Sir Martin Sorrell， chief executive of WPP have called upon British government to relax visa laws. One view is that many foreign graduates can offer skills that their British peers are lacking， language skills or in-depth cultural knowledge for example.

It is clear that in both situations a reduction in red-tape would be seen as beneficial for many domestic businesses. If both students and graduates can offer intellectual， linguist and cultural advantages to companies and the potential employees have a great desire to work there， relaxation on visa regulations should lead to economic prosperity for domestic firms and a wider talent pool to choose from.