Q&A for the Work Permit Category in China

The work permit for foreigners in China is a visa specially designed to attract foreign talents to work in China. It can provide foreigners with employment opportunities. The types of visas applied include multiple entry and exit visas, allowing foreigners to travel home and abroad during their work in China. They can return home to visit relatives, travel or work abroad. It has high flexibility. If it expires, they can apply for extension, and the number of extensions is unlimited. 

Q1: how do foreigners work legally in China? 

Foreigners who want to work in China shall obtain work permits and work residence certificates in accordance with regulations. Only when the two certificates are complete can they work legally in China.

Q2: if the enterprise wants to hire a foreign talent for an important key position, and the contract monthly salary is more than Rmb50K, but the foreigner does not have a bachelor's degree, what conditions should be followed?

First of all, let's talk about the classification criteria for foreigners to work in China. According to the work permit system for foreigners to work in China, foreigners are divided into three categories: Foreign high-end talents(Category A), foreign professionals(Category B), other foreign personnel(Category C).  

There is no limit on the number of Category A foreign talents, and green channel and vacancy acceptance services are implemented; Category B foreign talents are limited according to market demand; The number of Category C foreign talents is limited in accordance with relevant national regulations.

The definitions about three categories.

Category A:

01. Selected into the National Talent Programs.

02. Meet internationally recognized standards for professional achievement.

03. Employed in senior manager-level or in encouraged positions that meet the needs of market-oriented, and whose average wage income is not less than 6 times of the average social wage income of the region in the previous year.

04. Innovative and entrepreneurial talents who own major technological inventions and patents and have certain tax contribution.

05. Outstanding young talents engaged in postdoctoral research at high-level universities outside China or universities within China.

06. Those whose assessment points are above 85.

*Note: A5 requires outstanding young people below 40. If you do not meet A1-A5 requirements, you can try passing point counting.

Category B:

01. Hold a Bachelor's degree and with more than 2 years relevant working experience.

02. Technical talents that hold international general vocational skill qualification certificate in urgent and short supply.

03. Foreign language teacher with related degree and working experience.

04. Average wage income is not less than 4 times of the average social wage income of the region in the previous year.

05. Specialized personnel and project implementation personnel usually engaged in national-level project and comply with relevant national department regulations

06. Those whose assessment points are above 60.

*Note: If you do not meet other requirements, you can try points assessment system (B6).

Category C:

01. Meet the current regulations on the administration of foreigners working in China.

02. Engaged in temporary and short-term work (no more than 90 days).

03. Foreign students who meet the specified conditions, foreign graduates of overseas colleges and universities, foreigners working in special fields such as ocean fishing, etc.

*Note: in C3, for cases like Chinese French interns and Chinese German interns, at present, there is only article 3 of category C handled in China.

Talent should apply for the proper category according to their educational background, age, salary and employment position.

For example, if the salary of foreigners is relatively high, but they have no educational background. In this case, the application can apply for Article 9 of A3 in line with the market-oriented encouraged job demand, and the average salary income is not less than 6 times the annual social average salary of the region. For the first time, you only need to provide a letter of salary commitment, you can refer to the standard of Category A talent and be issued one-year work permit. In case of the extension or change of the employer, it is necessary to provide qualified tax declaration forms for a 3-year work permit at longest. If foreigners have bachelor degree and 2-year relevant work experience, they can apply for Category B as regular applicants.

Q3: What are the convenience for foreign high-end talents in Category A to apply for a foreigners' work permit in China?

First, foreign high-end talents in Category A have no restrictions on age, education or workexperience;

Secondly, it can be handled online. For example, A1 is selected into the national talent program, the entire process can be handled online and the employer does not need to go to the site to submit paper materials for verification;

In addition, the commitment system can be adopted. All Category A talents are exempt from providing no crimal record certification and other verification materials. Work qualification certification for A1 and A2 are also exempt. and diploma verification and certification materials are exempted for A1-A4; Short approval time, half shorter than that for Category B; The approved validity of the work permit is longer than that of other categories, and the maximum can be 5 years.

Q4: Does foreigner who has obtained a permanent residence permit in China need to apply for a foreigner's work permit in China?

In order to be entitled to more convenience in China, it is suggested that foreigners should apply for work permit independantly.

Q5: I am Russia, can I apply for a Category B work permit as an English teacher?

Unfortunately, foreigners of Russian nationality cannot be English teachers. Qualified language teachers must be from the countries which official language is as same as the language that they teach according to the requirements of Category B in terms of foreign language teachers. 

English teachers should be from countries that speak English, such as Britain, the UnitedStates, South Africa, Canada and other countries. Teachers of other languages also havethe same requirements.

Q6: Can overseas salary income be scored?

Some companies may pay their employees salary a part from abroad and the other part in China, or foreigners are dispatched from abroad to China, and all their income is distributed from abroad. In this case, as long as they work in China, the income in China and abroad that are legally taxed in China, points can be scored.

Q7: If you are a Category B applicant, what circumstances can you avoid providing a no criminal record certification?

In principle, people who hold work permit and residence permits in China can be exempted from the no criminal record certification within the period of validity.

If the foreigner changes his company, the public security department has canceled his work permit and residence permit which is sponsored by his previous employer and replaced it with a stay visa; if the foreigner does not leave the country and the cancellation of work permit and residence permit is within one month, the no criminal record certification can also be exempted.

If you have questions about China work permit or need a personal assessment, please contact our consultant