http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1103557.shtml

The detention of two Irish women who were working side jobs at an unlicensed school in Beijing shines a spotlight on the illegal English education market in China

Teachers get all the blame



To assist foreigners who find themselves in complicated visa situations or have issues with their companies, Kyle H, who withheld his full name out of concern for his family, created the organization ExpatRights in 2017. One of ExpatRights' services is to offer free legal advice. According to Kyle's experience as a long-term expat based in Hangzhou, the capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, "the majority of people are teaching illegally in China."



He compares their situation to the undocumented Mexican farmworkers in the southern states of the US.



The favorable market conditions encourage foreign workers to come to China, Kyle said.



While the entry barriers to open an English school are low, getting the license to employ foreigners must be challenging, Kyle explained. According to Chapter 2, Article 5 of the Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China, "The employer shall apply for the employment permission if it intends to employ foreigners." According to INS, a consulting firm in China that helps foreign companies expand into China, requirements for both applicants and employees change multiple times a year, with the visa system already being very complex.

"Everyone involved makes a huge amount of money, so everyone wants it, the parents, the schools, and the teachers," Kyle said.



With legal requirements being high, these are the ideal conditions for a black market to emerge. If schools hire illegally, they decrease costs by as much as 40 percent by avoiding taxes and benefits payments, Dan Harris, a Chinese law expert, told the online magazine Vice.



To prove that English language schools were all too willing to employ foreign teachers illegally, Kyle ran an experiment with the Beijinger's classifieds section by applying for every teaching job on the first two pages. In his email, he clearly stated that he did not have a degree and was therefore not qualified for a work visa.



"Eighty-eight percent of the schools were keen on getting me onboard anyway," he said, summarizing the results. Only one out of 20 employers declined his application.



According to China's new immigration law of 2013, employers can be fined up to 100,000 yuan for each illegally employed foreigner, the South China Morning Post reported. Foreigners who work illegally can be fined between 5,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan, detained between five and 15 days and face deportation.



"A lot of the burden and blame falls solely on the teachers," Kyle said.





THANKS KATRIN FOR COVERING US!!

BONUS: SURPRISE RACISM IN WECHAT SYSTEM WHEN ENTERING HER NAME!!!





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