If getting housing and opening a bank account were bosses in an RPG, getting a foreign work permit in China is probably the final boss. Actually, the process more or less resembles the Lavos fight from Chrono Trigger.

My new employer outsources visa matters to an HR company, which actually has employees working on-site and they all have email accounts with my employer. For some reason unknown to me, it took a month after accepting the offer for them to send me a list of required documents just to start the process. I was required to submit copies of my passport, diploma, results of a physical, reference letter from my previous job and a “Certificate of No Criminal Conviction”.

Calling the last item a mini-boss fight would not be an understatement, because this item alone took about 3 weeks to get and a whole lot of red tape. The instruction said “if you have lived outside of the country of your passport for more than 1 year, then you should obtain the certificate from where you are currently residing”. It also turns out that to get this record from the Hong Kong Police, they need some kind of formal request from either an embassy/consulate or the government. I was not sure if I should consult the US Embassy in China (where my permit will come from), or US Consulate in Hong Kong (where I currently reside), so I asked HR for advice. Their reply? “We’re not sure. You should find out by talking to the embassy in your area.” Yes, very helpful indeed. In the end, US Consulate in HK came through with the request letter and I waited 3 weeks to get the Certificate.

They also wanted any non-Chinese document translated, but that was not very hard.

The next part also took maybe 3 days to sort out – basically, the pre-approval requires that my diploma be authenticated, and that process alone will cost USD 700 (if I go through the HR company). It needs to be notarized by UC San Diego, where I went to school, then authenticated by the State of California, and finally authenticated by the Chinese Embassy in US. This fee is not covered, so I spent a few days haggling and hoping my employer would pay for it. In the end, though, my employer actually came through and said that the authentication would take too long (20 working days), so they’ll be my guarantor on the application. I was finally able to submit all my documents at the end of August and waited about 2 weeks before I heard back.

But of course, it did not end there. It turned out that all the work was for a “pre-approval permit” in the form of a one-time entry visa. The HR company failed to mention that, so when I went to pick up what I thought would be the work visa, I was surprised to find out that a) they expected me to enter right away, and b) I would not be able to leave until further paperwork is approved. Since I had travel plans for the first week of October, I decided to not activate the visa and will do that after the national holidays in China.

Just FYI, the rest of the process is as follows: enter China on a one-time visa, then submit all the paperwork plus more documents from my employer to apply for a work permit and a residence permit. I also need to register myself as a foreigner with the local police. Only after both permits are granted will I be able to leave China, or I risk not being able to get another work permit ever.

Worthy of a final boss, don’t you think?

I realized there actually isn’t very much to say, other than that banks in China make it very, very difficult for an American to open an account there.

My new employer requires their full-time employees to open accounts at a certain bank, so naturally I went to the branch closest to work with my passport.

I was promptly rejected because I didn’t have the required documents, which were: passport, proof of employment, proof of residence, and a “tax ID” (which turned out to be my social security number).

(Right after this, I was told by the apartment complex that I could not rent without a bank account, so I was stuck for quite a while until housing was resolved).

I tried some other branches and even other banks where I pretended I didn’t speak a lick of Chinese, but got the same answers as soon as they saw my American passport.

After renting a place with a bit of help (see previous entry), I went to the local district office and got a single-use proof of residence solely for opening bank accounts, and was finally able to get an account.

Then things kind of took a 180-degree turn, because they saw the company name on my proof of employment (offer letter), and told me since that my new employer is a huge client of theirs, I am automatically granted the highest account level without having to maintain the minimum balance (RMB 500,000). I also don’t have to pay the bank any commission fees on money transfers, and I never have to wait in line at the bank.

With housing and bank account out of the way, there was just one last thing to do – get my work visa. This turned out to be the single most annoying item to get, with lots of red tape and further complicated by human factors. As of today (September 17th), I still don’t have it but at least I know roughly when I will be able to get it. More on this later.