C-Visa Foreigners are still sought after in the Chinese market

Foreigners that fall into the C ranking are still sought after in the Chinese market

Employers from service and manufacturing industries in China still need foreign workers. Photo: Li Hao/GT

James from the US posed a question on an expat forum on Reddit a month ago. He asked if he could get a work visa and come to China if he is considered a class C expat. Before asking the question on Reddit, he had spent two months trying to get a Z visa for China, but he had been unsuccessful. 

"I sent my resume to many Chinese companies, and I have contacted many agencies in China that help foreign workers apply for visas, and they have all said no," James signed.

"All because according to the new system of classifying expats in China, I am a class C expat," he said. China vowed to implement a new policy on work permits for foreigners in September 2016, according to a 2016 report by Xinhua News. 

Under the new policy, foreign workers are classified into categories A, B and C, with A class considered top talent, B class professional talent and C class being unskilled workers or those working in the service industry, according to the same Xinhua News report.

The policy includes a point system. Expats will be ranked according to their salary in China, educational background, the amount of time they have worked in China, Chinese language proficiency level, age and location, with less-developed regions holding the highest point values.  Expats whose points are higher than 85 will fall into the A category, 60 points for B, and C expats are those who have 60 points or below.

The measures are to encourage the introduction of top talent while limiting the B and C categories, which are less needed, according to the report.

Blocking out the C class

As a native English speaker, James heard that he could get opportunities to teach English in China. 

"China's economy is developing rapidly in recent years and there are more job opportunities. I want to give it a try and also learn Chinese and things about China while teaching. I figured my knowledge of China might be useful in the future," James said. 

However, to his disappointment, his wishes cannot come true.

James, without a bachelor degree and working experience in teaching, is a class C expat according to China's new laws for foreign workers. 

"I looked up some online scoring systems, and I only got 38 points," James said. "I also contacted some agencies; they all told me that it would be difficult for me to get a work visa in China."

Metropolitan also contacted some agencies in Beijing that help foreigners with the work visa application process, and after hearing James' qualifications, they all told Metropolitan that for a foreigner without a bachelor's degree, professional working experience and any technical specialties, he would not be able to get a work visa in China, and the agencies cannot help him. 

David Shang is a senior consultant from a website that bridges Chinese employers and foreign workers. 

Shang's company directly works with the employers that want to recruit foreign workers. Since last October when the new policy began to pioneer, Shang's company started to tighten their efforts to help employers find foreign workers that fall into the C class. 

Under the new work visa system, foreign workers who do not have strong professional and technical backgrounds may have a harder time finding jobs in China. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Back then, the company would still ask if there was an urgent need for such individuals and if the company has a strong background and need, Shang's agency would inquire with the related governmental organizations to see if under those circumstances the foreign workers in that category could still be issued work permits.

Since April, when the policy started to be implemented nationwide, the company began to turn down requests like this directly. Every month, Shang's company rejects over 10 deals like this.

"When they ask me if I can find some foreign workers, and I see the type of foreign workers they want fall into category C, I directly tell them those workers can't get a work visa now and suggest that they find local workers instead," Shang said. 

Shang's company also received requests from foreign workers that fall into the C category asking for jobs in China. 

Most foreigners who fall into the C category are those without a bachelor's degree or any technical specialties, and those who do not have any work experience. 

Shang said his company would reply and politely say they would contact them if a suitable position opened up."But I know it's never going to happen," Shang said. 

Need for a foreign face

Daniel Wu in Xiamen, Fujian Province just opened a French bistro last month. 
"The Western cuisine market is very competitive in China now. When eating Western cuisine, Chinese diners not only care about food, they also care about the atmosphere, the tone and if the restaurant will have some sentimental appeal," Wu said. 

To make the bistro feel more original and French, Wu wanted to hire two French waiters.Wu contacted many agencies that help find long-term foreign workers, and they all told him that service workers fall into the C class, and suggested that Wu hire local workers. 

There are generally two types of jobs in China that are in need of foreigners that fall into the C class, according to Shang.The first kind of jobs is those in the service industry. Many restaurants, hotels and tourist sites want to employ foreign workers, Shang said."By employing foreign workers, their restaurants and hotels can have a more international flair," Shang said. "Besides, the foreign service staff can attract and service the foreign customer groups."

"The main purpose is to make the environment seem more multinational and high class by employing foreign service staff," he said. It is not the international five-star hotels and restaurants that host customers from different countries that are in need of the class C foreign workers, they can afford to hire higher-level foreign workers, Shang explained. 

It is often the newly-opened local hotels and restaurants that want a foreign face, no matter their qualifications, to make their establishment look international and high profile.

Chinese have a habit of believing that foreigners represent that a place is of high caliber. The phenomenon of hiring a foreign face, especially a white face, to make a company or event more international and fancy is not new. It can be found in many industries.

Take the housing industry for example. Many real estate projects like to hire foreigners to make their houses look more fancy and expensive, according to a report. In the report, the general manager of a public relations company that organizes promotional events for companies said that many real estate companies they worked with require a promotional poster of their estate's project with a foreigner on it to manifest the project's international flair.

"Most real estate projects in China are going with English, French or American styles. If they can actually find those people from the above countries to pose for pictures and be at some sales events, the promotion effect will be better," the general manager said. 

For example, during the promotion events, they hire a foreigner to act as a doorman or butler. In a Beijing News report in March, an expat named David from the US told his own story of being a "white monkey" in China. 

In the process of Chinese cities trying to be more international, many foreigners like him are paid to act as world-famous musicians and architects at company events, even though they do not know anything about the industry. 

"Just because we looked foreign," David said in the article. 

Foreign laborers

The second kind of job that seeks foreign workers is the manufacturing factories in China, according to Shang.  

"Many manufacturing factories in China are having difficulty finding suitable Chinese workers at a price that they can afford, so they want to turn to foreign labor," Shang said. 

"There are many private-owned factories in Jiangsu Province and Guangdong Province that produce toys, clothes and industrial products who have contacted me and asked for foreign workers," Shang said.

The private factory owners told Shang that they are having difficulty finding local workers, and the local workers require higher wages and benefits now, and the factory owners cannot afford that. Besides, the local workers' working enthusiasm is not as high as before. 

"Accepting similar or lower salaries, workers from African countries, South East Asian countries and India would be more than willing to take the jobs, and their working enthusiasm would be higher because their countries do not have many job opportunities and do not pay as well as China," Shang said. 

Foreign labor fills in the labor shortage that exists in China. According to a report by International Financial Times from the US in April 2015, in 2015, the police in Guangdong Province discovered over 5,000 foreign laborers working in the factories in Guangdong Province illegally. 

"It's mainly because the local factory owners can't hire enough local workers. There are not enough people, and local workers require higher salaries and a better working environment," the report wrote. 

Most of those foreign workers are young people in their 20s from Southeast Asian countries, and they work around 10 hours a day and are being paid $1.3 to $1.6 per hour, which is lower than local laborers' average salaries. 

The factory work does not require a high cultural and technological background or Chinese language proficiency from the workers. 

All the work is standardized. They have routine training processes that can help the workers adapt into the assembly line work in a short span of time, as long as the workers are committed and willing to work hard, Shang said. 

"Ask any private enterprise owners, they all have difficulty finding suitable workers at a price that they can afford," Shang said. 

"If you look at all the countries around the world, they have all used workers from less-developed areas to do the low-end jobs in their countries and to help supplement the countries' labor shortage and push the economy forward," Shang said. 

"That's the historical and inevitable trend that has happened in all countries, and there is no need to fight that."

source: www.globaltimes.cn

Since you're here

Do you want to share a good news story? Let us know if you want to tell a story or share some news with us.