Beijing to Introduce Visa-Free Status for English Teachers

The Beijing Government will introduce a pilot scheme this month eliminating the need for 10,000 foreign-nationality English teachers to secure work visas. The scheme aims to increase the quality of Beijing’s English language education by attracting top international English-teaching talents and increasing Beijing residents’ access to English language training.

To be known as the Ten Thousand Talents English Education Program, the scheme will see both government and private schools teaching English, including kindergartens, primary schools, high schools, universities, and private training centers, released from the responsibility of securing work visas for their foreign English teachers. Instead, schools will be eligible to register their foreign teachers with the municipal bureau of education, which will in turn directly issue work permits instead of the labor bureau. The new registration process will eliminate current requirement for a tertiary qualification, the need to prove two years of relevant overseas experience and the need for to provide a criminal record check, as well eliminating the need for English schools to register their teachers through agents.

Hao Gaoxiao, deputy director of the Beijing Foreign Language Education and Training Association, yesterday told Xinhua that the program looks to decrease the disconnect between top English teaching talents and local Beijing residents. “We understand the difficulty many schools face in legally employing their English teachers under the current system,” Hao said. “It’s our hope that simplifying this process will encourage more English teachers work in Beijing, allowing English schools to better meet the local demand for foreign teachers.”

English schools contacted by the Beijinger were unanimous in their support for the new pilot program. Salty Xu, owner of Miss Fluffy Kindergarten in Chaoyang District, told the Beijinger the impacts of the government’s tough visa requirements on her business were enormous. “Each time my cousin in the police calls to tell me they’re about to conduct a surprise inspection of my school, I need to ask my foreign teachers to go hide in the stairwell. Obviously, this not only has a negative impact on the experience of our students, but also makes parents feel they aren’t getting what they paid for. I hope the new program will extend beyond 2017.”

Similarly, teachers we spoke to were thrilled with the possibility of working visa-free. Whitney White, a six-year veteran of Beijing’s English training centers, originally from Paris, Texas, said she was looking forward to life as a teacher under the new system. “I’m so sick of kimchi and fried chicken. I’ve been to Seoul so many times now I can barely force myself to get on the plane every month. This new program means I’ll finally get to spend all of my weekends in Beijing instead of leaving the country in my personal time.”

However, according to some English teachers, the pilot program comes too late. Alex Shutnikov, a 22-year-old English teacher from Krasnoyarsk City in eastern Russia told the Beijinger he’d completed the process to become legally employed only two weeks ago. “It was a lot of mafan to get my degree certificate. It’s disheartening to know I could have saved myself the time and money by waiting just a few weeks,” Alex told us. “It wasn’t a complete waste though. Even though I won’t need my degree certificate anymore, I’m fairly certain my school will continue telling parents I have a PhD from Oxford.”

English teachers interested in applying to participate in the scheme should prepare the original copy of the contract with their school, 11 color photocopies of their passport, 20 passport photographs sized 231mm x 466mm on an ivory or eggshell background, a recent glamor photograph clearly showing both hair and eye color, and digital samples of both their teacher voice and singing voice. Applications should be handed to your school’s HR representative after her nap but before the end of today, April 1.

Photo: GoAbroad