Can You Work Under A Business Visa?

Today we’ll be discussing about whether it is illegal to work under a Business Visa. The quick and simple answer is no. To understand why not, we will talk about how the work permit system works, what a Business Visa is, and the consequences of working illegally in China.

When a Chinese company decides to hire you, they have to first apply for a work permit for you at the Foreign Expert Bureau, in short, the FEB. Taking the education sector as an example, where most expats are employed currently, you will need to provide authenticated higher education credentials like a bachelor’s degree, a certificate of a non-criminal record, in short, an NCR, proof of at least two years of relevant work experience or professional or educational credentials that can substitute for that relevant experience, a full work history, as well as a medical exam report.

Afterwards, the FEB issues a Notification Letter of Foreigner’s Work Permit in the People’s Republic of China, which is sent to you by email in both English and Chinese. You will then have to take this Letter to a Chinese embassy or consulate in your country to apply for a Work Visa, also known as a Z Visa.

The Z Visa is a page in your passport which says you may enter China within 3 months. Once you arrive in China and your documents get checked in person at the FEB, it is time for your employer get your work permit card.

Afterwards, your employer has to apply for a Residence Permit for you at the Entry Exit Administration (EEA). The Residence Permit is another page on your passport. The time limit is 30 days, so be careful of this and make sure you apply in time. Only after getting both of these permits may you start working for your employer.

A Business Visa is a Visa that allows you to stay in China for 90 days. The purpose of giving you such a Visa, as the name suggests, is to allow you to engage in business activities in China. For example, if you are the manager of a company that sells plastic toys, the activities that you might conduct in China would be visiting suppliers like plastic factories, attending trade conferences and exhibitions and visiting your lawyers.

In the past, before Covid hit in 2019, a lot of expats were working illegally in China under  business visas and tourist visas as English teachers for shady training centers. Those with European Union passports would do what we call, a visa run to Hong Kong every 90 days. China then started cracking down on the Education sector in 2021, and caught a huge number of people who were working without the proper documents. I will explain more on the legalities of working under the Student Visa and Spouse Visa in future videos as that is a huge topic on its own.

When you get caught working illegally, you are first interrogated on the spot, and then brought back to the police station for further questioning. You may be detained for up to 24 hours for interrogation, and NO, you may not bring a lawyer with you.

The punishment ranges from warning, fines, detention, being ordered to leave, repatriation to deportation depending on severity. All these will end up on the system forever as an Administrative Punishment.

Warnings and fines are the lightest of the punishment. You will be fined an amount ranging from 5000 – 20000 Yuan. Detention on the other hand ranges from 5 days to 15 days. They may also order you to leave within a period, say 7 days to let you buy a plane ticket. Repatriation means being kicked out immediately, and once you are repatriated, there will be a time limit to when you can reenter again, which is 1-5 years. Deportation is the most serious punishment. You may not reenter China’s borders for 10 years.

To sum up, it is illegal to work under a business visa and if you get caught, it will certainly affect the chances of ever getting a Chinese visa again in the future.