According to a report by Banyuetan, a magazine under the Xinhua News Agency, in 2017, over 400,000 foreign teachers were working in China. With the increasing number of foreign teachers, job scams are on the rise. The consequence of falling into a job scam can be various, including but not limited to illegal work, financial loss, deportation, physical and mental health impairment, etc. This article summarized some common types of teaching job scams to help foreign educators to identify and avoid those scams.

Visa Scam

One of the most common teaching job scams is bringing employees to work in China with a tourist, business or other types of visa. Only with a Z-visa(work visa) can expats legally teach in China, otherwise they will probably get into immigration issues and be heavily fined or deported.

The Global Times once reported a related case. A Canadian teacher landed a job in Beijing after completing her undergraduate degree. Since she hasn’t received her diploma, therefore, she failed to meet the minimum requirement to apply for a Chinese work visa. However, the employer told her to apply for a tourist visa to enter China first and promised to help her get a work visa later. As she was about to start the class one day, the immigration officer came and took her away for questioning. By her case, she was ordered to leave China immediately. 

Tips: Unless your employer is willing to help you get a Z-visa before departure, you’d better look for another job.

Unreliable Recruiter

Most international schools don’t have plenty of resources to look for qualified teachers, so they turn to agencies that provide recruitment services to fulfill their hiring needs. Recruiters are helpful in most cases, but some of them just want to earn a profit from candidates and schools, they will use several tricks during the recruiting process.

A foreign teacher shared hi experience on Reddit. He submitted all her official documents to a recruitment agency in China to apply for a work visa. Unfortunately, the agency kept all his documents and threaten him to work without a proper contract and visa. 

Tips: Make sure your recruiter is legitimate. A reliable recruiter will be dedicate to help you secure a suitable teaching job in China. Never agree to provide a copy of your passport and other important documents to an unlicensed recruiter.

Extra Service Fee

The other type of job scam is that, candidates will be required to pay extra “service fees” to employers. The so-called “service fee” is stated to process their work visa or other administrative costs. Once you’ve made the payment, there’s no guarantee that the “service fee” will be used as claimed.

Tips: Under most circumstance, the recruitment service is free for candidates. If the employers or agencies require an extra fee, you should be cautious about that and ask for more details.

Too Good to be True

Usually, senior level teachers with years of teaching experiences can expect to receive higher salaries and generous benefits from schools. A new graduate, or a teacher with few relevant experience who find a teaching job that offers a high salary and a great degree of flexibility, they should be aware of that as well. 

Tips: While you are looking for a teaching job in China, do some research about the benchmark for wages of the city you are interested teaching in.

Teaching job scams are not limited to the four types that are mentioned above. Cooperating with a licensed recruiting agency can minimize the risk during the process. As a leading recruitment service provider in China, TopTutorJob connects top international education employers and outstanding educators in global K-12 industry, with authentic job and school information, professional recruitment service and credible industry data. If you are looking for a teaching job in China, don't hesitate to contact us!