It may seem like a no brainer in answering this question, but last week I was fed a question by a good friend who had been hearing that his friends were having trouble getting his employees from an F to a Z.

In his email to me, he wrote:

that the registered capital requirement for an entity (foreign or domestic) to apply for a first time Z visa for a foreigner had been raised from RMB1m to RMB10m. Clearly this restricts even further where folk can get Zs from…

Immediately, I emailed some friends whose job it is to advocate and assist foreign firms in China at some of the highest levels in China…. After all, this could become a huge human relations headache for some….

Today I got my first response:

Here’s the rules to my understanding:

For WFOEs with less than USD 3 million in registered capital, only the GM/CEO (top guy) can have a Z visa (residence permit). Other foreigners can have F visas but not Z visas.

For WFOEs above the USD 3 million line, all foreign employees can have Z visas (residence permits).

Now, under the old system I have never heard of anyone having issues… but under these time of strict enforcement it could prevent some smaller WFOEs (and perhaps some larger WFOE in the services industry) from registering their employees on a Z visa.

Anyone with any experience on this, or with a story, please share.

Was sent the recent UK Update, and it appears that clarifications have been made now.

I should tell you that I have sent out several emails to AMCHAM, US Consulate, and US China Business Council. I have not heard back from the later 2, and AMCHAM is still working to get clarification. So. Before doing anything, call ahead.

Second to that, if you are working for a company who has a China presence, and you are either planning on being here on a permanent basis, at least 180 days, or think you will be in and out quite a bit, make your life easier and get the Z visa.  You will need 4-6 weeks, and a trip to the hospital for color blind exam, lung x-ray, blood work, and ultrasound, but honestly,  it is worth it.

That is just my 2 cents.

After the break is the email from Ian Crawford of the British Chamber of Commerce

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This Month, GOOD Magazine has put together a China issue where they have profiled a number of expatriates living in China in their article Strangers in a Strange Land.

Having done our own series on Halfpats before, there are a lot of things that come through in this article about the future of expatriate professionals in China. They are young, language capable, culturally open, and are willing to get paid less than the US poverty line for their chance.

Their role in China’s pool of human resources is growing, and their stories are interesting.

Best quotes:

Mojo - A Chinese girl was walking past me and muttered a strangely straightforward phrase in Chinese: “Wow, there are a lot of black people in this country now.” So I turned around and yelled back to her “Yeah, there are a lot of black people in this country now … and they speak Chinese, too.”

Sherry - “I’m too smart to be paid by the hour.” So I moved to China to earn less than someone living below the poverty level in the U.S.

Mike - You can’t study animals at the zoo; you gotta come to the jungle.

Dan - My wife and I have a standard response when people ask us how long we plan on staying here: indefinitely, but not permanently.

John - We can learn a lot from the level at which they revere an education. I would never wish the Chinese student life upon anyone (way too much pressure and stress) but I respect the ones who make it through.

Lisa - I have almost zero interaction with expats. They live in their high-walled wealthy suburban ghettos, I live in China; the two rarely interact.

Jon - Whenever people hype China, remember that China is still two-thirds farmers. That means there are roughly 800 million farmers here. That is the real China. Even I don’t go to those places.

for more on Halfpats, feel free to peruse the profiles or the white paper Halfpats: The New Expatriates I wrote about 18 months ago. Halfpats are the future of expatriate professionals in China, so I encourage anyone who is a hiring manager to learn about us.

Real estate is Shanghai has been one of the most consistent topics of conversations in Shanghai for all of my time here. Lately, the market has been on fire as real estate agencies that were culled 2 years ago are now back in full force (I suspect the tanking equity market is driving flight to real estate assets), and prices are on the way up..

Over the last three weeks though, and after 4 years in the same flat, I began a search to find a new apartment and once again I was reminded of just what a game the rental market is.

Before I get started, I should metion that I have done this before.. that I have a pretty strong knowledge of the local market (where I want to live and what going rates are).. and my girlfriend can pretty much name off the pricing of any compound inside the inner ring road.

Add that together, add 3 real estate agents running in parallel, and you have the ingredients for a marathon of apartment viewings. This time around, my girlfriend and I were focused. We were looking at a particular area of town, near the subway, and of the 10 compounds in the area we knew from dinner parties and coffee talk - we knew 3 of them were off limits, 3 were high targets, and the other 4 we would only consider if there was a cut throat deal involved.

Before we got started in this process we knew a few things to be certain:

1) With the Olympics approaching, those who were coming for the Olympics were already here and so there were not a lot of people looking to rent
2) Unlike previous years, there was plenty of new stock on the market that was attractive. Zhongshan park has grown significantly, Pudong, villa compounds.. all have diluted what used to be a highly concentrated market
3) With many firms localizing employees, housing allowances for many single halfpats has been reduced, making 3br apartments too expensive
4) With a lot of new villa compounds hitting the market, spending 3-4k USD on a flat is also not as attractive as it used to be
5) Many of the apartments in the area we were looking at were starting to decline as they have hit the 5-8 year age range
6) No one knew what was going to happen after Olympics, but we are all sensing that at the very least there will be a 5-10% reduction in expats in China who are just here for the big show

So… with that we began the marathon….

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A few weeks ago, I wrote the post Notice: Chinese F Visas Cannot Be Renewed Past Olympics, and apparently I was wrong.

Over the last 10 days or so, I have been fielding emails, Skypes, and phone calls from friends and readers about the pain in the butt that has become their extension process… and apparently the news is BAD.

In a couple of cases, U.S. citizens were told they would have to pay 2300 RMB for a 3 month visa (same price as a usual 1 year).  A 1 year visa.. a whopping 14000RMB!

As for who to call.  don’t bother with emoo.  they will not even help U.S. citizens at this point.  there was a comment posted by someone called leovisa on the previous post who works at http://www.cn-visa.com, and they seem to have the best information, the best deals, and  I suggest you call and as for leovisa (please mention All Roads sent you).

that is all for now. As far as we can tell, this is Olympic related, and it you think about it.. there is some sense to this, but where I think the real problem will be is in the Expat familes…  Dad/ Mom have work permit, trailing spouse + kids don’t…

h/t to China Digital Times for this picture posted on Netease.

It is timely as my director and I were talking about the difficulties of new graduates finding good jobs now, and the fact that all the babies born in 2007 (year of pig) and 2008 (Olympic babies) are probably going to create a very tight education and labor market circa 2026.

For those not living outside the U.S., this post may not hit home for you… but those of you living in China with foreign names will know exactly what I am talking about.

Offshore financial cold calls.

The entire time I have been in China, offshore financial structures have been something I have been keenly aware of. Some of my friends in Beijing and Shanghai are in the industry, and I have friends who have invested through these groups.. with success.

But, they are probably the most irritating cold callers around, this is an industry that really needs a change of practice, and I am hoping that someone in that circle picks up on this post and learns something.

The industry itself, to the best of my knowledge is legit. There are some shady characters no doubt, but the idea isn’t much different than say your local stock broker who knows about offshore structuring.

Where it goes wrong is in their approach. The cold call.

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