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Learn the names of documents!!

What's the difference between a visa, residence permit and temporary residence permit? Once you've lived in China for more than a month it can get really confusing when everyone refers to everything as a "visa". Another classic is everything is a reduced to "a colour". "A: Yeah, I went to the police community station office and got my white paper. I went to another place and they gave me another piece of white paper. That's what you mean? B: I'm talking about my yellow paper. Did you get your visa yet? A: What do you mean? I got my visa in the UK. I need another one??!!! " Learn the names!! They say something on them in English that helps you identify them... Visa The easiest way to think about a visa is that it just lets you into the country. You have no long(er) term right of abode. The visa name is related to your purpose for being in country. A Z visa typically lasts 30 days and its purpose to let you in the country to start the ...
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How to get a housing FaPiao in Beijing

How to get a housing fapiao in Beijing. After receiving a notice out of the blue that we’d all need to provide ‘housing fapiao’ to our HR department, I’ve been through all of the palaver of actually getting one. Beyong telling us that we needed one, our own HR didn’t know anything useful until after I’d already completed the process. Even with no information and a very reluctant letting agent I still managed to get it done. The major problem with this is that almost everyone rents their apartment themselves, as an individual. However, employers (and whichever government department) increasingly need a fapiao in the company name, not in your name. You cannot get a fapiao in your employers name using your individual housing contract because it has your name on it! As far as anyone is concered, your employer has nothing to do with the rental.  I’ve met people and spoken to friends in a similar situation. If this is to become the norm in Beijing then it would a lot easier if compani...
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Information is expat gold.

There are times when you’re searching for an answer to something and the only option is to smash your laptop into tiny pieces and  go grab a coffee somewhere instead. Information in China is a scarce resource. If you manage to find anything online at all it’s often out of date, incorrect or both. Half the time, word of mouth is the just rumour disguised as information and English expat “websites” just peddle those rumours for clicks. The best and most reliable information is if you actually know someone who did whatever you want to do and they did it recently. Perhaps second best is a recent blog or forum post (which is kind of like “someone you know” anyway). Why is it like this? Your first thought might be the crippled collection of electronics that gets called the Internet here. Actually, I would say that's a small factor in this. I feel like businesses, government and most organisations here just haven’t got to the point where they put information on the Internet. You mig...
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