(By Albert Chen) According to the statistics issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (the “MOHRSS”) in 2012, the employment license released to foreign workers in China has totaled 200, 000. In fact the administration approval with respect to foreigner employment in China is not limited to this license. Considering we have been consulted for many times what approval is legally demanded for the employment of foreigners, today we gonna introduce you the specific procedure. And in general, the approval could include: 1) work permit of foreign employers; 2) work visa; 3) employment permit; 4) physical examination; 5) residence permit.

I. The approval items

1. Employment License

The Employment License (the “License”) is the start of the approval of foreigner’s working in China. According to RULES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA (the “Employment Rules”), the authority handling the application for the License is the local foreigner employment center, and the approval of it may last 15 working days. For such process, the following documents are demanded:

(1) Application Table for Foreign Employment;

(2) Employer’s business license after yearly check, organizational code certificate, written approval, all the above documents demand copy ones only;

(3) Experience certificate of foreign employee, including their academic experience and working experience, and such documents shall be chopped by the employer and printed in Chinese;

(4) Qualification certificate for foreign employee’s appointment, which shall involve the technology certificate issued by the authority, and yet once no such a certificate is available, the certificate to his/her working experience from the original employer shall be presented, and in the meantime all such aforesaid documents shall show the employer has been working in the related field for more than 2 years.

(5) Academic certificate to the work;

(6) Copy of the employee’s passport;

For the above materials, the employer shall pay attention to the following points:

(1) For the academic and experience qualification, when they are issued for the employee who is the legal representative indicated on the business license or the direct investor, no other certificates are demanded, and it only requires the certificate of the investor or the copy of the effective business license as checked for annual examination;

(2) When to appoint the foreign employee to take the post above the deputy general manager, a board decision is demanded, and when no board is set in the company, the articles of corporate of the company and the appointment signed by the legal representative is required.

2. Work visa

After the approval of the License, the employer could go apply the visa letter with the approved License and the passport of the employer in the local commerce committee or foreign fair office. And once the visa letter is issued, the foreign employee could go back to Chinese embassies or consulates in his/her motherland for the work visa application.

But it deserves your attention that the letter from the commerce committee or the foreign affair office has a period limit, which is one month. The foreign employee shall finish the visa application within that period, or otherwise it shall reapply the letter of visa.

3. Health certificate

The health certificate of foreign employee is to be approved and issued by the local exit-entry inspection and quarantine authority where the employer registered. The foreign worker shall first make an appointment of the physical examination, and the passport number as well as the name in English is demanded for the appointment. Furthermore, on the examination day, the original passport, picture of two inches and copy of business license is demanded.

The health certificate would be issued within 5 working days after the examination, and one thing to be noted is this certificate is the precondition to the coming application for Employment Permit (the “Permit”) and is with a period limit of 6 months. The foreigners shall finish the following application within the aforesaid limit, or it shall otherwise apply for a new health certificate, but a reissued certificate would not influence the finished approving items.

In addition, it shall be explained that in some regions of China, the health certificate shall be applied and issued before License. But in view of the time limit on the certificates in the whole process and the lasting of the approval, currently Shanghai authority only demands such certificate before the Permit.

4. Employment Permit

When holding the License and the health certificate, the employer could handle the official application for work permit, and the authority for the approval is also the local foreign employment centers. This process would cost 5 working days and require the following materials:

(1) Copy of License;

(2) Employment contract/ engagement letter signed between the employer and the foreign employee, or the certificate to the remuneration payment, which shall indicate the payer of the remuneration, the hired worker’s post and the employment period;

(3) Passport of the employee, visa and its copy;

(4) Copy of health certificate from the exit-entry inspection and quarantine bureau;

(5) Two copies of employment for foreign workers registration table;

(6) user card, when the employer is hiring foreign employees for the first time, the user card shall be applied with the copies of the business license, organizational code certificate and written approval to the local foreign employment center, but no again application is demanded once the employer has the user card;

(7) 3 recent pictures of 2 inches, among which 2 would be affixed on the tables and 1 for the Permit.

5. Residence permit

The application for the residence permit is the last process of the whole application, and when applying, the first issued certificate for health, visa and Permit is required, and it further needs:

(1) passport;

(2) one picture of 2 inches;

(3) temporary residence certificate;

(4) employment registration table;

(5) employer application letter (no legal demands on its format, and could be drafted by the employer);

(6) copy of business license, organizational code certificate, written approval (either original one or copies);

(7) visa for foreigners, residence table.

Among the above materials, the temporary residence certificate is issued by the police in the residence of the foreign worker, and in practice, the residence permit shall be gained within 1 month after the employee’s entry into China with the work visa. Once no such residence permit could be gained within the aforesaid period, the foreign employee may face penalty or detention.

II. The exemptions for License or Permit application

By the Employment Rules, the License or Permit could be exempted from application once the conditions have been met, among which the exemption of License could apply to:

(1) foreign professional technical and managerial personnel employed directly by the Chinese government or those with senior technical titles or credentials of special skills recognized by their home or international technical authorities or professional associations to be employed by Chinese government organs and institutions and foreigners holding Foreign Expert Certificate issued by China’s Bureau of Foreign Expert Affairs；

(2) foreign workers with special skills who wok in offshore petroleum operations without the need to go ashore for employment and hold Work Permit for Foreign Personnel Engaged in the Offshore petroleum Operations in the people’s Republic of China”；

(3) foreigners who conduct commercialized entertaining performance with the approval of the Ministry of Culture and hold “permit for Temporary Commercialized Performance”.

(4) foreigners employed in China under agreements or accords entered into by the Chinese government with foreign governments or international organizations for the implementation of Sino-foreign projects of cooperation and exchange；

(5) chief representatives and representatives of the permanent offices of foreign enterprises in China.

And once the employee could meet the above first situations, they are exempted from Permit.

Before closing, we would remind our reader, the period costed for employment approval would be 2 months, and to avoid unnecessary trouble, the foreigner and local employer shall take the visa letter or health certificate’s period limit, and to handle the application of residence certificate within one month after entry into China.

Lawyer Contacts

You Yunting：86-21-52134918  youyunting@debund.com/yytbest@gmail.com

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