工作许可

Changing employers in China: the work permit is not “changed” — it is cancelled and re-applied (Guangzhou, 2026)

Moving to a new employer is not inside the guide’s “change” service. Guangzhou's 2020-amended guide says the old work permit is cancelled and a new one applied for, and the Remark that deals with it gives one test for whether the new application is filed from within or from outside China — whether your previous residence permit is still valid — while two other passages in the same guide fork differently. This piece quotes the source text on the cancel-then-apply order, what the three identical-looking “10 days” each govern, the legal exposure of working during the gap, the Huangpu and Nansha change effective 1 August 2026, and the exit-and-entry intermediary filing rules effective 15 September 2026.

Sep 12, 2026 · 29 min read

工作许可

Can a Foreigner Take a Second Job in China? Which Employer Your Work Permit Is Tied To, and the Exception Guangzhou Wrote Down

"Can I teach a few extra classes somewhere else at the weekend?" is the question foreign employees ask most often and that almost no one answers from the actual text. This article separates it into independent tracks. Article 41 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law provides that no entities or individuals shall employ foreigners without work permits; Article 43 lists "work in China beyond the scope prescribed in the work permits" as unlawful employment; Article 80 penalises the individual, the hiring party and the intermediary separately (RMB 10,000 per person for the hiring party); and Article 81 — deportation, with the Ministry of Public Security's decision final, and no entry for 10 years — is what actually ends a stay. Article 23 of the Rules on the Administration of Employment of Foreigners requires the employer to match the one named on the employment permit, and Article 33 flatly prohibits individual economic organisations and individual citizens from employing foreigners. Guangzhou's municipal Science and Technology Bureau did open a door in Article 5 of its 2022 Several Measures — written for "foreign science and technology professionals", requiring the original employer's consent, a filing with the Bureau, and a written tripartite agreement; its official English adds the word "full-time", which the Chinese does not contain. A table note in the short-term volume of the Guangzhou guide does say an applicant "may work for more than one employer", but that track has four qualifying reasons, five express exclusions, and is entered on a visa obtained abroad. International students follow an entirely separate regime, where both State Council Order No. 637 and Jiao Wai Ting [2021] No. 2 make the residence-permit annotation a precondition. Every item is sourced, dated, and marked with who it applies to.

Sep 11, 2026 · 32 min read

工作许可

Guangzhou's expedited work permit service: on this guideline, Category A only — nine situations, and an address that has already moved

A clause-by-clause reading of the Guangzhou Science and Technology Bureau's Guidelines on Urgent Handling and Extended-Hours Service for the Foreigner's Work Permit (published 30 April 2025): on this guideline urgent handling is open to Category A high-end talent only, any one of nine situations qualifies, and somebody has to appear at the counter with supporting documents. Extended-hours service is open to Categories A, B and C — but it is thirty extra minutes a day, and Nansha's is sixty. Two things do not line up: the first service point listed in that guideline, Counter 517 at the Guangzhou Government Affairs Center, stopped serving the public after 30 September 2025 per a notice dated 19 September 2025, and the new address's published hours contain no extended period; and the "within 5 working days" the guideline promises is the same figure as the ordinary completion limit in the main application guidelines.

Sep 10, 2026 · 24 min read

证件翻译

Do You Still Apply for a Physical Work Permit Card? Guangzhou, 2026

A China work permit approved in Guangzhou in 2026 no longer requires you to apply for a physical work permit card. Working from the text of MOHRSS Notice No. 75 of 2024 and the current Q&As from two Guangzhou authorities: the three documents you should hold, the hard 30-day deadline after entry, who actually qualifies for a physical social security card, and the closed service counter still listed on an official page.

Sep 09, 2026 · 22 min read

证件翻译

Five years in China will not get you this certificate — the work-permit document foreign teachers most often get wrong

Item 4 of the checklist in the Service Guide for the Work Permit for Foreigners Coming to Work in China (Provisional) is the criminal record certificate, and its requirements and remarks columns run to seven sentences. One of them reads: habitual residence means the country or region in which the applicant last resided continuously for one year or more after leaving the country of nationality, and does not include within the territory of China. In most cities, then, no number of years lived in China creates a habitual residence, and the certificate still has to come from your country of nationality. This article sets four published texts side by side — national (2017), the Guangzhou FAQ (revised August 2020), the Shenzhen system FAQ (2024-12-02) and the Jinan service guide (2026-05-25) — and finds that only the Shenzhen text lacks the exclusion, while the most recent of the four, Jinan, keeps it word for word. It also separates out the Guangzhou police bureau's in-China criminal record certificate (a cumulative 180 days or more, county-level exit-entry authorities, 3 working days, an individual applicant justifying the purpose from the third application in a calendar year), and notes that its own official English version renders the threshold as at least 6 months, which is not the same count as a cumulative 180 days. Plus the four legalisation routes (double consular legalisation, that country's mission in China, the apostille since 7 November 2023, and the non-sworn diplomatic record that needs no legalisation at all); why an affidavit cannot be rescued by legalisation; why six months is a ceiling rather than a grant; local, state or federal being any level acceptable; the three conditions for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan certificates; the undertaking system being Category A only; and Guangzhou Municipal Government Order No. 223 (in force 1 August 2026), which delegates processing, change and cancellation to the Huangpu and Nansha district authorities — though those two districts are not new receiving bodies, the 2020 Guangzhou guidelines already listed them, and what the Order does is repeal the earlier delegation instruments and re-publish the delegation with its scope stated. Requirements differ from place to place.

Sep 07, 2026 · 32 min read

证件翻译

“A 120-hour TEFL” is not what the rule says — what China’s work-permit clause actually asks of a foreign language teacher

The line in the job advert — “120-hour TEFL certificate required” — does not appear in any Chinese rule in that form. Item (3) under Category B of the Classification Standard for Foreigners Working in China (Trial) says foreign language teaching personnel shall in principle teach their native language of their native-language country, and shall hold a bachelor’s degree or above with 2 years or more of language education work experience (Chinese drafting uses 以上 inclusively, so exactly two years counts); a degree in education, languages or teacher training, or a home-country teaching qualification, or a qualifying international language teaching certificate, waives the experience requirement. The certificate is one of three substitutes for the two years — and the degree has no substitute at all. Three further things the English-language material rarely carries: the definition of a “qualifying international language teaching certificate” is absent from the nationally published copy and present in the one hosted by Shenzhen (TEFL in China; an overseas-institution certificate of 120 hours or more whose content covers classroom management, lesson planning, grammar, lexicology and phonology, with the applicant supplying a verifiable course web page; a foreign-university certificate only where the university is in the Ministry of Education’s Overseas Education Supervision Information Network directory); the nationality-relaxation passage turns on where the degree or qualification was obtained rather than on nationality, and narrows degree authentication from a choice of three down to CSCSE alone; and the 60-point route under the points system remains open when nothing else lines up. Plus the limits on where you may teach, the real status of “the new foreign teacher rules”, and what to do if you have already done it the wrong way.

Sep 06, 2026 · 26 min read

证件翻译

Three routes to “degree authentication” for a China work permit — and Guangzhou and Shenzhen do not ask for the same one

On the China work permit track, “degree authentication” means at least three different procedures: authentication by a Chinese embassy or consulate abroad, by the issuing country’s embassy or consulate in China, or by CSCSE. This piece sorts the routes by where the degree was awarded and sources and dates every requirement. The traps: the national guide and Guangzhou both say a degree obtained inside mainland China needs only the original, while Shenzhen adds a CHSI authentication on top; an apostille replaces only the first of the three routes, with Shenzhen requiring it to have been issued on or after 7 November 2023, and the Guangzhou bureau’s own published files still containing no mention of apostilles at all (its guidelines page went up on 16 August 2023, before the Convention took effect); and for a Hong Kong degree “notarisation” means the China-Appointed Attesting Officer route, not an international notarisation. Plus ten details that stop people at the counter, and what to do if you already did the wrong one.

Sep 05, 2026 · 31 min read

证件翻译

A baby born in Guangzhou to foreign parents: after the 60 days, there is another 120

Where both parents are foreign and the child is born in China, the exit-entry track has two deadlines: birth registration within 60 days, then a further 120 days for the stay or residence permit — the second one is in the service sheets, not the statute. Three more things that catch families out: a foreign family cannot use the online route for the Birth Medical Certificate and must apply in person with both parents' original passports; many guides still cite Guangdong rules that lapsed in 2022; and mixed-nationality families most often take a wrong turn at Article 4 of the Nationality Law.

Sep 04, 2026 · 17 min read

证件翻译

The medical exam for a China work permit: will Guangzhou accept a check-up done abroad?

A health certificate is required for a China work permit and for any residence permit valid one year or more. On the work-permit route Guangzhou's guidelines list only two compliant sources; the commitment system is not an exemption and has a precondition; and accompanying family members aged 18 and over cannot use it at all. Verifying a foreign exam involves six published requirements (quoted from the Beijing centre — Guangzhou must be confirmed separately), and the language one is about how the form was filled in, not something an attached translation can be relied on to fix. With document numbers, dates, the Guangzhou centre's address and the handling-authority change effective August 2026.

Sep 03, 2026 · 15 min read

笔译

Registering a company in China: from May 2026, a translation seal alone is not enough

The checklist for a foreign investor registering a company in China changed on 1 May 2026, when the Specification for Materials Submitted for Registration of Business Entities (2026 edition, Guoshijianzhufa [2026] No. 5) replaced the 2022 edition. The translation requirement tightened on a single conjunction: from 'affix the translation seal OR attach a business licence copy' to 'seal AND licence copy', plus the translator's name and contact details. This piece also corrects a widely repeated miscitation — the claim that Article 68 of the Detailed Rules requires foreign-language materials to carry a translation is wrong; Article 68 is a penalty provision and the translation wording comes from a 2021 consultation draft that was never adopted. Against our own commercial interest we note that no designated-agency list exists (per the Shenzhen Guangming district bureau's Q&A) and that an individual may translate. On authentication: Convention states now submit notarisation plus an apostille, non-Convention states keep consular authentication, and Hong Kong and Macao documents are transmitted through the Ministry of Justice. Plus two dates older guides miss: the legacy-FIE restructuring transition closed on 31 December 2024, and capital contribution rules changed with the 2024 Company Law.

Sep 02, 2026 · 7 min read

口译

The ¥4,500 implant figure is wrong for Guangzhou: what to check before dental treatment in China

"An implant in China costs just ¥4,500" misreads NHSA Yibaofa [2022] No. 27 — and in Guangzhou the figure itself is wrong. Notice No. 27 governs the medical service fee only (excluding implant, abutment and crown), sets a governance target rather than an absolute cap, addresses single conventional implants, and lets developed areas relax the target by up to 20%. Under Suiyibaofa [2023] No. 12 Guangzhou sits in the first price zone with a tier-3 public target of up to ¥5,400 and a governed total of ¥5,184, while private clinics are market-regulated and not bound at all. Also verified: pure titanium implants came in at ¥548–1,855 and titanium alloy at ¥599–1,343 under centralised procurement, with single-tooth zirconia crowns at ¥100–656; orthodontic bracket procurement exists but Guangdong is not on the list; implants are outside insurance today though a May 2026 consultation draft proposes including them; oral implantology norms require a signed consent form and a materials register; and records and CBCT can be copied at private clinics under Order No. 701. No clinic ratings, no medical advice.

Sep 01, 2026 · 8 min read

口译

Seeing a doctor at a Guangzhou public hospital: registration, insurance, consent — and where an interpreter actually matters

What decides how a foreigner's hospital visit in Guangzhou goes is a handful of checkable things. From the official documents: a passport registers on the Guangzhou Health Link booking platform (Health Commission Q&A, Oct 2023) and permanent-resident cards book online at 17 institutions since Jan 2024; foreigners employed in China are in the employee medical insurance system under MOHRSS Order No. 16, so 'foreigners always self-pay' is false for them; Article 1219 of the Civil Code requires the doctor to explain specifically and the patient to consent explicitly — which presupposes understanding, and that is where an escort interpreter actually fits; records can be copied under State Council Order No. 701, Article 16; and while Guangzhou makes no official claim of multilingual 120 dispatch, the 960169 line (EN/JA/KO) can bridge a call to 120 with interpretation. Only officially documented international departments are listed. Not medical advice.

Aug 31, 2026 · 6 min read