I sent you an e-mail for job leads. Please check it.

That's the spirit.

Good luck, man. It seems Z visa issuance in HK will be the key to the door in your case. I think that's still possible, but perhaps that will be discontinued fairly soon. I read somewhere else that HK would require a local med, and then probably you'd have to do another one back on the mainland. Another thing to bear in mind is the criminal background check.
No need to advise you what you need to do - you're an old hand China-wise. But even old China hands can end up in a jam through no fault of their own! Anyways, all the best!

Did you ever think about having an emergency fund and a long-term fund to keep over the jobless months? I have both. The other foreign teachers in my town only partied it up and were drunk quite a bit, and they were women!

Now if someone does help you, how will they get you the money? Are you sure you can get a z-visa in Hong kong with the new regulations in place? How much do you you actually need? Every time I go to Hong Kong I spend about 3-4 k Yuan for one week, and that is after staying free at my friends house.

E-mail me if you need jobs leads. Maybe you need money to buy a ticket home, that would be a better bet.

I will answer each point as best I can. I am certainly not looking for cash/charity, merely a place to stay for a week with internet that is relatively quiet. I am footing the bill personally for overpriced noisy hotel rooms and it is tiring and difficult to look for jobs from those, esp with unreliable internet. Any money I do have is in Europe, I was cheated out of airfare, summer pay, visa run to Hong Kong and any travel allowances by my former employer who insisted I take a job in a school in Beijing in September that I did not want to take. They decided that to "hold" me they would only pay my visa run costs in september when I started work at the new school, therefore, over summer....NO PAY! The college I was at gave me and the other FT a deadline of June 18th to vacate the apartment and said we would both be unable to return. This left me and him homeless over the summer, short of staying a few days with a friend, the bill has been all mine.

No, I'm not bloody sure about the Z visa in Hong Kong,but who is? Things are always in a state of flux here. I also do not have a free place to live in HK.

I have a ticket home which i bought before I came but not until february next year, and I already paid once to change the date on it. Sorry, but going home for me is not an option, no family or friends I know in the UK, and living with parents at my age (37) is just not an option. I also need quiet as I suffer from sleep disorders, so noisy places or sharing with people who like to sleep late or wake very early is not for me.

Hope this explains further. My email is included for job leads.

You aren't the only one considering leaving China, I would have been considering it if I hadn't signed up for my next uni teaching job. I am particularly concerned about the fact that these regulations; although they may indeed have some positive effects, are simply intended to make things harder for foreigners to deflect blame as China is about to enter a stage of economic uncertainly and potential unrest. I will pay attention to what happens in the next year or so, because if things get too tricky, I think that next year will be my last in China. It is a shame because a side project of mine is proving to be potentially successful in the future, alongside one or two others in the pipeline but I am ultimately here as a teacher and I have prioritise that part of life for now.

It may be the case that many foreigners will quickly get replaced by locals, which is understandable in hard times, but one positive thing is that poor quality training centres may struggle to exist in light of the new regulations getting enforced.

One American guy that I know of, has decided to pack it in due to the great amount of hassle, others are considering it. China is becoming far less attractive.

Hey all.

To all I have sparred with here, it was never personal, to those strangers I have never met, a stranger is just a friend you have not yet met.

I was really hoping for an olive branch, something to pull me out of the mire, but it seems no help is forthcoming and things are rather desperate, I'm down to the last of my money and as of today at 12 pm I am officially homeless here. I hate throwing myself on others for compassion or mercy, but short of go directly to HK, on limited funds, I don't see what else to do? And as the foxy poster has mentioned, the new visa rules are making it harder for all expat FT's. Jobs also seem harder to get than usual, even though less FT's are coming to China.

So I'm just saying it is "save san migs time", and if he cannot be saved, well, it does not bear to think about.

Good luck all.