Someone I know in Australia was working at a uni in China last semester. He went home in the summer at the end of his contract but later decided to return to China to continue teaching, this time at a different school. He's not exactly spoilt-for-choice due to his age, but he was put onto a 'recruiter' by an agent.

He applied for a job at the beginning of September and sent all the required docs. He had his degrees authenticated in Australia before sending them.

The recruiter told him that, due to the new rules, it would take up to 20 working days to get things processed. It's now November and he's still heard nothing. He contacts her regularly and just gets told the same thing - 'I'm waiting'.

Last week he was asked for his postal address so that this long-awaited work-permit, etc, could be mailed out to him, but was then told that nothing could happen until Monday because the 'Post Office doesn't work on the weekend'. (Er.....excuse me....this is CHINA!)

Essentially, this woman now has copies of:-
Passport
CV
Authenticated Degrees
Photo
Full postal address and telephone number

He has nothing! He has been assured that everything is 'OK' and that he should go and buy his flight ticket, however, he's loathed to do so until these alleged 'documents' turn up in his mailbox.

I did some checking for him and all I could find on the Internet was an old advert for a FT going way back to 2003. He had a Chinese friend contact the college and they were subsequently given some strange information. - 1. The 'recruiter' doesn't work there and they've never heard of her. 2. They are not looking to hire any foreign teachers right now.

I have heard from several sources that I.D theft in China is extremely common, but who really knows?

I'm hoping that this woman is genuine, but I have a feeling this guy is likely to discover that he's been a victim of I.D theft.

Either way, if a school, agent, recruiter, or whatever, asks you for a copy of your passport while you are still in your home country, block out all the numbers/barcodes etc, and just leave the expiry date and date-of-birth visible.