Visas and Permits This is an extremely critical section of the contract! I'm assuming by now that you have already made sure that the school will provide you with a Work Permit/Foreign Expert Certificate and a Residence Permit; if they don't, you shouldn't even be considering signing a contract with them. These documents are absolutely required to live and hold a full-time job in China, and without them you will be in essence an illegal migrant worker - not a position you want to be in in China!

Well, I've read your post which contains some good advice but in some respects if I were a newbie thinking about coming to China it might have the effect of making me scared of my own shadow.

This bit about 'documents absolutely required' it does rather discriminate against folk with a good command of English yet have no degrees. Some good and bad employers alike provide a good service, and yes take advantage of the thousands of Westerners in China who are not qualified; however; how many of us with degrees are proper teachers (not me?) I never went to Teaching college after leaving university-I did do a TEFL course for a couple of weeks and I think it cost me 800 quid. As a result I have met many teachers in China either, degree-less or bought down The Khaosan Road who are far better teachers than myself.

I have been teaching in China for 10 years and have never been stopped by a policeman but reading some of the posts on these threads we are led to believe it's a likely occurrence, or that if they do stop you they bother to pursue you, and if
your papers do not check-out you'll be frog-marched to the airport and asked to pay a 5000 RMB fine....yet, would that be a life-ruining experience? I don't think so, you'll get free beer for years relating your adventures to your mates.

You have to learn to take a risk (ni dei xuehui maoxian) or your life can be a pretty boring experience.