I have heard they have a license to hire foreigners, I have never actually seen it, so I don't know.

I wish not making my documents was the worst part. After the end of my contract I was told so much bullshit that I don't know which parts were true and which just crap. Every time they changed the reasons why I was in trouble both with the school and with the government, according to their convenience and the new things they thought they could use to justify their actions. That alone is unacceptable. I mean, if you are going to lie, at least do it well, keep a single version the whole time.

Let's start with what I was told

First: The government went to the school looking for me while I was in Beijing (highly convenient) to continue an investigation because due to a mistake of the travel agency I went to Taiwan without a Visa (on a school trip) and had to go back. No big deal, the agency got fined, the airline got fined. I just had to said what I was doing there, and the school was to confirm that I was going there with them and that I was working there. Somehow that got big. It made no sense to me, and they didn't call me so that I could get to my embassy and solve whatever problem there could be. So the school came out with a "it seems that your documents were never processed properly, it's because your previous boss paid someone to stop it" BULLSHIT. And then they said they had to pay 10000RMB to these people so that they wouldn't keep looking and so that "they didn't go and find me in Beijing and kick me out of China" How nice of them. It's so easy to find a foreigner in Beijing, who is just staying there for a couple of nights. Oh yeah.

Later I was told that they had to cancel my visa so that they didn't get in more trouble, so I had 10 days to leave the country. Again, how nice. "I'm getting in trouble, let me step on your head", "Of course, it's my pleasure"

After a few days, it was the government who canceled my visa, not the school. Because things were not in order. Whose fault? The bad foreigner of course.

So, because I made a midnight run that I didn't do, because the headmistress insulted me and threatened me and I laughed as reply, because they had to bribe the government because my new documents were never issued, they come and tell me that they won't pay me my last salary, that I broke the contract (that had already finished by then), that I wouldn't get my one way ticket to go back to Mexico, that I wouldn't get the overtime they owed me, and that the school didn't care of what happened to me from now on, and that I had to leave the apartment by 9am next day.

So there I am, no money, no clue, no apartment. Luckily I have good friends, both Chinese and foreigners and I could move to another place for a while, and to try to get a ticket to wherever I could get with my passport.

Still then, I asked, was my visa already canceled? Because otherwise I would go out and might not be able to issue a new one. They said yes.

Yet, the places that were willing to hire me told me that it's impossible for a school to cancel the Visa, they can cancel my working permit, but not the Visa. Another 2 friends confirmed it, so the day before buying my ticket, some friends and I went to the immigration office to check what was the truth. They hadn't heard of me, they looked at me with a face of "can't you read or are you stupid?" and they pointed at my Visa's expiration date and explained that I could no longer work under that permit but I could stay in China for as long as the Visa stated.

Eat that!

I almost left the country using money I didn't have because of this place's bullshit. Now, can anybody explain to me why they had to bribe someone for a Visa they did not issue? I didn't even need their release letter for the new one. For the government I have no relation whatsoever with this so called school.

I agree with you Turnoi, teachers coming to China, never start working until everything is in order, no matter what. It's not only illegal but the only one who will be affected at the end it's you.