Edited implies you were obviously angry, and if I have angered you, that was not my intention, but I won't apologize for what I know to be true. I taught in sichuan before, and was informed the visa run there was no longer possible and that a police check was needed. There are no Z visas conferred to people in China, esp. from Guangdong province, if you have a current Z visa and police check then it may well be different, but I haven't been back in mainland china for years and was last in HK last year before christmas. HK is seperate from the mainland anyway, so I couldn't care less about offending China. If something has changed, and it may have, can you cite a verifiable source please?

Cheers and beers,
SMGS

A close friend of mine who is my age just got his Z visa issued in Hong Kong. It seems this loop-hole is still open.

Another anecdote which surely cannot be true. Guangdong province was one of the first to stop the HK visa run loophole, perhaps because of an influx of those fleeing thailand who were ne'er do wells up to all kinds of deviance.

If you are not referring to Shenzhen, then which province, pray tell!?

And in Hong Kong, they definitely will not issue a Z visa. That loophole has been shut for years, don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise.

The problem is not necessarily the visa, but the fact that older FT's are not really sought after if you look at most of the job posts, thus it would depend on the employer?

It is possible in certain instances and it depends on the province. It seems to be getting very difficult in the more advanced provinces such as Guangdong, Jiangsu etc and the big tier one cities.

In Shanxi it is possible but if you are over 60 they make you sign a disclaimer that you have your own insurance and will absolve them of any responsibility if anything happens to you. The local university to me has a teacher who is 67 and he was able to renew his resident permit without issue subject to this. Maybe if you could ask for the contact details of another teacher in a similar situation to hear their story.

Jones:

Its true that this company is not really good, even on the day before the christmas party I asked if I can bring my lesbian wife and CIPTC- China Shenzhen Internaitonal Personal Training Centre said you cannot bring spouses and then after that they changed their minds...so I brought my wife to the christmas party.. It true that this company can tell you anything to make you believe them but you have to be careful they do put you in crappy schools and you will get paid less... but it is very important to get the right visa because its not good that you want to stay for 5 years in China you need to do things right and go home and get the proper visa.. or you will have problems like me I am married to a Chinese and the law is that i cannot work.

Was that a term of endearment for your good lady? hahaha!

Now, I don't know how old you are but I know some pensioners in their 70's who are married to Chinese. One of those (73) gets a pension for years spent on the Permanent-Way, working as a guard for British Rail; and then he gets his UK state pension, plus winter fuel allowances. They are all doing full time jobs in China on an unofficial basis. Maybe they do command a little less redemption than younger FT's with degrees but they're happy larrys. Anyway the extra money that legal teachers get is soon swallowed up by trips home to Blighty with all that that entails.

THIS IS A Warning to everyone and before you apply to work in Shenzhen China. For China (Shenzhen) International Personal training Centre You really need to think twice before applying for a company like this for a ESL position, You will need to be aware of a lot of things that is going on.
This is a subsidiary company of the Educational Bureau in Shenzhen China hires a lot of foreign teachers to come to China and teach ESL English under false pretenses because they are so desperate to hire more than 100 foreign teachers from different parts of the world to work in different districts in Shenzhen, You do need to be careful because anyone that applies in a company like this can be screwed over like so many people that I just know for one month in December 1st,-30th 2014. Their office is not nice and professional it is a little shit box that is located in 509 international Elite Building in Futian Shenzhen.

This company has already hire teachers that are on Tourist L Visas or Business F/M Visas and telling them that they can have their visa converted over to a Z visa .I have to be honest do not believe that it is not true the Chinese Govt is now cracking down on Foreigners that are working illegally.

CHINA SHENZHEN INTERNATIONAL PERSONAL TRAINING CENTRE HIRES FOREIGNERS THAT ARE ON TOURIST VISAS AND BUSINESS VISAS BECAUSE THEY CAN NOT GET THE FOREIGNER THE RIGHT TYPE OF VISA BECAUSE THEY ARE SO DESPIRATE TO FIND TEACHERS IN SHENZHEN, THEY EVEN WANT TO TEACHERS TO WORK ON THOSE OTHER VISAS BECAUSE THE TRUTH IS THAT THIS COMPANY CANNOT PROCESS MOSTLY THE PAPERWORK FOR ALL FOREIGNERS THAT NEEDS THEIR WORK VISAS IN ORDER AND TO HAVE THEIR Z VISA CONVERTED OVER WITH A FEC AND RESIDENCE PERMIT.

The people that runs this office is a Chinese agent name G[edited] N[edited] and working with a British Guy and his name is B[edited] G[edited] W[edited] as a foreign liason and their finance guy name is B[edited] and the one that works your immigration paper work her name is B[edited] and their education G[edited] W[edited]. These guys are not to be trusted at all… They screwed over many foreigners especially those that came on a Z visas and were promised to get them a Foreign Expert Certificate and at the last minute they cannot do it at all and telling the foreigner to get a one month tourist visa in Hong Kong to finished out the first semester. I even worked at a Primary school in Luhou and I am shocked to see the kids military marching and doing kung fu exercises every day...

That is not good at all. This is what happen to this other foreigner on December 22nd 2014 China Shenzhen International Personal Training Centre told S[edited] the Black Foreigner to get a Group Visa which it is a Tourist L Visa for China in Hong Kong with another girl named w[edited] and she is from the Finland and this foreigner knows that CIPTC was not honest so earlier this month before 12/22 They were made to leave Shenzhen and these foreigners were never paid their final salary by CIPTC not even a dime. They Screwed over S[edited] when he asked for his last salary they told him that he had to wait until the 8th of January and he was so upset and they said some BS promises to him and he never got anything from them.

There is another foreigner that came on a Z visa this month December 1st 2014 with a promise from this company after she was placed of getting her a foreign expert certificate which it’s CIPTC’s responsibility to take care of but they never told this foreigner in advance that she needed a letter from her university and where she took her TEFL for verification if she was told in the beginning about this she would of got that paper and brought it with her and everything would have been okay and now hearing that towards the end and she did not have time to stay. She decided to leave China and Fly home to her country.

Even I personally was hired by China Shenzhen International Training Centre and they are promising to work on my work permit so I can fly home and apply for a Z visa but this company told me to work under them on a L tourist visa which its not good and they placed me now at Nanu Primary School in Luhou right by Guamao Station for primary school... Its not good and something needs to be done about it I am living in Yitian with my wife and family for now but we cannot stay here any longer...

FOR EVERYONE OUT THERE BECAREFUL......THIS IS NOT A GOOD COMPANY AND THEY BRING PEOPLE ON FALSE PRETENSES..