Preparing for The Plunge

[mrgoodtrips]

Hi everyone. New to the forum but I’ve been reading it for awhile. I’m a recent CELTA grad with a couple months volunteering in South America and Europe.

China has always been my first choice but the opportunity never materialized. Anyway, I’m making plans to travel to Chengdu in 2014 to teach English full-time.

Ideally, I’ll have the money to arrive in February or March. My big question is: Should I come on an L-visa, find a job and then obtain a Z-visa? I’ve read many “horror” stories about vulnerable first-time teachers, and I’m trying to avoid that. Advice would be greatly appreciated.

And, as far as salary, what is the standard rate? My resume isn’t very impressive, but I do have some credentials.

Thanks!

[Charlie]

Hello,

February 2014 is quite a ways off, it’s possible that the visa situation will be different then than it is now. Most people here would probably suggest coming to Chengdu to look for jobs, as getting jobs over the internet often results in people getting a bad deal because they don’t know what the actual conditions in Chengdu are like. Are you from a native-English speaking country? If so, I would expect around 9k yuan for a full time English teaching job.

If you come on an L-visa you’re going to be very tight on time though, since I think currently there’s a 30 day limit per stay on tourist visas.

[Liam]

Props on getting started so early! A lot of the schools work on a semester-based system, and so the big hiring times are November-December and April-June. That’s not to say that you can’t get hired outside of those times, it’s just more difficult and puts you on a weird schedule if you want to switch jobs after your contract is up.

I was in pretty much the exact same situation as you about a year ago, nothing really materialized despite starting in August due to the condition of internet hiring Charlie mentioned. I ended up finding a way to make a little extra where I was living at the time, enrolled in the Nationalities University over here for a total of 6400 yuan for the semester, and worked on my Chinese while I looked for a job. It worked out pretty good and I’ll be starting at a school I like come September.

A lot of university students also work part-time to cover the cost of studying/rent, which can be done legally now with the new visa restrictions.

[mrgoodtrips]

Thanks for the information! Yes, I am a native speaker. I thought the Chinese school semester began in February, so I assumed it would be a good time to make my move. But, if April is a better month to start searching for a job then April it is.

Although after reading the Taipei vs Chengdu, I’m starting to consider Taipei a little more 🙂

[Author]

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