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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Is China becoming serious about illegal workers?
I know every year they claim to become so, but this time seems to be different, I am working at a company where there is a large number of foreigners, half of them are on F or L visa (me on Z).
Yesterday evening we had a urgent meeting with the owner (who is usually never here, nice guy though) in which he explained to us that the cops came in the morning and wanted to check the foreigners' passports, as he got some good guanxi with the chief of the police he told them that it was not possible at this time and asked them to come back today (tomorrow then).
Yesterday evening during that meeting he told the foreigners who are on F and L to stop coming at work from today and until they can go home to get their Z visa (probably around September 15th), the company will cover their flights and pay their salaries. He also told the foreigners who are on Z to always carry their passports with them, both at work and outside of work.
This never happened before in any place where I worked, including first tier cities, do you think China is finally enforcing the visa rules?
9 years 44 weeks ago in Visa & Legalities - China
Oh, no they're not. It's just that time of the year.
September to November, illegal workers crackdown. January to march, prostitution crackdown. The week before Chinese new year, street shops crackdown. Methods may change but the clock is the clock.
ScotsAlan:
Yup.
The police don't get paid enough to be bothered.
They just have to follow the latest orders from above.
What I find interesting though, is that I was told there is no actual Government email system. All the dictates are done by phone.
There is no paper chain to tie anyone down to proving the claimed figures.
RiriRiri:
Some administrations are on a quantitative goal system. Every year they have to hit a certain mark to receive their bonus.
Chengguans will wait until the last minute to hit their score so they can racket street stalls the rest of the year. That's why crackdowns always happen before the new year. I wouldn't be surprised that traffic police works the same, Cf. Ironman.
Prostitution crackdowns are more political so they usually come from Beijing. I'd say same goes for illegal workers/residents.
I wouldn't be surprised that no proofs are kept of given orders. That's how mafias work.
It sounds like the "Chief of Police" (who has got good guanxi with your "boss") is doing a re-evaluation study of exactly what that guanxi is worth to him (in real terms if you get my gist).
Grrrr, and of course, the police will never give one worry to the boss who is not respecting the law in the first place. Blame it on the expendable foreigners.
Same old pattern. React to a problem with a quick patch (crackdown), don't try to understand the deep issue and fix it, too much effort and won't give you any face. Especially when the quick fix give you face (look at those cheating foreigners !)
RiriRiri:
There's no issue to be fixed actually. Having a disposable population of semi-legal precarious workers is the way it is meant to be. That's also how they treat their own population anyway.
mike695ca:
@ Dr. Monkey. im not sure if thats true. If the boss is immediately flying all the foreigners home with full pay, I would guess the boss is under some pressure too. It also leads me to believe that the "cheating foreigners" arent being targeted at all. Everyone is being given time to get legit. Nothing wrong with that, Especially when the company is taking all the financial burden.
DrMonkey:
@mike Good point, it's going to cost some money to the boss (if he actually pay the plane tickets and keeping paying the teachers), and the police attitude (giving some time for the company to sort it out) is smoothing things out.
I got the perfect answer for this question: Yes, some times they are strict and crackdown, and no, they go back to being lazy. I drive a car here and its funny how this situation seems the same, how? Well, I see a week where police stick on tons of parking tickets and then the next few months, no parking tickets, not a single one and this gig seems the same for Visa's and illegal workers.
They are tightening up a little more here and there (as opposed to in the past) but usually these checks are just waves. If you can outlast them and not drown in them, then you are fine until the next wave... it is never a constant in China as ironman pointed out, they are usually lazy as shit but every now and then... need to put on a show to let others know they are doing something and have power.
"Respek muh authoritiiiiiii!"
Consistent rule of law just doesn't exist in China. There are plenty of laws on the books that are applied based on the whims of the authority.
Sometimes, there'll be a crackdown to punish a school (without actually getting official in real trouble, just inconvenienced). Sometimes, China just wants to show "the foreigners" who is boss, whenever they feel a surge of xenophobia is in order. The reports of "foreigners working illegally" caught by the cops will show the Chinese how bad those people are (working here illegally, breaking Chinese law), and how the authority is protecting the people from those people.
this is happening in Shenzhen since last year September.
ironman510:
It'll continue forever or until a war starts. I'm also in Shenzhen and yep they are still here.