Teaching illegally in China
Following the recent crackdown on foreign teachers by SAFEA and the PSB; the issues again throw open the question of who should be here and who not.
In March 2017, Deputy Administrator Song of China’s SAFEA bureau (State Administration Foreign Expert Affairs) in their Beijing HQ office, openly admitted that "China has a big problem with fake foreign teachers estimated to be one-third of all foreign teachers working in China."
Consequently, China is not alone in this situation, as outside the west the majority of countries oppose a globalised world, sans borders.
"Good guys in, bad guys out." Pol Lt. Gen Proosoontorn, Immigration Bureau Commissioner, Thailand.
"Some 11.193,289 immigrants are living in Russia illegally. We are searching for them and expel them from the country as we find them." Dmitry Demidenko, Federal Migration Service, Russia.
There is no ambiguity, racism or malice involved. The rules are quite simple; if engaged in the dishonest practices of fraud, deception, or overstay, those involved will eventually find themselves arrested and deported.
Why is that difficult to understand? Wouldn’t the same consequences follow in your own country? Certainly, recruiters share a degree of responsibility, yet if joining in the conspiracy of fraud, why seek to deflect the blame for dishonest intentions? Likewise, the feigned surprise and often excuse of not knowing the rules because "someone said [...]" Really? Supposedly educated teachers, yet dim to the extent of being unable to tell the difference between an F or Z visa, or that buying a diploma equals dishonesty?
Nevertheless, it’s impossible to be a bit dishonest, or technically at fault if someone knows what they’re doing is illegal, in the same way that the excuse of a tiny bit of drug for personal use, is a tiny bit too much.
Into this toxic mix appear the legions of scam 'patrols', 'busters' and 'unions', all blaming recruiters and aghast at the number of arrests and deportations. Meanwhile, the website links exposing fraudulent recruiters grow ever longer, perhaps not realising that they exist as a result of the large numbers willing to participate in the lucrative market of supply and demand. What exactly is the point, other than to indicate the obvious? Once exposed, a simple switch of 'phone numbers and an email address ensures it continues.
Yet others busily engage in the in-fighting, blaming competitor sites of being disguised as fraudulent recruiters themselves and issuing warnings against the warnings. The manipulative joining ranks to advise the gullible?
There isn’t a market for false documents to those who already posses legitimate ones and the Chinese scams and foreign fraud only exist because of the steady influx of those who don’t.
Why is it happening, as all scream 'beware', yet beware of what? Remaining simple to understand and without engaging in semantics: If you don’t have the correct qualifications to be a teacher, doctor, engineer or any other profession and the matching required paperwork, don’t work in China, or anywhere else for that matter. If you posses the qualifications and the correct documents, there is no fear of arrest and the chances of meeting these fraudulent bottom end recruiters will remain minimal. Remove the correlation and the scams will disappear with them.
China can only stand to gain from the genuinely educated flooding out of Europe and coming here and throughout Asia to escape the political, social and economic chaos in the west.
Yet there is also a lesson here for China and that is that those who engage in fraudulent practices remain a minority. Don’t let this develop into anti-foreigner xenophobia, or a paranoid witch hunt for supposed spies (teachers are generally not affiliated with NGOs). The vast majority do have the qualifications and try to understand that especially among the younger western generation already indoctrinated with individualism, nihilism and hedonism all of which reflects in their initial behaviour, they do eventually settle down and join the majority rest of the human race outside the west.
If you have no degree and no experience, you will invariably find yourself at the bottom end of language ‘schools‘, in a sea of two legged sharks and invariably from where the tales of scams and immigration problems arise.
Have a nice day and a pleasant stay.
The six 'ifs'
1. If you can’t obtain a job at McDonald’s on a minimum wage in your home country, using false documents to pretend you’re a professional in another is not the answer to your problems.
2. If you’re from the west, education is not an opportunity to promote your subjective version of democracy or human rights, whilst trying to change the world. Keep your politically correct liberal fascism and the answers to the resulting social chaos where they belong, ditto the often first world arrogance and primarily noticeable in Americans.
3. If you describe yourself as 'culturally aware', put what you say into practise by learning to respect the culture and laws of others and if you’re unable to, at least abide by them for the duration of your stay.
4. If you wish to engage in using, selling drugs or furthering your alcoholism, practice those vices in the west where they’ve become normalised and viewed as a no blame lifestyle choice.
5. If you want to avoid becoming another statistic, start by learning the specified requirements before coming to China.
6. If you want a safe and enjoyable stay, avoid SJW politics and those promoting them, or getting involved in determining what’s right or wrong. If the government want your advice they will ask for it!
*Disclaimer* The author is not a recruiter and has no affiliation with any organisation.
@coralbay, You are permanently banned from making comments on any of my blogs.
"What do you think of the illegal foreign teachers working in China? How should t be prevented?"
A step in the right direction would be to deport those who knowingly and willingly flout the regulations and laws of the country e.g. those who work beyond 60 years of age. They are criminals and deserve their criminal records.
But wait .... aren't you 62 years of age?
I stand corrected on this teacher issue. Lets hope they can round them up ASAP, and not have to read the same news yr after yr after yr..
A 3 month sentence for fake teachers would be a good start to begin with..
I suppose it could happen, but I wouldn’t see it as something that’s regular.
To my knowledge, some of the guys from the west who have been struggling to make ends meet in China, just fell prey to some obscure agencies that have ulterior political agendas.
No twa. Teachers are not in the same league as the NGOs and their often political agendas. As for ‘spooks’, you won’t get much opportunity for a bit of espionage in the classroom :)
alot of english teachers run with the same circles as the spooks, and ngos, and have a similar shared set of values.
A few will have had bad experiences, which is what will usually follow as they look on TEFL as a money making scheme and endlessly compare themselves to what they’re told by others. It’s the greed factor, I’ve met plenty and they don’t usually last longer than a year or two before the schools spot what they are and refuse to renew their contracts. Some of the worst teachers I’ve ever met fall into this category. They’re usually from those just passing through (TEFL backpackers) and not looking at it in the medium/long term. The vast majority eventually end up back in the west, disillusioned with what they were told was a gold rush and how everyone was making three times what they were.
It’s the bottom end of the market – the midnight runners, alcoholics, the chancers and those without any other skills to fall back on. It’s the ones they’re now deporting in their thousands and rightly so.
I wrote a blog on my site about what standards I think China should have.
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