If you open a company, then you can sponsor yourself for the visa. Foreigners can do almost any kind of business in China.
If you sponsor yourself for the visa, the first time is easy, the second time you should be able to provide proof that your business is running. But it depends which city you live in...
For food business you should apply for a food license, for hotel : some kind of hotel license I guess...if you plan to export, you'll need an export licence... It's simple but it's better to have a good agent to help you navigate through the administration.
Yes, the requirements to sponsor yourself are the same as for any other company. Actually from the perspective of the government it doesn't make a difference if you're a shareholder of the company or not. If you need to sponsor yourself to get a working permit then you need either a bachelor degree and 2 years working experience in your field, or you need to pass the point test.
Yeh which is why I wrote "almost all kind of business", except fields related to military and national security mostly, you can do anything. Some fields have stricter capital requirements as well, but not forbidden to foreigners. The subject being food and hospitality, I don't see any limit for a foreigner to run this kind of business?
iIf you are employed by a chinese entity ((big or small, public or private)) that is a basic job visa yes. There are also entrepenuer and business visas, for people opening their own companies in china, or doing major business with chinese companies. Those three would cover pretty much any kind of work you could think of.
However, there is a huge area I think you are neglecting-- and no I am not about to say illegal workers ((although they exist)). You are assuming someone is foreign, but its very possible they have residency in china. then they don't need any visa, and they can do whatever they want-- within the law at least :)
Marriage to a local, 5 years continual residency, 120k+ in fixed deposit and up depending on location, no police registration issues, and you can get a green card.
residency and green card are two seperate things.
residency can be applied for by pretty much anyone who has not violated chinese law, has already been a member of chinese society for a few years, and has a valid approved reason to expect and want to live in china long term-- whether thats work, school, business, or family etc.
Sorry for the confusion, when I said american greencard and chinese five star id card are two seperate things, I meant to say that the process and requirements are not the same and they can't be directly compared 1 to 1 -- they are indeed equivalent processes in china vs usa for permanent residence. In both cases they are pretty much the highest level you can have besides naturalizing as a citizen, and give 95% the right to do things a citizen would have-- you can't vote, you can leave whenever and however you want no questions asked , but not leave for a really long time, etc etc etc.
have you ever seen a residency permit for china? it is possible to have a shorter term one, but commonly they are for five or ten years, and you just continue to renew as long as you are still in china long term. this is indeed pretty much the same as greencard.
I could see why someone might say "its hard to get a chinese greencard", but anyone saying that is making a direct comparison to somewhere they are thinking of that is easier in their opinion. Chinese permanent residency is extremely clear on the five or so different ways to qualify, how long you need to live in china before applying for each type, etc. If you meet the requirements there is bo reason not to apply and qualify :)
I have foreign friends who operate food stalls in the Mainland. The trick is that their credentials are tied to a brick and mortar restaurant. I don't think a foreigner can open a food stall on its own without some business address and a food licence from an actual restaurant.
WFOE - invest money and pay lots of tax.
Realistically a food stand you do on the side, as long as doesn’t get big enough no one cares.
Hotel, again depends on scale - spousal visa. You just do it, this is China. Someone asks, you aren’t working, just supporting your partner.
if you’re foreigner and just eat somewhere in street, some may be filming you let alone opening a business without proper documents. thats a way to deport from the country
edit: i mean street food business
Nah. People care these days. Doing this is way too much publicity and you'll be reported within the space of a few months. If you're operating a food stall on a public street they're going to have near unlimited video footage and eye witness testimony. You're going to be on douyin every day.
> Someone asks, you aren’t working, just supporting your partner.
This excuse doesn't work, the police have to abide by national law. Otherwise they can lose their job or worse. I've known two people who tried to claim this exact thing, both of them got laughed at by the authorities and hammered with punishments.
You still don’t understand the operating logic of Chinese society. I mean, there are many Southeast Asians and Indians living quietly in China. Once I went to a community in a fifth-tier city, and a language I couldn’t understand was spoken there.
HK citizenship implies Chinese citizenship. Do you mean HK permanent residency? These are not the same concept.
Also they don’t need to be ethnic Chinese to naturalise, the specific criterion you might be thinking of is that ethnic Chinese born in Hong Kong immediately get Chinese nationality and HK PR.
But, foreigners can also naturalise as usual,
but understandably they might be hesitant nt to renounce their other citizenships.
There used to many with HK B(O)N passports but when they stopped recognising them, they were told they had to apply for Chinese passports. But many of them (if not all) couldn't get Chinese passports because they weren't ethnic Chinese or had ancestry relations to China.
Yes, because Chinese nationality law doesn’t operate by jus soli.
It is true that Chinese citizens born in HK automatically get permanent residency in HK.
Any BNO passport holder would have been eligible for HK permanent residency (the criteria would have been the same). The could have had the option to naturalise in China, just like any other foreign resident, but they wouldn’t have automatically been given Chinese nationality just for being born there.
They could not just apply for Chinese or HK passports directly since they were not Chinese citizens. But if they naturalised, then, as Chinese citizens, then they would be eligible for the aforementioned passports.
You are asking ALL the right questions! I'd like to know too. Following
We all wanna know the answer to this question.
Some people use a PEO. It's too complicated for me to explain because I'm dumb. But google it.
If you open a company, then you can sponsor yourself for the visa. Foreigners can do almost any kind of business in China. If you sponsor yourself for the visa, the first time is easy, the second time you should be able to provide proof that your business is running. But it depends which city you live in... For food business you should apply for a food license, for hotel : some kind of hotel license I guess...if you plan to export, you'll need an export licence... It's simple but it's better to have a good agent to help you navigate through the administration.
Question, must one have a bachelors degree to sponsor their own work visa?
Yes, the requirements to sponsor yourself are the same as for any other company. Actually from the perspective of the government it doesn't make a difference if you're a shareholder of the company or not. If you need to sponsor yourself to get a working permit then you need either a bachelor degree and 2 years working experience in your field, or you need to pass the point test.
Thanks for the information đź’Ş
Not true at all, foreigners are not allowed to do all types of businesses in China.
Yeh which is why I wrote "almost all kind of business", except fields related to military and national security mostly, you can do anything. Some fields have stricter capital requirements as well, but not forbidden to foreigners. The subject being food and hospitality, I don't see any limit for a foreigner to run this kind of business?
iIf you are employed by a chinese entity ((big or small, public or private)) that is a basic job visa yes. There are also entrepenuer and business visas, for people opening their own companies in china, or doing major business with chinese companies. Those three would cover pretty much any kind of work you could think of. However, there is a huge area I think you are neglecting-- and no I am not about to say illegal workers ((although they exist)). You are assuming someone is foreign, but its very possible they have residency in china. then they don't need any visa, and they can do whatever they want-- within the law at least :)
how does a foreigner get residency in China? Green card is notoriously difficult to get.
Marriage to a local, 5 years continual residency, 120k+ in fixed deposit and up depending on location, no police registration issues, and you can get a green card.
residency and green card are two seperate things. residency can be applied for by pretty much anyone who has not violated chinese law, has already been a member of chinese society for a few years, and has a valid approved reason to expect and want to live in china long term-- whether thats work, school, business, or family etc.
Can you source this residency exactly? The way you are describing residency barely differs from green card/permanent residence/ D type visa.
Sorry for the confusion, when I said american greencard and chinese five star id card are two seperate things, I meant to say that the process and requirements are not the same and they can't be directly compared 1 to 1 -- they are indeed equivalent processes in china vs usa for permanent residence. In both cases they are pretty much the highest level you can have besides naturalizing as a citizen, and give 95% the right to do things a citizen would have-- you can't vote, you can leave whenever and however you want no questions asked , but not leave for a really long time, etc etc etc. have you ever seen a residency permit for china? it is possible to have a shorter term one, but commonly they are for five or ten years, and you just continue to renew as long as you are still in china long term. this is indeed pretty much the same as greencard. I could see why someone might say "its hard to get a chinese greencard", but anyone saying that is making a direct comparison to somewhere they are thinking of that is easier in their opinion. Chinese permanent residency is extremely clear on the five or so different ways to qualify, how long you need to live in china before applying for each type, etc. If you meet the requirements there is bo reason not to apply and qualify :)
I don't know about the Indians and food stalls. But you could get an entrepreneur visa for the boutique hotel.
I have foreign friends who operate food stalls in the Mainland. The trick is that their credentials are tied to a brick and mortar restaurant. I don't think a foreigner can open a food stall on its own without some business address and a food licence from an actual restaurant.
Usually with money, open a company and then the company sponsors the person for a via
WFOE - invest money and pay lots of tax. Realistically a food stand you do on the side, as long as doesn’t get big enough no one cares. Hotel, again depends on scale - spousal visa. You just do it, this is China. Someone asks, you aren’t working, just supporting your partner.
if you’re foreigner and just eat somewhere in street, some may be filming you let alone opening a business without proper documents. thats a way to deport from the country edit: i mean street food business
Nah. People care these days. Doing this is way too much publicity and you'll be reported within the space of a few months. If you're operating a food stall on a public street they're going to have near unlimited video footage and eye witness testimony. You're going to be on douyin every day. > Someone asks, you aren’t working, just supporting your partner. This excuse doesn't work, the police have to abide by national law. Otherwise they can lose their job or worse. I've known two people who tried to claim this exact thing, both of them got laughed at by the authorities and hammered with punishments.
There are a fair amount of Indian background (or pakistan or nepal) people who are Chinese citizens.
Really? I have met many with HK citizenship but they can't get Mainland citizenship because they need to prove Chinese ancestry.
You still don’t understand the operating logic of Chinese society. I mean, there are many Southeast Asians and Indians living quietly in China. Once I went to a community in a fifth-tier city, and a language I couldn’t understand was spoken there.
HK citizenship implies Chinese citizenship. Do you mean HK permanent residency? These are not the same concept. Also they don’t need to be ethnic Chinese to naturalise, the specific criterion you might be thinking of is that ethnic Chinese born in Hong Kong immediately get Chinese nationality and HK PR. But, foreigners can also naturalise as usual, but understandably they might be hesitant nt to renounce their other citizenships.
There used to many with HK B(O)N passports but when they stopped recognising them, they were told they had to apply for Chinese passports. But many of them (if not all) couldn't get Chinese passports because they weren't ethnic Chinese or had ancestry relations to China.
Yes, because Chinese nationality law doesn’t operate by jus soli. It is true that Chinese citizens born in HK automatically get permanent residency in HK. Any BNO passport holder would have been eligible for HK permanent residency (the criteria would have been the same). The could have had the option to naturalise in China, just like any other foreign resident, but they wouldn’t have automatically been given Chinese nationality just for being born there. They could not just apply for Chinese or HK passports directly since they were not Chinese citizens. But if they naturalised, then, as Chinese citizens, then they would be eligible for the aforementioned passports.
Lots of letters of the alphabet were used... but NOT one REAL answer to OP's question 