Chinese law devides foreigners who work in China into two categories, foreign expers and foreign workers.
As stated in the Measures on the Administration of Foreign Experts in Foreign Investment Enterprises, foreign experts are foreign professionals, technical staff, and managerial personnel who are hired by FIEs to engage in production, operations, and administration. To qualify as a foreign expert, the foreigner must engage in the kind of job that is commesurate with his or her specialty and skills and meet the following requirements:
1. to posess at least a bachelor degree or the professional title of engineer, or have an equivalent degree or title;
2. the have five or more years of work experience in his or her specialty, being able to give technical gaidance and being qualified for the job;
3. to possess the expertise or special skills urgently needed by China or any other vocational specialites and
4. to have five or more years of managerial experience overseas and hold the position of a departmental manager or its equiealent in a large or medium sized FIE or in a high-technology or new technology enterprise.
The foreigner who meets the above requirement could apply for Foreign Expert Certificate, which entitles the foreigner to preferential treatment by China’s Customs.
This post is very interesting because I’m looking to work in China for a couple of years myself. There seems to be quite a lot of criteria to meet the guidelines to be classed as a foreign expert especially needing a bachelor degree or a professional title.