Philipinos in China

[branmill]

Hello All,

I am new to looking at work in China but a seasoned to the ESL industry, and have been hitting my head trying to find out some answers.

Does anyone know the official Chinese policy on employing someone on a Philippine passport to teach English in China?

As well are there any links to the official Chinese Gov. Immigration website, tht anyone knows of as I am sure the answer is out there but it has been very allusive.

Cheers and I look forward to taking part in this Board

[Lotus Eater]

The university I was previously working at has employed two Philipinas - one at the uni istelf, the other in the linked middle school. So clearly there is no offical bar to employment.

[ChinaGurl]

I've met a few Philipinos here in China. In fact, I understand that Philippines and Singapore are Asia's 'English speaking countries'?

There is no official government stance on employing Philippinos as Foreign Experts in the field of ESL. Some provinces will need a degree, others won't.

What you're more likely to run into is individual schools being biased because of your asian face. Many schools want foreign teachers so they can advertise their foreign-ness as much as possible so as to up enrollment so as to have bigger pockets full of more money. Blunt, but true.

Then again, there are schools who truly value their foreign teachers and are interested in the students learning before dollar (yuan) signs.

If you're comfortable with your fluency in English, why not come and check it out. You may find it's a little more difficult to find a job than it would be if you were caucasian, but not impossible by any means!

[con's fly is open]

What Lotus and Chinagurl said, namely:
I knew a Filipino woman teaching in a nearby town (she was there without a residency permit- NEVER do that!). She made less than I did, despite the fact that she had 12 years experience to my... none. Nonetheless, she was sending money home, so I assume the exchange rate is better to the Phillipines than it is to Canada.

[Hamish]

Today the PHP is worth 54.89 to the US dollar.

[Jazz]

I don't really have anything new to say...just be careful about the pay, a Philipian lady here in my city learned that the hard way... she was among 2 other foreign teachers teaching the same amount of hours and same level of classes but due to her "asian" face she was paid 2000 yuan less than the other "American" looking fellows. She has now moved on to another school in the same city that is MUCH better, so on the flipside you can find many organizations that will hire you without this discrimination.

[Raoul Duke]

I always found it interesting that nearly all of the workers in the US Consulate's Citizen Services Office in Shanghai are Filipinos.

It was most gratifying to watch my Chinese wife walk up to a door guard I've become friendly with there and casually start talking to him in Chinese. The consternation on her face when I told her (in Chinese) that the man wasn't Chinese and couldn't understand her was priceless.

[George61]

Not just in China........

A Filipina maid owed $43,000 in damages and lost wages by a senior Chilean diplomat whom she accused of exploiting and abusing her is facing detention and deportation.

The former consul-general in Melbourne, Antonio Pena, has left the country without paying and the Chilean embassy has refused to honour the debt, claiming it is a "private matter".

Senior diplomats at the Philippine embassy have been holding meetings with their Chilean counterparts in Canberra in an attempt to broker a settlement.

The maid, Jean Adoval, has a Melbourne Magistrates Court judgement against Mr Pena for breaching a diplomatic employment contract issued under the auspices of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

She has an order for him to pay $43,000.

Ms Adoval, who has been in Australia for more than four years, has been asked to show immigration officials an outbound airline ticket this Friday. She has been told to leave the country by March 20 because her temporary work permit and bridging visas have expired.

Ms Adoval, 34, told the court in 2003 that she was locked in her room at the Penas' Brighton residence, abused, threatened, denied medical assistance and dumped without her possessions at Melbourne Airport.

Her contract directed the Penas to pay her $1500 a month - $550 of which was to be paid in cash. Because the Penas withheld money and benefits and because Ms Adoval is not entitled to work, she now has no money to comply with the demand to leave the country.

Accordingly, she faces being put in detention before being deported.

Ms Adoval has been forced to rely on the goodwill of families in Altona Meadows, Kew and Balaclava and welfare agencies across Melbourne for food and clothing.

JobWatch and the Victorian Legal Service have been helping her and have asked the Chilean embassy to pay Ms Adoval.

Ms Adoval, who speaks broken English, has not seen her 11-year-old daughter, Ganah, who lives with her grandmother in Mindanao, for almost five years. "I speak many times with her but it make me sad. I cry," Ms Adoval said. "I have done nothing wrong. I do not want to leave Australia. If I leave, I will not get the money that Mr Pena owe me. He treat me very bad. He treat me more like animal than (a) human being.

"I come here to work to get money for my family. Now they want to send me home in disgrace with nothing. I cry. Why doesn't the Chilean embassy pay me?"

An embassy spokeswoman declined to say where Mr Pena was or whether he was still employed by the Chilean Government. She also declined to say whether the embassy had a legal or moral obligation to pay Ms Adoval the money an Australian court determined she was owed. "That is all a private matter. We can't make any comment. I am sorry, no comment," she said.

JobWatch director Zana Bytheway said Ms Adoval had been punished for trying to recover her money and enforce her rights.

"This beggars belief that such a thing could happen in Australia," she said.

"There must be some re-assessment of diplomatic immunity when foreign nationals can bring people in from overseas, underpay them, abuse them and get away with it. I cannot believe this sort of thing can happen in a civilised country."

An Immigration Department spokesman said the Government had refused to exercise its discretion to overturn a Refugee Review Tribunal decision to refuse an application by Ms Adoval for refugee status because she did not fit the criteria.

"As a result, she was on bridging visas and they have expired," the spokesman said.

He said the Department of Foreign Affairs, not the Immigration Department, discussed such matters with embassies, saying: "As far as pressure on embassies goes, that's (Foreign Minister) Alexander Downer's patch."

A Foreign Affairs spokesman said it was a private legal matter. "It's not appropriate for the Government to intervene."

[con's fly is open]

Antonio Pena should be sentenced to work in a coffee shop for tips, until such time as he can scrape together enough nickels to buy a plane ticket home. His paychecks should be frequently late, and when he's almost got enough... rent increase.

[George61]

He said the Department of Foreign Affairs, not the Immigration Department, discussed such matters with embassies, saying: "As far as pressure on embassies goes, that's (Foreign Minister) Alexander Downer's patch

...and , of course, Downer is not the slightest bit interested. He is the biggest dummy in the howard government.

[Lotus Eater]

But he looks so good in fishnets ...........