CHINA – Employment Licence Applications Taking Three Weeks
Alien employment licence applications are currently taking 15 working days to process; up from an average of around five working days previously in Shanghai or 10 days in Beijing. This change is likely due to an increased number of applications in both cities.
What is an Employment Licence?
The employment licence is the first stage of the Chinese immigration process. Once employment licences are obtained from the relevant Labour Bureau in China, an invitation letter for the individual employee’s work (“Z”) visa can be obtained. The Z itself is applied for at the Chinese Embassy in the country of residence and then, once the employee has arrived in China with the visa, he/she can obtain the final employment permit and residence permit.
Action Items
- Note that processing time for employment licence applications is currently around three weeks; plan timing of assignments/moves to China accordingly