The China Briefing BookstoreDialogue with other governments’ admin procedures urgently needed
Aug. 29 - With the recent problems over the issuance of visas to China both before and now following the Olympics, it has become increasingly apparent that China’s national administration infrastructure is both subject to regional interpretations and a lack of international dialogue over the processing of information. Indeed, an assumption that all other countries follow the same administrative procedures as China is overwhelmingly obvious. It’s a cycle that needs to be changed.
China’s problem is two fold. Firstly, it is not unreasonable for China to start to clamp down on the issuance of visas, when for so long the process has been abused by foreign nationals. That abuse, which led in the main to foreign nationals effectively working in China without declaring taxes or obtaining proper documentation, has also led to a rash of fraud, embezzlement and security concerns.
Prior to the Olympics, China dealt with the influx of foreigners into the country purely by being lax with its own regulations. For many years, consequently, it was possible to live in China, hopping in and out on tourist and business visas, working in an office and having all your salary paid offshore. As China boomed, so did the number of foreigners who abused the system. It is clear that this somewhat free and easy visa issuing era in China has come to an end.
In solving this first problem however, China has not provided a credible alternative. Instead, it has looked inwards, and taken its own administrative processes and applied them to foreign nationals when it comes to applying for visas. There appears to have been no dialogue with foreign governments over whether now-requested documentation can in fact be provided by the state in question, neither does there appear to be in place any mechanism to detect whether an individual applying is in fact a credible businessman or an undesirable. This is dangerous. The determination of whether someone is or is not undesirable, or worse, a terrorist, should not purely be determined on academic qualifications.
As we reported yesterday, the issue over the requirement in some areas of China to produce a “no criminal offense” certificate when applying for a work visa has been poorly thought out. While there is nothing wrong with the concept, it ignores several key points:
1) The request for such a certificate from a police station in the applicants country of origin both ignores the fact many expats have worked overseas for years, and simply don’t have any contacts with their local police station in their home country;
2) It facilitates an expensive trip back home to request such documentation;
3) In many countries, the administrative procedure to supply such a document does not exist, nor would be likely to be issued by “the local police station” in countries such as the United Kingdom, most European nations, and the United States and Canada, where national, not local registers are kept of criminal offenders.
Here, the Chinese have purely followed their own domestic administrative system, which is still based on the hukou system of restricted movement. In this system, a Chinese national’s personal records are kept at their place of birth. All requests to move in China, or to engage in business (a “no-criminal record certificate” is required in China in order to register as a local director of a Chinese company) are provided for by the local police station in the hometown. Yet that is a uniquely Chinese administrative system. Such a procedure simply cannot be assumed to be in place in other countries—and largely it isn’t.
China needs to work more with foreign governments when looking to impose conditions on foreign nationals applying for visas. There is nothing wrong with requesting a “no criminal record” document. But the procedures and administration support in the country of origin need to be determined beforehand by the Chinese before they start to make it a visa requirement.
Certain nationalities, amongst them Indians and Brazilians, along with many others, have serious problems obtaining visas for China purely on the basis of their passport. Again, this appears to be a haphazard situation, implemented differently across the country. Yet China’s own administrative infrastructure appears little able to cope with determining whether or not an individual is undesirable or is in fact the managing director of a multinational business. Both are lumped into the same category. This is becoming an area of great concern, and is damaging China’s foreign direct investment environment. While unofficial, such a policy of discrimination purely on basis of nationality borders on racism. I doubt that is the actual intent, but clearly, a major disconnect is happening.
In short, it is now obvious that China’s own administrative infrastructure when it comes to immigration is woefully inefficient, ignorant of other nation’s administrative processes, and is unable to keep up with the post-Olympics modern image the nation demonstrated.
China needs to modify the immigration process, work more closely together with foreign governments over the sharing of certain immigration procedures and documentation, and develop a closer relationship with international criminal agencies such as Interpol if it is to rectify damage that is already being done to its business environment credibility.
China has a great opportunity to show the world it can follow up on its declared place in the international global community. Working closely with foreign governments before issuing new visa application procedures that may not be feasible, or showing it is smart enough to work out a way to determine between a genuine visiting businessman and someone turning up on the lam would be a very good way to start. It needs to happen immediately.
August 30th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
This is what we’ve been able to establish is the situation over the obtaining of “Non criminal record certificates” from various other countries. Clearly, the situation is haphazard and differs considerably from country to country. Applicants for work visas in China are strongly advised to check with their Embassy for facilitation of the new Chinese requests.
US Dept Of State: “U.S. law enforcement authorities may not be familiar with such a procedure since it is not commonly requested in the United States”.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_1201.html
FBI: Takes 18 weeks (four and a half months) to process: http://www.tefllogue.com/finding-a-job/certificate-of-no-criminal-record-for-tefl.html
Hong Kong (downloadable form for residents only): http://www.police.gov.hk/hkp-home/english/forms/cncc/172a.doc
New Zealand Ministry of Justice: “There is no such document” http://www.justice.govt.nz/privacy/
Singapore: Downloadable form to be presented in person (Singapore residents only) http://www.spf.gov.sg/faqs/doc/cnccform.pdf
Australia, New South Wales: 14 days, application in person: http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us/structure/specialist_operations/forensic_services/related_information/criminal_records_section/related_information/frequently_asked_questions/national_criminal_history_record_check#6
UK Home Office: Documentation only available for criminal conviction records, not for no criminal records.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/2004-cons-crb-regulations/draft-statutory-instrument-2.pdf?view=Binary
UK advice on other European applicants: http://www.deni.gov.uk/circular_2006-06_appendix_a__checks_on_applicants_from_abroad.pdf
Note: UK Police cannot make checks on criminal records of UK nationals who have commited offenses overseas.
France: Applicants must apply in person to the Casier Judiciaire National, in Nantes. Documentation available in two weeks.
http://www.crb.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=2325
EU Pilot Scheme (Austria) http://www.epractice.eu/cases/2081
Hungary (3 months)
http://www.magyarorszag.hu/english/keyevents/a_alpolg/a_okmany20050822/a_azon20050822/a_erkolcsibiz20061215.html
Taiwan (3 days)
http://www.ptpolice.gov.tw/English/CmsShow.aspx?Parm=2006121512553437,,1
September 7th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The Canadian system facilitates this kind of criminal record check and is quite simple if you have lived in your home country:
You go to the nearest Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] or Provincial Police Station in Quebec and Ontario and request a one page form for a criminal record check…
You complete it and and pay your CAD $26.00 or CAD $27.00 - wait 30 days and you can pick it up. A family member can under certain circumstances also pick it up on your behalf with authorization.
There is no question that it is not convenient to get one but it is possible.
I have to smile when I hear Americans in particular complaining that the Chinese government didn’t consult before implementing; America has been doing just that for years. For example — the reason that Americans had to wait 24 hours and give their finger prints for visas for visits to China was because the US did NOT consult China before implementing their discriminatory practices agains Chinese people and requiring them to be finger printed on entry. Tit for tat, I would say.
As the most powerful and wealthiest country in the world now, I suspect we are going to see less “consultation” on the part of the Chinese Government and I say so be it — finally there is a country in the world that can give the US and its citizens their comeuppance !!!!
By the way, my experience of working overseas for the past 20 years is that as far as Canada is concerned you only have to produce your criminal record check for when you lived and worked there…you will have to go to the police wherever you have worked subsequently — and obtain a criminal records check from the local police. So for those that have been working legally in China — they can go to the local Public Security Bureau — and get a certificate issued. For those that have not been legally working in China — they will be out of luck and need to go back to their home country.
Even in third world countries — eg. Africa and parts of South East Asia — most police departments through INTERPOL have no problem providing criminal record checks. That is my person experience.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Before we go too far in demonizing the Chinese government and accusing them of setting visa requirements without consulting other nations, let’s take a look at one of the requirements for immigrant visas to the USA. What follows is a direct quotation from Form OF-171 Immigrant Visa Information Sheet:
“Notarial Police Certificate. Applicants aged 16 or older must submit this form for all countries in which the applicant has resided for one year or more and wherever the applicant has been living for six months prior to the interview since attaining the age of 16. Police certificates are only valid for one year.”
Do you think that the Department of Homeland Security or the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services consulted with all other countries around the world before setting that requirement (or at least with those countries who are not on the visa waiver program)? And note that U.S. immigrant visa (IV) applicants need to get police certificates from ALL countries they levied in after they were 16, and that the certificates can not be more than a year old. So if someone applying for an IV lived outside his home country for a couple years 5 years ago, and even if he had the werewithal to sercure a police certificate from that country before retuning home 5 years ago, he would still need to get another one because the certificate is only valid for one year!
I think that these U.S. visa requirements are very stringent and do NOT take into account the ease or difficulty of obtaining the required documents in countries around the world. So I don’t think we can single out the Chinese government, accusing them of behaving radically different from all other governments. I also think that the statement that China’s hukou system is unique is a sweeoing generalization. Such a system used to exist in the Soviet Union and persisted at least into the first decade after the break up; I’m not sure whether it still holds there today. But I would imagine that there are other countries with similar administrative systems.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Thanks for your comments. I think the main beef is that there appears to have been no consultation about the regulations concerning this (fair enough point about the US though) - a situation which also applies to China internally. There appears little discussion on the matter between the Ministry of Commerce (who want FDI) the PSB (concerned about security) and Immigration (who have to carry the can). That’s not entirely helpful - and leads to mass confusion.
September 13th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
You should have seen how the U.S Consulate in Toronto, Canada treated all of us at the Green Card processing session. Herding and rudely barking at us through megaphones! You’d think we were all criminals or asylum refugees from some 3rd world country, even though we all were polite and respectful. Gave me 10 days to get police records for all my family members having lived in various parts of the world, OR ELSE lose our Green Card privilege. Just about told this guy to shove it. Only Canadians would tolerate this, and I in retrospect, was shamefully one of them! Got my Green Card but believe it or not it’s actually not easy to give it back (I tried).
September 15th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for the timely article. I am a Malaysian businessman who sources and trades with products of all sorts in Asia. It was not my intention to live or work in China, although having a rented apartment in China do make my travel easy as I don’t need to carry a big luggage with me for my business trips to China, let alone expensive hotel bills. In fact, I would love to have an apartment in every port that I frequent. However, the recent clamp down on business visa and having to resort to use of tourist visas makes extremely hard as it wasn’t the length of stay that I need but the frequency of travel and Malaysia being singled out as one of the countries where one need to go all the way home to get a China visa is tough, especially when my travel takes me all the way to UK, and Africa. The cost of travelling back to Malaysia for a China visa is killing me. What can the Chinese government do for a genuine businessman and traveller like me? The immigration infrastructure sure needs fixing.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Hello everybody,
I need help from this discussion board. I worked in china for sometimes and now back in canada (i am canadian) i am require to provide a “no criminal offense certificate” from a local chine police authority. Where to apply for such a document?