The country where over 260k ESL teachers work illegally

This summer, Chinese state media announced that of the 400,000 foreign citizens working in China as English language teachers in 2017, an estimated two-thirds were doing so illegally.teaching jobs in China for foreigners
English is big business in China, with an estimated 400 million people learning the language. But attracting qualified teachers has proven to be difficult, particularly as Sino-Western relations deteriorate.
China’s strict requirements for teachers severely restrict the demand for ESL teachers being met, despite these requirements having little bearing on the ability of a teacher to do their job.
A sizeable amount of the industry operates in a legal “grey area”, which has created a situation in which potential recruits are leaving themselves open to scams and abuse.
Native Speakers Only
“The recruitment process for hiring teachers from abroad can be challenging and time-consuming,” Celine Qu, a recruiter for Aston English, tells The PIE News.
“They should be from a native English speaking country, have obtained at least have a Bachelor’s degree, a TEFL certification of at least 120 Hours, be between the ages of 21 and 55, be able to obtain a certificate of no criminal record, pass a health check, and get all of their documents authenticated by the Chinese Embassy.”
According to Qu, qualified teachers are “highly sought after”. With over 140 schools across China, Aston English is one of the country’s larger ESL companies. It mainly hires teachers from abroad and then organises their arrival in China, helping them to settle in and employing them in one of the 100+ cities where they have schools.
“When possible we also like to meet teachers in person, but when we can’t, we try to do video-call interviews, and often request a live teaching demo, or video lesson,” Qu adds.
One of the biggest initial hurdles for recruiters is that they are limited to just a handful of countries from which they can source teachers. The government only grants work permits for English teachers to candidates from a “native English-speaking country”.
The government’s Service System for Foreigners Working in China includes over 40 such places on its website. However, most recruiters further limit this to passport holders from just seven countries: the UK, Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland.Some recruiters scam non-native speakers saying they can get a work visa and have a legal way of teaching in China, which is not true,” David Mitchell from Work and Live in China, a teacher recruiting company, tells The PIE.
Mitchell relates that the company is often approached by teachers who come to China expecting to get a work permit only for the school or agency to then refuse, either because the teacher does not meet the requirements or because the school is not legally permitted to hire foreigners.
In some instances, they are able to liaise with local authorities and find the teacher a legal position, but this is not always the case.
“Initially I think I went on a tourist visa. One of the things I requested beforehand was that I absolutely wanted a work visa. But actually, later I realised I didn’t know any teachers on a work visa,” Harry*, who worked in the country from 2013-2015, explains.
Now a qualified teacher in New Zealand, the company Harry worked for hired him from Canada. Several teachers The PIE spoke to claimed they were hired by British and American recruiters who were just as willing to game the system as their Chinese counterparts.