Beijing Employment Rules: Tighter And Tighter

In September 2014, the Beijing Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Foreign Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipality and Beijing Education Commission jointly published the Circular on Further Strengthening the Employment of Foreigners in Beijing (关于进一步加强北京市外籍人员聘用工作的通知) (“the Circular”). In this post, I highlight a few key aspects of this Circular. 

According to the Circular, foreigners may be employed in Beijing only if they satisfy the following conditions:

1. The candidate is in good health.
2. The candidate does not have any criminal record.
3. The candidate is between the ages of 18 and 60 (subject to the exception noted below).
4. The candidate must possess a valid passport or other valid travel document in lieu of a passport.
5. The candidate must have a specified employer.
6. The candidate has a bachelor’s degree or higher and possess a minimum of two years work experience in the relevant area, with the exception of language teachers, who must have at least five years of work experience in the relevant field. However, for senior technicians urgently needed for tasks relating to key technology or research and development, a candidate without a bachelor’s degree can be employed upon providing a certificate proving the relevant skills or qualifications.
7. The candidate must obtain a work permit and a residence permit for work purposes and cannot take on any job beyond the permitted scope of the work permit.

The circular also provides that the age and work experience requirements are not absolute and to the extent certain talents are “immediately needed” in Beijing, these requirements may be relaxed. The Circular does not define what would qualify as “immediately needed talents” and the Beijing Labor Bureau has not issued any written guidelines on this. We would expect that the more specialized or rare the skills, the more likely the admittance.

Additionally, the Beijing employer is required to enter into a written labor contract with the foreign employee, the term of which cannot exceed five years but may be renewed indefinitely. The Circular also reinforces the requirement that the employer contribute to social insurance for the non-Chinese employee. Employers that fail to pay the full amount of social insurance may be subjected to an administrative fine up to three times the outstanding amount. The Circular also mandates that employers maintain a copy of the following employment-related documents: the labor contract, a copy of the employee’s passport, a copy of the employee’s work certificate, a copy of the employee’s temporary residence registration form, proof of the employee’s lack of criminal history abroad (I note how much fun it is proving that someone does not have a criminal record!), the employee’s attendance records, the records of social insurance payments on behalf of the employee, and the employee’s wage payment history.

The employer must apply for cancellation of the employee’s work permit within 10 days after termination of the employee’s labor contract. If the employer wishes to renew its employee’s labor contract, it must do so by submitting an application with the relevant authorities at least sixty days before the expiration of the employee’s work permit, otherwise the non-Chinese employee’s work permit expires immediately upon expiration of the term of the labor contract.

Bottom line: Beijing is very serious about the applicable employment laws and rules and we strongly advice our clients that compliance will in the long term be cheaper than non-compliance.  If you are an employer in Beijing, you need to be mindful of the requirements imposed by this Circular in addition to the relevant national regulation and local rules,

We will be discussing the practical aspects of Chinese law and how it impacts business there. We will be telling you what works and what does not and what you as a businessperson can do to use the law to your advantage. Our aim is to assist businesses already in China or planning to go into China, not to break new ground in legal theory or policy.