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If a foreigner first comes to China, or intends to work and live in China, he will face problems such as visas, funds and employment laws and regulations in China.

All foreigners wishing to enter China are required to apply for a visa, usually issuing diplomacy, courtesy, business, work or ordinary visas. Individuals should apply for a visa at a Chinese diplomatic mission, embassy, consulate or foreign representative authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before leaving the country.

If you want to work in China for a long time, you must obtain certificates such as "Foreigner Employment Permit", "Foreign Expert Certificate",and Foreigner Residence Permit Certificate issued by the local labor bureaus in China. The Foreigner Residence Permit is valid for one to five years and can be extended.

If you want to start a company in China, you need to prepare various materials to apply for registration at the local industry and commerce bureau; After getting the company license, you need to collect a tax registration certificate at the local tax bureau within the specified time. In order to operate a company normally, in addition to daily business affairs, the company also needs to pay taxes to the local tax bureau on time, and pass annual inspection. For a new company, I suggest that you should ask a part-time accountant or find a professional agent bookkeeping company to help you.

Mandarin is the official standard language in China Mainland. In Hong Kong, the main languages used are English and Cantonese. English is not used widely in Mainland China. Most of staffs in the government departments speak Chinese, and online application systems are all in Chinese. It may be difficult for foreigners to go to various government departments to handle affairs themselves because of language communication problems and unfamiliarity with local application procedures.

It is recommended to find a Chinese authoritative business services agency with Chinese-English speaking services if you need help. You can search for business agency services by Google or Baidu (China's most powerful and widely-covered search engine). It is better to interview in the company you choose, then you can decide whether to cooperate with them by negotiating and observing the office environment and their services.

Hey Paulahm,

Interesting! I hope you two will have loads of fun and good life here in Shanghai in near future.
As for myself, I used to studied in the UK for my degrees and now settled in Shanghai where I come from. I set up a small scale company now in Puxi area and specialized in the property agent field. So if you ever need help in finding properties in Shanghai ,pls let me know.
Ta