Relocating with helper to china

Posted by mother_2005 (334 days ago)

we are relocating to china and planning to bring our indonesian helper along. has anyone ever done this before or had friends who has done it? is it possible? thanks for your info.

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Posted by evildeeds (334 days ago)

There are no DH visa's for China. Some people have used an F visa (business visa) but beware that there is no guarantee that this will be re-newed and the DH will have to leave China every 30 days. The Chinese authorities do take a dim view of this and recently have been cracking down.

Posted by GreenValleys (334 days ago)

I think the only exception to the rule is for members of the diplomatic corps, but otherwise it's correct that there are no provisions for importing domestic help into mainland China. I think the logic is that they have enough of their own people looking for unskilled (relatively so, before anyone debates the issue) jobs without others being imported to fill them.

Posted by mother_2005 (333 days ago)

but i am surprised to see on the net that there are many filipinos looking for domestic jobs in china. how can that be possible?

Posted by evildeeds (333 days ago)

Naivety is one reason. They will go on an F visa, or sometimes on a student visa. It is illegal and there are repercussions if you or the maid are caught. Messing with HK Police is one thing, messing with PRC Police is most certainly another!

Posted by Katetam (332 days ago)

If you are relocating to China, why not just hire locals. It's so much cheaper!!!
My cousins hire their helpers for $ 500 RMB a month. They are great too. Hardworking, and SO loyal. Of course, you need to have good luck in finding the good ones. But my point is hiring a local in China would be cheaper, and much easier!

Posted by mother_2005 (332 days ago)

i was told that hiring local is cheaper too. but it's a hit and miss case. our current helper is really good and i really trust her with my kids. my kids really like her too. relocating to another country is quite a stressful thing for us, and the kids. we just thought that by bringing her with her i dont have to go through the whole process of finding a good helper, trust issues and also, coping with unnecessary new stress of new helper.

Posted by GreenValleys (332 days ago)

Unfortunately I don't think that will be adequate reason for the authorities to issue her with a visa. Generally leaving HK means leaving the helper as well.

Posted by Katetam (331 days ago)

Bringing your helper who is unfamiliar with the new country is possibly more stressful than hiring a local one. At least you don't have to worry about the helper's not knowing where to go to buy things, groceries, and her way around town. You would have someone who knows what they are doing !

Kids are more adaptable than you think..... I think it's harder for the adults to adapt to a new country than kids!

Posted by mother_2005 (331 days ago)

perhaps you are right. guess i can't really bring her with us even if she wants to come with us. we're thinking that since local help is cheaper in china, we can hire another local helper when we're there to do the cooking and stuff while my current helper can solely concentrate on the kids. how does one go about looking for helper in china? through agency or through recommendations by friends? any recommendations?