I. Application Type:

Qualification Certification for Employing Foreign Experts

II. Implementing Authority:

State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, P.R. China (SAFEA)

(NB: These Provisions apply to employers that employ foreign cultural and educational experts.)

III. Qualifications

Employers that intend to employ foreign experts are required to obtain Qualification Certification and Qualification Certificate for Employing Foreign Experts prior to employing foreign experts. This Certificate serves as a basic support document for applying for Foreign Expert Work Permit, invitation, Foreign Expert Certificate and Residence Permit for Aliens. Employers that apply for Qualification Certification for Employing Foreign Experts shall：

be an independent legal entity

have obtained qualification certification by relevant competent authorities

have a well-staffed office of foreign experts management and services

have a complete set of foreign expert management rules and that of staff work rules

be able to provide foreign experts necessary work conditions, living facilities and safety measures

have budget for employing foreign experts

NB: Newly-opened schools or educational and training agencies shall not be allowed to apply for qualification certification until after they have been in operation for over one year and teachers, enrollment and teaching order are guaranteed. Formally established China-foreign jointly-run schools and schools that enroll expatriate students are not subject to this provision.

IV. Application Materials

Application Form of Qualification Certification for Employing Foreign Experts

Qualification Certificate of Independent Legal Entity

A copy of the complete set of Foreign Experts Management Rules (including safety measures) and that of Staff Work Rules

Qualification Certificate granted by relevant competent authorities; schools or educational and training agencies shall submit a copy of official written reply of approval by competent education, labor, industrial, commercial administrative authorities; School License or Business License. Other employers shall submit a copy of license or official written reply by relevant administrative authorities.

V. Procedure and Processing Time

5.1 Application

Application by non-education agencies or enterprises located in Beijing that are subordinate to ministries, commissions and affiliated institutions under the State Council shall be made with the foreign affairs bureau of ministries, commissions and affiliated institutions under the State Council. Application by other employers shall be made with the provincial administrations of foreign experts affairs by the principle of territorial management.

Application materials submitted to the foreign affairs bureau of ministries, commissions, and affiliated institutions under the State Council and to the provincial administrations of foreign experts affairs (Hereafter referred to as “application acceptance authority”) are deemed to be authentic guaranteed by the applicant. Where materials are found to be unauthentic, application shall be handled pursuant to Article 78 of Administrative License Law of People’s Republic of China.

5.2 Application Acceptance

5.2.1 Where applicants submit complete application materials in conformity with the prescribed forms or application materials required by implementing authority, application will be accepted and processed.

5.2.2 The application acceptance authority shall allow applicants to correct mistakes in their materials on the spot. In the case of incomplete application materials or any inconformity with the prescribed forms, the application acceptance authority shall write out on the spot or within 5 days a dated Notice for Supplementing Application Materials and Correcting Mistakes affixed with the official seals of the application acceptance authority for the purpose of one-off informing the applicant of materials to be supplemented and mistakes to be corrected. Where the application acceptance authority fails to inform the applicant, application shall be deemed as accepted as of the date of receiving the application materials. In the case of the applicant failing to make supplementation or mistake-correction after being informed of the above notice, the application will not be accepted.

5.2.3 For all applications, the application acceptance authority shall write out a dated Notice of Application Acceptance or a dated Notice of Application Denial affixed with the official seal of the application acceptance authority. In the case of denied applications, reasons for denial shall be specified in the Notice of Application Denial.

5.3 Initial Examination

The application acceptance authority shall conduct the initial examination of all the application materials that have been accepted pursuant to Administrative License Law of People’s Republic of China and other relevant regulations, and solicit the advice and opinions from provincial competent authorities, public security and foreign affairs authorities, of which reply shall be due within 7 work days. The initial examination shall be completed within 20 days. More than 2 staff members shall be assigned to verify the substantial part of the application materials. Time needed for verification (within 10 work days) shall not be included in the 20-work-day processing time of initial examination and the applicant shall be notified of the verification time. After the initial examination, the application acceptance authority shall write comments and sign on Application Form of Qualification Certification for Employing Foreign Experts and submit the Form together with all the other application materials and results of initial examination to SAFEA, the implementing authority.

5.4 Examination and Approval

The implementing agency, after receiving all the application materials and results of initial examination from the application acceptance authority, shall examine the submitted application materials of an applicant and make a decision within 20 days in accordance with relevant regulations. For special cases, the period of examination will be extended for another 10 days, subject to the approval by the responsible person of the implementing authority, and a dated Notice of Extension affixed with the official seal of the implementing agency shall be written out to notify the applicant of the reasons for extension.

An application will not be approved in the case of one of the following:

Application materials are not authentic.

Applicant does not qualify for employing foreign expert.

Other reasons for which the implementing authority deem it unsuitable to grant an applicant Qualification Certificate for employing Foreign Experts.

Upon making positive or negative decisions on an application, the implementing authority shall write out a dated Notice of Decision with the official seal of the implementing authority. In the case of a negative decision, the implementing authority shall specify reasons in the Notice of Decision. In the case of a positive decision, the implementing authority shall, within 10 days after making the decision, issue and serve the Qualification Certificate for Employing Foreign Experts prepared and printed by SAFEA.

VI. Annual Review and Registration

Provincial administrations of foreign experts affairs, foreign affairs bureau of ministries, commissions and affiliated institutions under the State Council shall, in accordance with the notice of annual review by SAFEA, carry out the annual review of the qualification of employers under their charge that employ foreign experts, and shall submit the annual examination report to SAFEA by the end of a year. SAFEA will have the annual review of the qualification of all the employers that employ foreign experts from January 1 to January 31 every year. Given the individual cases, review results may be as follows:

6.1 Employers that have engaged in employing foreign experts will be allowed to registration, which means their qualification remains valid.

6.2 In the case that there exist general problems in the process of employing foreign experts or employment is not realized as planned within a year, registration will be postponed, which means qualification of the employers in issue will be suspended for 3 months, and after 3 months, either registration will be allowed or qualification revoked depending on how problems are solved.

6.3 In the case that qualified employers no longer employ foreign experts or haven’t employed foreign experts for two consecutive years as a result of annexation or cancellation, their qualification shall be annulled.

6.4 In the case that qualified employers have serious problems in the process of employing foreign experts, their qualification shall be revoked and new qualification application shall not be made until after 2 years.

After These Provisions are promulgated, all the results of qualification certification by SAFEA will be made public and available for reference. In the case that employers have obtained Qualification Certificate for Employing Foreign Experts and already passed the annual review in 2004, their Certificate shall remain valid.

SAFEA shall be responsible for interpreting These Provisions.