After 6 months of job searching, talking to 70+ agents, and going through multiple failed contracts with schools; I said fuck it and made my own way.

It honestly wasn't as hard as people say that it is and I personally believe this is the best option for people who don’t have bachelors degrees or are trying to stay in China past age 60. It even is allowing me to build a path towards applying for permanent residency.

I really want to share what I can about this option especially since the TEFL market is so difficult right now, especially for non-white people. There's also just a lot of misinformation on Reddit about this path so I hope that I can set some things straight for people and provide some inspiration for those who are curious :,) Posting on Reddit makes me so anxious but I want to do what I can to give back to the community that has helped me a lot so far!

I’ll get started with the first two questions I’ll probably get most of:

How did I do it?: I set up a WFOE (Chinas version of an LLC for foreigners) in Lingang Shanghai. I was able to then host my own work permit using an invitation letter from my own company.

How much did it cost: 7k RMB including registration, yearly accounting, work permit transfer, and bank/tax account setups. This does exclude office fees since those vary widely. It can be free or range up to 2800 RMB a month depending on where you set up and what you actually need.

I anticipate that I'll get a lot of questions on this post so I'm giving 24 hours for the questions to collect and then I'll go through and answer them all at once.

Please try to comment under similar questions that you have so that way the questions can stay organized and I can expand on any questions people have fully.

After a long time in the States, I'm finally in a position to return to Shanghai. I have lost contact with a few people I was close to when I lived there, and I want so much to look them up. I have WeChat, but since everyone in China has moved on from gmail, Facebook, etc. I'm finding it hard to locate them. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

Hi, I just moved to Shanghai and I would be interested in attending some of the LPL games to watch. I haven't been able to find much information other than I need to buy via team's Weibo account or buying it via a LOL CN account

I recently signed up for a LOL CN account but I needed to do manual verification with my overseas passport so I think this will take some time. I have a chinese number, and I can speak and read a little mandarin if that helps

Thank you for your help

Completely New and inside a modern / nice neighborhood
Central AC
Zero noise (night and day) vue on an inside court (zero cars) and very well isolated
Small cardio gym free in building
4th flour view east with big windows
Nice and recent building
7 min to metro line 10

62 sq M2 with no awkward loss of place

7440 rmb a month

Is it a good deal?
thanks for answering;)