Expat Exodux = Easy to find a Job in Shenzhen

In the past few months, there has been a huge exodus of foreigners from Guangdong province. Due to the Olympics, China employed a lot of regulations that could help control the flow of foreigners into China. Not only was it much more difficult to obtain a visa but it was almost impossible to get a visa in Hong Kong.

Also, foreigners who were living in China and working on Tourist visas were shooed away. This usually stemmed from police approaching expats on the street to see adaquate identification. For people who were employed, he/she faced increased scrutiny in applying for a work visa. While most of these regulations were a surprise to expats, they were all on the books but werent really enforced until recently.

All of these efforts led to a huge decline in the expat community in Guangdong. As a friend of mine described to me, supposedly as much as 90% of the foreigners in Guangdong had left before the Olmypics started. That's just crazy.

Just walk around the Shekou area and you can see the effects. Once filled with foreigners from all over the world, Shekou is now mostly empty. Business is down for both restaurants and bars. I went there on a night out with friends this past Wednesday and there were barley anyone there. Woah.

Another side effect of this exodus deals with jobs. Many foreigners working in Guangdong were employed as project managers for various trading or manufacturing companies - usually under tourist visas. Since most of these people have left China, it has created a vaccum of talent for people seeking jobs. It is now incredibly easy to find a project management job in Shenzhen that pays a very attractive salary. I would assume this is the case as well in other cities like Beijing and Shanghai. It was always easy to find English teaching jobs in Shenzhen, but it's definitely even easier now.

As the US economy tanks and the world economy goes into a recession of sorts, I see China becoming an increasingly attractive place for young people to come to. Recently, another 100+ newly college-grad English teachers have deceded on Shenzhen through the CLTC Program's deal with the Shenzhen Government Education Bureau. Students are arriving every semester to study Chinese at different universities all over the country from places like the USA, Europe, South America, Mexico, Korea and Japan. Even people who have gone back to the USA are returning to China for round 2.

If you want that job, get over here early.