Are they legit? Sending personal info to a generic email doesn't look appealing. I am looking to teach English in Kunming. Any advice from expats would be greatly appreciated. I'm from the States. Thanks!

My guess is that some are legit and some are, perhaps, tricky.

Just found the "blacklisted in Km" thread...aiyaaa--my hopes, my dreams!

Surely it's the job seekers task to find out if a school is legit, not the schools duty to prove they are when they advertise for employees because the only way to check they are legit is to go there and ask to see their licenses and dates of expiry.

I believe that the OP is in the United States physically so he/she can't really go to the school and check out their licenses.

What are you planning on sending them? Your bank card details? Email passwords?

Surely it would just be a CV and maybe a degree copy at most on an initial application. Not much even your most skillful fraudster could do with those; let alone a school headmaster.

vicar, I should've clarified that not only am I from the States, but I am in the States now. I am job seeking from afar and found this website (which is pretty nice by the way). Anyway, my question was not in regards to the legitimacy of any particular schoo--although that would be the next question--but to the ads themselves, which some don't even have the name of the school on them!

Liumingke, yes, thank you. I'm a guy by the way. I wouldn't know a real Chinese school license from a fake one, hence the reliance on community assistance. I think this is a reasonable strategy, but I feel it might be a little touchy here.

Napoleon, my background is in I.T. and data security (paranoia) has been hammered into my conscience. But I don't know how things work there so that's why I'm asking (not that Internet scams are contained regionally). Correct me if I'm wrong but my guess for not putting one's school website info and contact number on these ads is because they are third party contractors?

@octobersky
In order to work to get a work visa to teach you need :
At least a bachelor's degree
2 years experience teaching in China
Criminal background check from the U.S.
Another thing is that I wouldn't trust the contracts either. It's not worth the paper it's printed on. Many school offer this and that and then when you get here, it's a different story (so I've heard). There's also the thing about race and age. Some only want 'white' face and under 40 years old. The government has gotten much more stricter on who can qualify for a work visa. I'm not trying to discourage you but proceed with caution. Kunming has been a great place for me personally. I didn't know anything about China but came here anyway and haven't regretted it. Give it a try. Good Luck!

@octobersky
PUBLIC EMAILS VS CORPORATE DOMAIN NAMES
Most SME's (small to medium enterprises) in China use public domain emails in-country, because of the revolving firewall. Once a domain name is blocked or "restricted", it's a time consuming process to have your domain name whitelisted - meanwhile no emails are coming in or going out without the VPN - which seems to be a game of whack-a-mole.

Losing access to your email is utterly unacceptable in today's high speed digital age. Most campus (corporate, governmental, and academic) email systems and IT systems in general are poorly managed, poorly staffed, poorly trained, with generally abysmal infrastructure. I believe I'm being generous with my praise.

WORKING IN CHINA
I highly recommend you try to find employment with an established firm FIRST. There's another concurrent string about working at the Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, but the financial issues there are rather nominal (aside from the 3 month lapse in salary).

A mainline organization, such as a university, is much less prone to playing games with its foreign faculty as they tend to process boatloads of foreign faculty and students annually.

Smaller private organizations would be more susceptible to fleecing or bait and switch tactics.

The larger institutions typically pay sub-par - but it's generally stable and reliable AND will expose you to the pseudo-official way of doing business and working in China, so you'll be able to sniff out questionable business practices with the privately owned enterprises.

This will give you a more stable base from which to "expand your horizons".

For a list of teaching institutions in Yunnan, just search wikipedia for "list of universities in Yunnan" (or kunming), then try to find each university's Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) to sell yourself.

FOREIGN EXPERT DESIGNATION
Usually, the academic institution will register you as a "foreign expert". This process has become increasingly demanding and rigid, to comply with the rest of China. I've heard that Yunnan is part of a 12-city pilot - which usually means new process, new staff, and SNAFU FUBAR experiences as you navigate through this new layer of frustrating and bewildering administerium.

Your mileage may vary (YMMV).

Good luck and happy hunting!

@Liumingke

To get a work visa 2 years work experience is needed, not 2 years work experience in China.

Otherwise how would you ever get the first work visa??