Hi there,

This post is directed at teachers from the UK who work in Kunming. I'm applying for jobs and hoping to move there this

September, and am in the process of gathering my documents.
I'm aware that for the Z Visa you must provide a criminal records check, and that which documents are valid depends on each state. I was wondering, is an Enhanced DBS certificate accpeted in Yunnan/Kunming? I already have one of these so it would be great if I could use it instead of having to apply for something expensive and time consuming like a cert from ACRO.

Cheers!

If you are already in the U.K., getting the ACRO certificate is fairly simple and not terribly expensive or time consuming. You will also need to get your police, Degree, and CELTA certificates Authenticated by the Chinese Embassy. Using an Agency for your visa application will be cheaper than a trip to London. I am not sure what a DBS is and so I doubt that local officials here will know what it is either.

You don't need TEFL authenticating.

You need the basic disclosure from Disclosure Scotland. This is regardless if you're Scottish or in Scotland or not. 25 quid. 5 working days to get.

Once this arrives at your address, send it back to them (this can't be done all in one go) and they will get a registered person to give it a signature and a stamp. This they do for free. (5 working days, requires SAE)

What follows after this is extremely expensive and time consuming:

Then, send this to the Foreign Office in London, they will attach an apostille (10 working days as a standard service, less if you pay more for something quicker). Once you get this back, send it to the Chinese Consulate and they will authenticate the apostille. (5 to 7 working days)

Degrees are the same but usually the signature on the degree is enough to begin the process immediately.

TEFL certs don't have signatures of people registered to the public record, as well as many of the certs being gained overseas, so the foreign office will not grant apostille to those certificates, you can not get the consulates authentication without the apostille, so therefore it can't be authenticated as straight forward as other certificates. However, not necassary for a Chinese visa.