It is illegal, There is no legal way for her to work, unless she arranges a job, leaves China and gets a Z working visa. Then she can enter back into China and work.

Of course she could work illegal, 1000's do it, and only a few get put in jail, fined and deported. Others of course work, and then don't get paid, since the work place has no reason to pay them, they can not complain since the work was illegal.

@Klughart

If she is a student she can work legally, provided she clears the hours and role with her university first.

I was able to do this for 3 years during my stint at university here.

Stop the sensationalism and scaremongering.

@NApoleon
It's not sensationalism or scaremongering. Klughart is correct. You are by no means allowed to work while studying, you can go through the hassle of changing your visa, but you are not allowed to work.

In China there is no study-and-work visa like in Australia, Europe or quite literally, every other country in the world, [another violation of international visa treaties, in Germany Chinese can study and work but Germans not inChina].

I dunno how you did it, maybe your University pulled some strings. But that said, it has nothing to do with your College and even if they told you, that you can, by definition of the law and visa regulation you cannot. Your University has no jurisdiction to decide that [PSB has], you can take their [univ.] documents and run it through the PSB, but they have the power to give you green light.

I know you will not believe me, so just call the PSB on Tudong Lu and they will explain it in detail to you, as they did to many others including me.

YOU.....CANNOT.....WORK......ON.....ANYTHING.....BUT.....A.......WORK....-VISA

The good news though is since my first arrival in China in 2001, there were words, to change the regulation, and it's already 2016, just a matter of hours until we can work and study here.

Nuh, it's much more fun and powerful to let Laowai's stumble into illegality. So you can fine, deport, or squeeze bribes out of them, [which happened to 3 of my friends in visa happy 2008. The cop made 12000RMB in 30 minutes, and that only in their shared apartment].

But yeah China is awesome!!!!

Volunteering on a tourist or student visa is often also illegal.

Articles from couple of years ago suggest that the law was changed, but local implementations may still vary.

Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (2013), article 42 mentions:

"The competent department of education under the State Council shall, in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council, establish an administrative system for foreign students working to support their study in China and set forth regulations on the scope of jobs and the limit of work time for such foreign students."

This suggests that administrative system for foreign students working will most likely become nationwide. But in the OP case, the school is in different province than the intended employment, so might be difficult even if said regulations applied.

Yes, it is illegal I believe.

funny enough, no body of us here actually know the Chinese law ( speak of work permit .How it works, how to obtain it by your self, without guanxi ( not talking about Eng. teachers geting it sorted out by school ) . Ive never found any ( even in Chinese ) written conditions for applying a work permit ( not working visa ) for China or for Yunnan ( if different ). We all just know all around teaching Eng. ( Bc.degree, work experience etc ), but nobody knows for sure ( clear written in CN law ) if u can get work permit by your self ( even for teaching Eng. privatly ).

Don't generalize too much, we are not all English teachers or teachers at all.

Chinese written law is actually quite simple compared to most western countries, once you get past the language barrier.

That said, there is of course quite a bit of variation in regional implementation of the law within China, plus corruption and other misconduct of those who practice it on top of that. Though all that is slowly reducing.

China allows a limited number of business models for foreigners, and self-employment is not one of them.

would u share that CN written law please? ( I mean link ) Thanks.

Taking "law" literally here, yes I can.

It starts from "The Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China" (English translation of 2013 law from government website: www.mps.gov.cn/n16/n84147/n84196/3837042.html)

Article 41 Foreigners who work in China shall obtain work permits and work-type residence permits in accordance with relevant regulations. No entities or individuals shall employ foreigners who have no work permits or work-type residence permits. The administrative measures for foreigners working in China shall be stipulated by the State Council."

This basically states that there is no law about it as such - the law only says to follow relevant regulations and administrative measures.

Now we are out of scope of law - from here on, it is about regulations and administrative measures.