@LaoBenDan

Thanks for the link! I distrust 3rd, 4th or nth hand, "I heard...", "My friend says..." or "I know a guy...."

From a quick look, Article 9 (11) - students, and (12) - teachers, there seems to be no change other than a division into short and long term X or Z visas.

Beijing announced they are requiring working visa applicants to get a criminal background check for work. Suzhou and Nanjing is also making these requirements. This is no joke amd have read this from numerous websites.

One small piece of good news is that Beijing is only going to require initial applicants for the criminal check, not for renewals. But if someone is from another area in China and go there for work, they will also have to return home.Also the Exit-Entry Law does not specifically require criminal checks. But I think everyone else is going to follow Beijing. But there might be a small amount of wiggle room if one wants to work in the back country. Maybe.

I am a teacher here and I have a Misdeamnor criminal conviction. I also have a wife here, who fortunately is doing quite well financially who just bought a house. She told me I can live there and not work. She also promised me that she has enough guanxi in her community to get my L visa and stay. I hope so. This scares the hell out of me. I have been here 12 years. Just got my visa renewed, so it will be 13 years since I been here when it expires.

found this about the Certificate of No Criminal Conviction requirement from July 1st. it's from the site link that LaoBenDan posted above:
www.lawandborder.com/?cat=58

For US citizens, getting a Certificate of No Criminal Conviction'
maybe a problem. As one embassy site put it

'U.S. law enforcement authorities may not be familiar with such a procedure since it is not commonly requested in the United States.'

Some links:

austria.usembassy.gov/crim_record.html

travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_1201.html

www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/criminal-history-summary-checks

Other issues: authentication, FBI check may take months, report may include arrests as well as convictions (In China 98% of arrests result in convictions), may require returning to the US to meet 'in person' requirement.

TIC - Good Luck

I think like all things in China, the problems and repercussions of new policies are usually not very well thought out due to the prevailing philosophy set by Mr. Deng of "Crossing the river by feeling the rocks" (aka. let's just throw things out there and see what sticks). As problems arise and the hassle of dealing with the issues outweighs the original benefit, the policy will die a quiet death.

I personally think that this policy is in reaction to the string of bad publicity of foreigners behaving badly. The public perception of foreigners has soured a little bit coupled by Beijing's confidence in itself as it tries to assert itself to be the new big boy on the block has lead to this policy.

Not to say that there is nothing to worry about, but I believe as the number of "foreign experts" that China desperately needs decline due to the implementation of this new rule, Beijing will act quickly to overturn it.

However, with all things China, we just have to wait anxiously to see how things shake out.

Beijing is already losing a lot of FEs, due to environmental issues.

Spoke to the Foreign Experts department today, they know about the new law regarding needing to see Criminal Records, but are not sure when or how they will implement it.

Years ago when I first went to live in South America I had to get a criminal background certificate. It was quite simple. You go to your local police station and request a letter stating that you have committed no crimes.

Of course this may be more difficult to get now and I have no idea how Homeland Security has complicated everything but in general the police would provide a letter stating that you had committed no crime in their jurisdiction.

We of course know that this means very little because it only certifies that you have no record of any crimes in that city, which is meaningless, but nevertheless it served to provide an official looking document that stated that you had no criminal background. If I was in a situation where I had to provide a letter I would try and get something like that.

yup, thats what they are talking about. Once you have that letter from your police then you need to get it stamped at your foreign affairs office then stamped at the Chinese embassy in your home country.

You can get a friend/relative/agent to do this, you will need to sign the application though, no need to go home.

Yuantongsi, yes, I cannot imagine how they would know if you physically went home, or had it sent to you.