Studying Abroad: Status, Work, Insurance and Degree Recognition Back Home

After you come back home, if this diploma is to be used for civil service exams, getting into a state-owned enterprise, settling your household registration (hukou), or professional title evaluation, it first has to pass authentication. Authentication is done by the Ministry of Education's Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange. If the school is not on the list eligible for authentication, your tuition and time are wasted, and the diploma can't be used in China. Checking the list costs nothing; check first, then pay tuition.

The US had planned to change F-1 to at most four years, leaving within 30 days of finishing. The day before it was to take effect, a federal court stayed it. So for now the old rules still apply: you stay as long as your studies take, and after finishing you have 60 days to prepare to leave. A stay is not a repeal; the government can still appeal, and the rules could change again at any time.

All four countries set a cap on work hours for student visas. Going over violates your visa conditions: your visa may be canceled, you may be deported, and you will be questioned about it in future applications. The caps are: US, 20 hours a week; UK, 20 hours a week for degree-level study and 10 hours below degree level; Canada, 24 hours a week; Australia, 48 hours every two weeks. Two jobs count together.

Whether you can work depends on whether you are currently studying full-time. Once you take a leave of absence, withdraw, are expelled, or are not in classes while transferring, your eligibility to work ends on the spot. Keep working then, and it is illegal work. Many people think that as long as the visa hasn't expired they're fine, when in fact their status broke long ago.

If you change where you live in the US, the law requires you to notify the immigration authorities within 10 days. Not reporting is no small matter. First, it is illegal in itself; second, letters the immigration authorities send you will go astray.

The Ministry of Education issues alerts specifically about a country or region, saying that recent public security or policy there is unfavorable to Chinese students abroad. These are risk warnings officially and publicly issued, in black and white for anyone to find, and more reliable than what agents say. Taking a look costs nothing.

Australia has written medical insurance for international students into the visa conditions; it is not optional. The insurance must cover your whole stay. When you renew and switch policies, there must be no gap in between. If you can't produce proof of insurance when entering, you may be refused entry on the spot. If family members come to accompany you, each person must buy a separate policy.

Going to the UK costs more than the visa fee. You also prepay the healthcare surcharge for the number of years on your visa, and only once it's paid can you use the UK's National Health Service. A two-year visa means 1552 pounds paid at once. Add the visa fee, and this sum has to be paid in full in one go before departure; don't leave it out of your budget.

To use a foreign degree back home, you first need academic credential and degree authentication. The review alone takes 10 to 20 working days. In job-hunting season, or if your materials are sent back, it takes longer. Autumn recruitment, civil service exam registration and settling your household registration (hukou) all have deadlines; don't wait until you need it to start.

The CSCSE names a batch of foreign institutions and applies enhanced review specifically to authentication of their credentials, and also suspends authentication applications for a few individual schools. The ones named are often the kind advertised as “no language requirement, no need to go abroad, a master's in a few months.” Searching the school's name once before enrolling is far less trouble than appealing afterward.