Switching employers in China: what to verify before you resign

Why the order matters before you resign

If you are a foreign professional working in China, the sequence you follow when changing employers matters more than the speed. A job offer from a new company is not the finish line; it is the start of a verification chain. The checks below are ordered so that each one depends on the one before it: first, whether the new employer can lawfully host your work permit; second, whether the contract you are about to sign is compliant; third, what paperwork you are owed when you leave. Doing them out of order creates gaps that are harder to close once you have already resigned.

This article does not promise any approval, timeline, or outcome. It sets out what the cited government pages state and turns the rest into questions you can put to your employer or the competent authority.

Step 1 — Confirm the new employer can lawfully host your work permit

The employer side: registration and the licence entity

Start with the entity that will employ you. The Shenzhen Longhua district guidance on foreigners' work permit applications states that the employer should be registered in accordance with the law and have no record of serious violations of law and breach of trust. The same guidance states that foreigners should be employed only for special vacancies where no suitable locals can be found, that employment should not violate relevant regulations, and that the wages paid to foreign employees should not be lower than the local minimum wage standards (Shenzhen Longhua foreigner's work-permit application guidance).

Note the scope of that paragraph: it is published by a Shenzhen district authority. Read it as a concrete illustration of the type of requirement a local authority publishes, not as a uniform national rule, and confirm the current expectations with the authority in the city where your new role is based.

The change-of-employer rule: the current permit is voided first

There is a specific procedure for someone already in China who wants to move. The same Shenzhen Longhua guidance states that if an applicant currently working in China wants to change an employer, the applicant's current work permit should first be voided (Shenzhen Longhua foreigner's work-permit application guidance).

That single sentence reshapes the whole plan. The permit is tied to the employer relationship, so the move is not a transfer of a personal document from one company to another; it is a sequence in which the existing permission is voided and the new arrangement is put in place. Before you resign, ask the new employer's HR and, where appropriate, the local permitting authority: does the new entity hold the registration needed to employ a foreigner, and what does the voiding-and-reapplication sequence look like in this city? Get the answer in writing before you hand in notice.

Your side: the applicant baseline

You also need to confirm you still meet the applicant baseline. The Shenzhen Longhua guidance lists the applicant requirements as: at least 18 years old, in good health, no criminal record, employed by an employer on the Chinese mainland, and possessing the professional skills or knowledge required to take the job. It adds that the job should be in line with the need of China's economic and social development, that the applicant should be a professional urgently needed in China, and that the applicant should follow other relevant laws and regulations for foreign workers (Shenzhen Longhua foreigner's work-permit application guidance).

Again, treat this as one city's published list. If your new role is in a different city, the practical step is to ask the local authority which criteria it currently applies, rather than assuming the Shenzhen wording transfers unchanged.

Where the visa fits

The national rules carried on the Beijing portal describe the entry route for foreigners with permission to work in China: they should apply for a Z Visa at the Chinese embassies and consulates, bringing with them the Employment License issued by the Ministry of Labor, and a valid passport or documents capable of replacing a passport (Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China, Beijing portal text). The same page sets out separate arrangements for the personnel categories it identifies, including presenting a letter or fax of visa notification issued by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, and presenting the relevant documents of approval of the Ministry of Culture (Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China, Beijing portal text).

If your situation touches the visa side, the question to put to your employer and the competent authority is which of these routes applies to you and what documents the new employer is expected to provide. Do not assume your previous route carries over automatically.

Step 2 — Check the new contract's probation clause against the statutory ceilings

Once you are confident the new employer can host the permit, the next check happens at the contract stage, before you sign. The Shanghai probation-period guidance, which cites the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China, sets out fixed ceilings that a probation clause cannot exceed (Shanghai probation-period guidance).

Match the cap to the contract length

The ceilings are tied to the length of the fixed-term contract:

A fixed-term employment contract lasting three months to less than one year: the probation period must not exceed one month.
A fixed-term employment contract lasting one year to less than three years: the probation period must not exceed two months.
A fixed-term employment contract of three years or more, and open-ended employment contracts: the probation period must not exceed six months.

Two contract types get no probation period at all: contracts based on completing a specific task, and contracts with a duration of less than three months (Shanghai probation-period guidance).

When you read the new employer's draft, line the proposed probation up against the band that matches the contract length. If a one-year fixed term comes with a proposed four-month probation, that sits outside the two-month ceiling for that band, and you can raise it as a specific point before signing rather than after.

The one-probation rule

The same guidance states that only one probation period may be stipulated between the same employer and employee, that the probation period counts as part of the contract term, and that a contract stipulating only a probation period is treated as the full contract term (Shanghai probation-period guidance).

For someone changing employers, the practical reading is narrow and literal. The one-probation rule governs a single employer-and-employee relationship, so it is the protection that stops the same employer from running repeated probations on you. It does not, by itself, say anything about what a different new employer may set. Your check is therefore to confirm the new clause is sized to the new contract length and does not fall into a prohibited pattern, such as a contract that is only a probation period.

Two further points from the same guidance are worth knowing because they change what a contract may say. Part-time employment may not have a probation period stipulated at all. And for public institutions, a newly hired employee on a contract longer than three years faces a twelve-month probation (Shanghai probation-period guidance). If your new role is part-time or sits with a public institution, ask how these apply to your contract.

Step 3 — Make the termination certificate a condition of your exit

The last check concerns the paperwork from the employer you are leaving, and it is the step most often underestimated. The Shanghai resignation and termination guidance states that an employer must issue a written certificate of revocation or termination of the labor contract after the employment relationship with an employee ends. It describes this as a legal obligation of the employer, not a right of the employer over the employee, and states that if the employer violates this obligation it must bear the corresponding legal liability (Shanghai resignation and termination-certificate guidance).

What the certificate must contain

Citing the Regulation on the Implementation of the Employment Contract Law of the People's Republic of China, the guidance specifies that the certificate must state the term of the labor contract, the date of revocation or termination, the job position, and the length of service with the company (Shanghai resignation and termination-certificate guidance). These four fields are the details a future employer will look for, so check them on the document before you file it away.

Why the new employer will ask for it

The guidance explains that the certificate matters on two paths. It serves as proof that the employee is unemployed and as the basis for registering unemployment and claiming unemployment insurance benefits. And on re-employment, when hiring a new employee, an employer will verify that any previous employment contracts have been revoked or terminated and review relevant documents confirming that the employee has no ongoing employment relationship with another employer, which helps prevent dual employment and potential labor disputes (Shanghai resignation and termination-certificate guidance).

For a job move, it is the second path that concerns you. The guidance also notes that if the former employer fails to issue the certificate as required, the employee may be unable to transition smoothly to the new job, and that if the employer causes losses to the employee by failing to provide the written certificate, it must bear corresponding liability for compensation (Shanghai resignation and termination-certificate guidance). That does not make a late certificate painless, but it tells you the obligation is not discretionary.

A pre-resignation checklist you can run yourself

Read the three steps as a sequence, because the order is what protects you:

Before you accept the new offer, confirm with the new employer that the hiring entity is lawfully registered and has no serious violation record, and that it is the entity that will hold the work permit arrangement. Confirm you still meet the applicant baseline, and ask the local authority in your new city which criteria it currently applies, since the published list quoted here comes from one city's guidance.
Before you sign, check the probation clause against the ceilings tied to the contract length, and confirm it is not a prohibited pattern such as a contract that is only a probation period.
When you resign, track the issuance of the written termination certificate and confirm it carries the four required fields: the contract term, the termination date, the job position, and your length of service.
Hand that certificate to the new employer as the proof that your prior contract was ended, and ask the new employer and the competent authority how the voiding of the current permit and the new arrangement are sequenced in your city.

A worked example (fictional)

Fictional example: A marketing specialist working in China considers moving from one company to another. Before resigning, she asks the new company's HR whether the hiring entity is the one that will hold the work permit arrangement and whether it is registered without serious violation records. She then reads the draft contract: a two-year fixed term with a proposed four-month probation. Checking the ceilings, she sees that a contract of one year to less than three years may not exceed two months of probation, so she raises the clause before signing. After resigning, she confirms her termination certificate lists the contract term, the termination date, her job position, and her length of service, and submits it to the new employer. This example is invented to show the method. It does not represent a real employer, a real transaction, or a real salary outcome.

Judgment calls and local caveats

Some honest limits shape how you use this. The employer-registration details and the applicant baseline quoted here come from Shenzhen Longhua district guidance, which illustrates the type of requirement one local authority publishes rather than a single national list, so confirm the current position locally. The change-of-employer rule that the current work permit should first be voided also comes from that Shenzhen guidance and should be confirmed for your city. The visa route described on the Beijing portal page is stated there in the terms quoted above, and the question of which route applies to you belongs with your employer and the competent authority. The probation ceilings and the termination-certificate requirements come from Shanghai government guidance that cites national labour law; they are useful wherever your move lands, but the official channel for your city is the place to confirm the latest wording.

No part of this article promises approval, a timeline, or a particular result. City-level processes vary, so treat the named government pages as a starting point and defer to the latest official information for your city before you act.