EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

Commercial Presence in China

Form of Establishment

  • Joint venture schools may be established, with foreign majority ownership permitted.
Scope of Activities
  • Foreign educational service providers may provide primary education services, secondary education services, higher education services, adult education, and other education services, including English language training.
  • Foreign educational service providers may not provide primary and secondary national compulsory education.
  • China reserves the right to place national treatment restrictions on educational services.
Presence of Natural Persons in China
  • Qualified education professionals must have a bachelor’s degree or above and an appropriate professional title or certificate, with two years of professional experience.
  • Individuals may enter China to provide educational services when invited or employed by Chinese schools and other educational institutions. 
  • Managers, executives, and specialists of a representative office, branch, or subsidiary in China, temporarily moving as intra-corporate transferees, will be permitted an initial stay of three years.
  • Managers, executives, and specialists of foreign-invested enterprises in China will be granted a long-term stay permit as stipulated in the terms of contracts concerned or an initial stay of three years, whichever is shorter.
  • Service salespersons not based in China, who are not selling to the general public, and who are not engaged in supplying the service are limited to a 90-day stay.
Cross-Border Supply of Services
  • China reserves the right to place market access and national treatment restrictions on the cross-border supply of educational services.
Consumption of Services Abroad
  • The provision of educational services outside of China is not subject to market access restrictions and is accorded national treatment. 
Acquired Rights of Foreign Service Suppliers
  • The conditions of ownership, operation, and scope of activities for an existing foreign service supplier, as set out in the supplier’s contract or shareholders’ agreement or in a  license establishing or authorizing the supplier’s operation or supply of services, will not be made more restrictive than they were on December 11, 2001.

December 2001
Department of Commerce
International Trade Administration
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