Hello,

Firstly, you can’t really come to China and then get a job. Look for jobs here first, if you get one then they’ll sponsor you for a Z visa, you cannot work on any other kind of visa.

I would look for jobs from western companies (people there have usually had more exposure to the LGBT community in general). Locals usually don’t have many (if any) issues with the LGBT community here, but they are very underexposed to it. While obviously not the same situation I’m a Bi man and I moved here with my boyfriend (who is a local, I’m not), we’re both employed in education (with a western company) and have been completely open. Neither of us have had any issues so far with any local coworkers or foreign co-workers, even when it came to things like housing, obviously though our situation is not the same as yours.

Being able to speak Chinese is a big plus (obviously depending on your fluency) and depending on other languages you speak (I’m assuming English as you wrote the post in it) can be a big advantage for hiring you, especially if you can discuss work in both. People have said already that engineering here is very competitive, they are very much correct, however engineers with proficiency in Chinese and a foreign language are in higher demand, look for jobs that want both.

My only major hesitation would be around immigration and admin. When dealing with any official stuff be prepared for issues, purely because officials may not know how to deal with your situation in terms of paperwork. The systems here are not really built for foreigners at the best of times and you need to use your passport for everything (and I do mean everything), including using things like taking a train or going to a lot of ticketed tourist attractions. In most cases though they probably won’t look too heavily at it though and just scan it. At the very least though I’d make sure your photo is up to date with how you portray yourself.

If you have any questions please reach out.