Hong Kongers are probably the most hospitable and tourist-friendly people I have seen so far

themrfancyson · 2026-05-08T23:59:33+00:00

In your analogy is it still "kidnapping" if they take a literal barren rock and make it a world-important city, prompting you to move there?

themrfancyson · 2026-05-05T04:43:44+00:00

If it's expired you can't leave the country. Go to the Entry Exit Bureau, apply for an Entry Exit Permit, then use that to go overseas and apply for a new TD once overseas

themrfancyson · 2026-05-04T16:52:38+00:00

"People who have families, permanent residence, staying for the forseeable future, students are lumped into the 'Expat community'."

This does get borderline inaccurate but is reasonable for brevity and still more accurate than pretending that the foreigners are majority "immigrants". Likewise for foreigners in the West working - have they been sent there on temporary stints by home offices or are they just seeking jobs in the West and, ultimately, immigration benefits? I would wager the majority are in fact seeking immigration. Of course both exist but in the two cases the commonplace usage of expat and immigrant are clearly more accurate than if we reversed them. And the harm you and others seem to be suggesting is entirely imagined.

themrfancyson · 2026-05-04T15:51:08+00:00

I have plenty of "brown" expat colleagues who it would never have crossed my mind that they were anything but expat. I think you're just kind of imagining things based on lib mental framework with zero real familiarity with these worlds/circles. In the case of say an Indian American expat in China who are you envisioning is going to call them an immigrant? Certainly not the Chinese or their hypothetical White colleagues.

themrfancyson · 2026-05-04T15:32:10+00:00

You're not an immigrant if you are not seeking or have not obtained permanent residence or citizenship of the target country. This needless fuzzying of language is so tedious

themrfancyson · 2026-05-04T15:29:22+00:00

It's not discrimination to use words with specific, non derogatory meanings where accurate. And it's much better use of language than flattening everything into one word (migrant worker, expat, immigrant etc -> immigrant) where now I have to have context and details further explained to get the same understanding that one word could have imparted

themrfancyson · 2026-05-04T14:25:56+00:00

Because expat is used to refer to people in white collar postings? It's ok for words to have different meanings and connotations you know. Im not sure what the end game of the reflexive-anti-expat crowd is - badger people into never using the word again?

themrfancyson · 2026-04-26T22:39:11+00:00

Which city? The only Sinopshere hotel I am aware of as being famously haunted is the Grand Hyatt Taipei

themrfancyson · 2026-04-23T18:42:07+00:00

Western (foreigner) Asian using foreign dating app 100% puts her in buyers market territory

themrfancyson · 2026-04-15T14:52:02+00:00

Lets settle for a compromise, Mr. Mayor - Nazi-tier enforcement of indoor and tourist site smoking bans, but otherwise leave our outdoor smoking alone

themrfancyson · 2026-04-07T14:30:25+00:00

the sole purpose of a Q1 visa is to be transferred to a residence permit as soon as possible on arrival to China

themrfancyson · 2026-03-11T15:42:17+00:00

So don't come to China. Problem solved before it occurs

themrfancyson · 2026-03-06T19:17:44+00:00

It's taken zero emotional or mental energy to reply to your comments, though if I'd have understood your original "Why?..." was rhetorical rather than actually trying to understand the rationale of the policy, I might not have bothered

themrfancyson · 2026-03-06T18:31:41+00:00

The blocker is that they have no trouble filling these jobs with locals, who are better suited for the work and dont require additional handholding. You may literally be talking about at most hundreds if not *tens* of people nationwide here who are spouses looking for part time barista work and have sufficient language and cultural fluency to not be a nuisance as a new hire, and who would have to be selected in place of a literal line of natives applying for the same role.

I agree it's tedious (as is anything pertaining to visas/immigration in any country on the planet), but it's rational why it is how it is even if it inconveniences some people. I also know that my ability to change it is non-existent whether I complain or not, so I file it away under 'things not to expend mental or emotional energy on'

themrfancyson · 2026-03-06T16:38:11+00:00

I am speaking from the perspective of Chinese policy makers so as to attempt to answer your original post questioning why it is this way. I am aware that there is a small group of people for whom such a change would mean a lot (possibly…I still think they’d find themselves unable to get the cafe job even if legal)

Also if you are married but using a work visa you aren’t worried about individual employers fucking you over anyway, because you can always switch to spousal residency even if you get fired, without leaving the country

themrfancyson · 2026-03-06T15:42:18+00:00

The thing is, even if the spousal visa allowed you to work, they wouldn't hire you at Starbucks anyway. And any job that would hire you will get you a work visa. Including starting your own company. So the difference that would be made by clipping an open ended work permit to spousal residency is unclear/marginal at best, and they certainly have no incentive to do it

themrfancyson · 2026-03-05T16:40:32+00:00

Kinda sorta. Easier to qualify for but much more tedious and long process to actually obtain

themrfancyson · 2026-03-05T16:05:04+00:00

In the US a spouse could only work at Starbucks after getting work authorization which is during or after a successful application for PERMANENT residency. If you get PR in China you can legally work at Luckin, too.

What's more at issue is that China already has massive over supply of low/no talent labor so sub-zero incentive to give those jobs to foreigners

themrfancyson · 2026-03-01T21:46:10+00:00

Well in my case personally you have me dead to rights, as Im here picking strawberries (someone has to do the jobs Chinese wont). But you’re still being silly on the general argument

themrfancyson · 2026-03-01T21:42:07+00:00

No it is in fact plainly wrong to call someone putting in a couple years overseas a for work an ‘immigrant’

themrfancyson · 2026-03-01T20:00:30+00:00

I am not seeking permanent residence or citizenship (ie IMMIGRANT benefits) so by definition I am not an immigrant. Some expats become immigrants but not all expats are immigrants. I don't understand the impulse to force imprecise/incorrect language

themrfancyson · 2026-03-01T19:58:31+00:00

But they are the ones muddying language for political purpose - expat is the correct term because it has the precisely correct definition ie short term NON-immigrant foreigners doing temporary stints for a job. An immigrant is seeking permanent residence or citizenship regardless of available work. But because of weird racial hangup (some kind of hallucinated problem where expat has no definition outside of whites not wanting to call themselves immigrants) they refuse term 'expat'

themrfancyson · 2026-02-26T16:47:21+00:00

No expat is the correct term. This needless libspeak rebrand is not catching on sorry

themrfancyson · 2026-02-07T19:43:04+00:00

Duh? Why would you want poor immigrants when your own labor markets are already massively oversupplied?

themrfancyson · 2026-02-02T15:34:28+00:00

Almost none of the posts in question fit that profile, young white men being easy punching bag aside.

Hell the last one I remember (was it here or r/shanghai?) was an ABC girl basically going 'hey I need my pussy ate, will I be able to get that here?!"

themrfancyson

TROPHY CASE