Representative organizations of foreign companies in Shenzhen are required to employ Chinese through government-designated employment agencies, according to the city's human resource and social security bureau.
The requirement also applies to representative organizations of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan businesses.
There are only three employment agencies authorized by the Guangdong Provincial Government in Shenzhen. They are Shenzhen Foreign Enterprises Service Co. Ltd., China International Intellectech (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., and Shenzhen Zhonghe Foreign Enterprises Service Co. Ltd.
Foreign representative organizations have to entrust and pay the legal employment agencies to sign an employment contract with Chinese employees.
In addition, foreign employers are also required to apply for employment certificates for each of their Chinese employees through the legal agencies. The certificates should be subject to annual inspections.
Offending foreign employers and employment agencies will be subject to fines ranging from 5,000 RMB (772 USD) to 10,000 RMB. Chinese who work for foreign representative organizations illegally will be fined 1,000 RMB.
(By Li Hao)
