Work & Live Visa Service
Get your Shanghai work permit and residence sorted — without guessing.
Filing, document prep, and timing for work and residence permits — including for spouses and dependent children. End-to-end, by a Shanghai-based team.
The 2026 threshold problem
The rules moved. Most foreigners find out at renewal.
Salary thresholds tightened. Classification rules changed. Renewal timelines compressed. The system is harder to read than it was a year ago — and harder to fix once a deadline has passed.
Most foreign professionals only discover where they stand when their renewal is already in motion. By then, the levers — salary letter, contract structure, employer documentation — are already locked in.
The fix is to look at it 6–12 months before renewal, not at renewal.
Eligibility checker
See where you stand in 30 seconds.
Indicative only. Not legal advice. We’ll review the details on a call if your result calls for it.
Fill in all four fields to see your indicative result.
What we help with
The work that happens before the filing.
- Eligibility review — A clear read on whether your salary, role, and employer meet current and 2026 thresholds.
- Document prep — The full work-and-education history package, translations, apostilles, and the forms employers commonly miss.
- Employer coordination — We work with your HR or sponsoring entity so authorizations and supporting docs are clean and timed correctly.
- Family residence permits — Spouse and dependent permits filed alongside the principal, including school enrollment letters and the paperwork chain.
- Filing and timeline management — We file the work permit and residence permit applications under written employer authorization, then track preliminary review until approval.
What we don’t do
Honest scope, in plain English.
- Provide legal immigration advice — we file and manage timelines, we’re not lawyers
- Guarantee outcomes — approvals are made by the authorities, not by us
- Hide a weak case to keep you as a client
This page is general information, not legal advice. Visa rules change. Confirm specifics with a licensed practitioner before acting.
How it works
From eligibility call to permit in hand.
- 01
Free 15-minute eligibility call
A quick read on your situation, where the risks are, and whether you need help right now.
- 02
Document and timeline plan
A custom checklist, ordered by deadline, plus an authorization and coordination plan with your employer.
- 03
Filing and follow-through
We file the work permit and residence permit (and family permits where applicable), then track preliminary review and approval until the permit lands.
What clients say
On the renewal side, before it broke.
Our renewal was 4 months out. The eligibility checker flagged a salary structure issue we hadn't noticed. We restructured the contract before filing — would have been declined otherwise.
Helpful on the parts most agencies skip — the spouse and dependent permits and the school enrollment letter chain. Saved my partner three weeks of paperwork chasing.
Z-visa renewal under tight timing — preliminary review needed to clear with weeks of margin we didn't have. helloChina filed and tracked the timeline daily until the permit hit approved. Came in clean, with two weeks of headroom we didn't start with.
Why we run this end-to-end
Years inside Chinese paperwork — before any visa was filed for a client.
Our founder spent years running an export business out of China, shipping made-in-China goods to clients in dozens of countries. That work is paperwork-dense: fapiao, customs declarations, employer registrations, payment chains.
The instinct for what holds together — and what doesn't — on a Z-visa application comes from that. The dependencies, the timing, the documents that always get rejected, the order in which the system actually accepts a clean file.
Independent. Paid by clients only. Honest about what we know — and what we don't.
Common questions
Before you book a call.
Can you file the work permit and residence permit for me?
Yes — including the spouse and dependent permits. The State Council abolished the special license for visa intermediaries in November 2018; the SAFEA work permit system today accepts filings from employers and their authorized service agents. We file under written authorization from your employer.
What if I’m already on a Z visa?
Most of the risk is at renewal, not the original grant. If your renewal is within 12 months, the time to plan is now.
Can you help my spouse and children?
Yes. Spouse and dependent residence permits are part of what we file. School enrollment letters and the supporting paperwork chain are included in the engagement.
What if my salary is below the new threshold?
Sometimes there’s a path — different visa class, restructured contract, talent route. Sometimes there isn’t. We tell you honestly which you’re in.
Does my employer need to be involved?
Yes. The employer is the Z-visa sponsor and provides the written authorization for us to file. We coordinate directly with HR or the sponsoring entity. If your employer has its own visa team or external provider, we can work alongside them or take the filing over entirely — your call.
Do you give legal advice?
No. We file applications and manage timing — we’re not lawyers. If your case has a legal complication that requires a practitioner — a pending criminal matter, a complex labor dispute — we’ll tell you and refer you to one.
If your renewal is within 6 months, the time to plan is now.
A 15-minute call clarifies where you stand and what to do next. No obligation.