Fuddland

The saga of my visa and my previous company continues. To recap: to secure a full working visa related to my new job, I need a letter from my previous employer stating that I have left the company. That’s all it needs to say: a single line, endorsed by the company stamp [the mark of officialness in China]. After getting nowhere exchanging emails with the manager, [they are now being ignored], I made one last attempt to get her to agree to write the letter for me by going down to the office and meeting with her face to face.

It did not go well.

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She, again, point-blank refused to write the letter, saying that I had “broken the contract” — by this she simply means I resigned before the full term of the contract period. I pointed out the following:

• I gave the full required written notice when I resigned.

• I paid the required fines for terminating my contract early.

• I have not broken, and do not intend to break, any of the rules regarding conduct both during my employment and upon leaving the company — explicitly:

  • I didn’t work for anyone else whilst in their employment

  • I will not reveal the names of their clients to their competitors [despite this information being published on the company website]

She tried to claim that the contract states I am not allowed to work for any of the company’s competitors for the next two years — but when I magically produced the contract and asked her to show me where it says that, she could not point to the clause [because, er, no such clause exists].

So, since she will not be writing this letter voluntarily, I have no choice but to investigate whether she has an obligation to provide it [seeing as it is an essential document for any person wishing to transfer their visa to a different employer]. I informed her I will be carrying out these enquiries, and this is what she said:

If you dare to do that, I will contact your university immediately.

My university? I clarified: she did mean the place in the UK from which I was graduated. I asked her, firstly, what she was thinking of telling them. “That you broke your contract.” And then I asked what she thought they would do — strip me of my PhD, perhaps? It’s not like I’m trading on their name. She didn’t tell me. I have no idea what this threat is supposed to mean. Anyone?

She also said she’d contact any employers I was thinking of working for and tell them I’m in the habit of breaking contracts — a completely predictable threat that I’d seen coming about nine hundred years ago. What a pity I’d been completely honest from the beginning and told my new company the situation, and was reassured that they don’t care about what other people say, they’ll only judge me on my current performance [which, thankfully, has already had some very positive feedback]. And since the atmosphere and management at the new place is exponentially more relaxed and trustworthy, I don’t think they’ve got anything to worry about regarding me going anywhere.

#1

srh | 2007 / 03 / 08 – 18:16

What a bitch. What’s she trying to achieve?!

#2

Brown | 2007 / 03 / 08 – 18:28

You have shamed us all(!) I will tell the VC to begin proceedings to strip you of your PhD.

#3

Anna | 2007 / 03 / 08 – 19:29

As Dr Freud would argue, she had a pretty bad childhood…

#4

David | 2007 / 03 / 09 – 08:22

Re #1: Perhaps it’s an experiment to see if a business can succeed despite having the worst reputation in town?

#5

felicity | 2007 / 03 / 11 – 06:16

what the fu….????
crikey david, hope you get it sorted.

#6

Thanatos | 2007 / 03 / 11 – 20:16

Has your new boss suggested a business visa, as opposed to a working one? It only lasts for three months, but if it does the job…

#7

David | 2007 / 03 / 11 – 22:15

Re #6: Not to me he hasn’t, but wouldn’t that have the same problem? However, he has discovered that the son-in-law of the director of our parent company works in the visa office. A little guanxi might be in the works…

#8

Thanatos | 2007 / 03 / 14 – 07:01

Aah… in that case, you might be off the hook.

As far as I understand, business visas don’t require a reference from previous employers - I’ve currently got one and my boss didn’t ask me for any of that stuff - it was almost as simple as getting a tourist visa.

It could be my boss also has a son-in-law of the director working in the visa office, however…

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