How to Move to China (ESL Route)

This is an overview of how Angel and I went from having the initial idea to teaching ESL in ShenZhen within a year's time. That was too long of a title, however, which explains the shorter and vaguer title.

Step 1: {August 2013} Decide you want to move to Asia.

Have several initial job and visa ideas fall through. Sister suggests, "Hey, what about teaching ESL in Korea? Lots of people do that!"

I respond, "Well...I don't speak Korean...but my Mandarin is pretty good. It might make more sense to try teaching ESL in China. Does anyone do that?"

Google search turns up CTLC Website among the top results.

Step 2: {Fall} Wonder if CTLC is a real thing or if it is a scam.

Peruse entire website in detail. Decide that this program sounds awesome...but remember that things you read on the internet aren't always true.

I emailed the address provided on the CTLC website to ask for a list of people who had taught with the program before and chose five random people from the list to email and ask questions about the program to. One of the questions was, verbatim: "Does CTLC exist or is it a scam?"

I believe in being direct. The detail and variety of answers I received from my emails convinced me that CTLC was either real or it was the most in-depth, genius scam I've ever come across, and therefore deserved our money.

Step 3: {November, December} Apply, interview, and be accepted into CTLC's teaching program.

*I should note that many people have found ways to just jump into teaching ESL in China without joining a program of any sort, but rather finding a school on their own and developing a contract with the individual school, and that is probably less expensive, but for us, given the fact that we didn't know much about the bureaucratic requirements involved in living and working in China, and the fact that we are not yet totally fluent in Mandarin, we decided that for us, the convenience of going in with an organization that provides TEFL training and negotiates your contract with your school was worth it. CTLC only works with schools in ShenZhen, and we liked the idea of ShenZhen as a homebase, because I wanted to be located in South China and we wanted to be close to major airports.

Step 4: {December} Start getting rid of all of your stuff.

Trust me, start early, it takes a while. If you're just planning on moving abroad for a year, maybe you don't have to get rid of all of your stuff. Our move is permanent for the foreseeable future, so we basically emptied our house. It was a process that we achieved slowly over months, through a combination of bequeathing our belongings to relatives, Craigslist and Facebook sales, many trips to the local thrift store, and one final garage sale.

Step 5: {Spring} Handle all legal, technical, and medical stuff.

Pay CTLC deposit. Gather all paperwork required to get your invitation letters so that you can apply for your visa (that included diplomas, background checks, and a few other pieces of paper for us). Make copies and scans of any and all important documents. We left all actual important documents in the USA but brought notarized copies and scans with us. Make sure you have plenty of years left on your passport and driver's license. Get a power of attorney if you might need one to help you manage finances from overseas. Decide how you are going to manage getting your taxes done while you're far away. Get any vaccines that you want while you still have a job and health insurance (we opted for Tetanus boosters and Typhoid).

Step 6: {Late Spring/Early Summer} Shop for anything you want to make sure you bring with you.

Plenty of clothes if you think you may have trouble finding clothes that fit in China (Angel and I are on the shorter side so this wasn't a big concern for us, however, I love my clothes so I brought as much as I could). High-quality sandals. You can do your research and buy whatever kind of face masks (for air filtration) you decide will be the best for you before you even arrive in China so that you're guaranteed to have a mask when you need one. Pick out your favorite kind of travel money belt--you never know where you might be in a place where one might come in handy.

Step 7: {June/July} Try not to forget all the last-minute really important things you have to do.

Send in your visa application to a visa agent that works with the embassy for your region as soon as you receive your paperwork from CTLC. Decide how you want to change your USD into RMB (we chose to order RMB from our bank before leaving the USA--but there are other options.)

Step 8: {July 23} Get on the plane!

Arrive in Asia slightly disoriented and jump right into training and life as an ESL teacher in China.

This is just a rough outline of what our life has looked like over the past year--seriously, if you have any questions about CTLC or specific requirements for moving to China, you can go ahead and ask! And, clearly, I know that the last step of moving does not end at the airport, but let's not put too much into just one post, shall we?

I have a feeling that a rather large percentage of my readers have lived abroad at some point in their lives, so let's try an informal survey. In the comments, let me know if you've lived in a country where you weren't born, and which ones. If you haven't lived abroad, do you think you'll ever try it, or are you very content where you are?