Moving to Changshu - fingers crossed!

Myself and my husband may be moving to Changshu in the next few months. We are incredibly excited and incredibly scared. I'm Irish, lived in Poland for almost five years and now in England. My husband is ex army having served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. We are up for an adventure. My only concern is that his company won't sponsor me for a work visa (fair enough). i will look for a job as an English teacher (I have 5 yrs experience of TEFL teaching plus I've been the Head of English in a school for the last three years - so hopefully eventually okay). My concern is how isolated might I be if I can't find a job? Anybody have any thoughts?

Also, how far is the Changshu Economic and Technological Development Zone from town? Is it commutable by somebody who has never driven in China?

Thy shalt not worry!

The small towns in eastern China are among the most liveable places in this part of earth. You will love it. And Shanghai is just a stone-throw away, in case of need.

You qualify for a 'dependent visa'. Possibly need to show marriage certificate and translation thereof.

There are a few hot spots in Changshu. If you want to be lonely, no problem, if you seek company, also no problem.

Deep Purple, Casa Mia (pub restaurants with live music) and No. 18 restaurant (BBQ on Tuesdays) are nice places to make new friends.

The CEDZ is ca. 30 minutes drive from downtown. Even though there are really glorious places to live in at CEDZ, it is too quiet. Suggest to live downtown.

Here comes the Deep Purple!

There are so many expats work in Changshu. Some of them adapt so well i bet they can even speak a few local dialects!

Young locals have been through basic English training. They are better in reading English than speaking and listening, due to the way how they were tought in schools. But try to talk to them slowly, they will understand. Most of them love to make friends with expats, young girls especially (pls keep an eye on your ex army husband, hah).

Drop by my restaurant when you can, you will love it.

Hi Karen,

I will relocate to Changshu in April and the also have to travel to CEDZ daily.
Unless my company provides a company bus (which they don't do right now) I will have to use a taxi twice a day.

I will not bother to drive myself but have gone that way by taxi, and provided you can get used to Chinese driving habits, it is definitely possible to drive there.
Otherwise, we might be able to share a taxi if destinations & times match.

You can apply for a 1 year residence permit after 6 months stay in China, which is valid for 1 year each time, that will make it easy for you to get employed somewhere (or be self employed and pay taxes etc.).

I have also renewed my tourist visa once here (not having to go abroad again). So basically my story is 1) Enter on tourist visa 2) Renew tourist visa in china 3) After 6 months, apply for residence permit.

The reason I know this is that i'm self employed, and hiring by freelance contracts - I am not selling anything here, just hiring ppl. So basically I don't need the added cost of having an business-entity here and gives me time to start it up here.

So in essence - don't panic if you don't get a multi entry visa or a 1 year visa. Of course language barriers may occur, so good to get a Chinese to police station to get papers.

With regards to "pirx" answer. That is another way I did not know about, thanks for info....

B.R

Chris