I would like to clarify some serious misunderstandings about holding onto the passport and apartment situation.

1. Firstly, the passport is not held until you pay the loan off. It is held for one month since you took the loan. As you said there is a lag in your pay. You get paid on the 15th for the previous month. So if I started working on April 4th, I will not get my April pay until May 15th. Because of this lag in pay, after one month of work, if you were to run off, there is still enough money to take back the amount in the loan. There are a lot of foreigners that come to China because you can make a lot of money with a very low skill level. Best Learning has had many teachers come take the loan and run off. How else can the company reduce the loss of 1,300 USD for every new employee? Suggestions would be appreciated as no one wants to give up there passport.

2. If you do not want your passport to be held, but need the loan, you have an option to take your flight reimbursement out early. You are only eligible for 7,000RMB instead of the full 10,000RMB at the end of the year, but this is an option where the company will not hold onto your passport. You can apply for it after you have passed your one month probation period.

2. The real estate agents that best learning work with do not charge such a high agency fee. The agents have two options. You can look at apartments where you pay the agency fee, or where the land lord pays the agency fee. All you need to do is simply tell the agent that you only want to see apartments where the landlord pays the agency fee. IF you rent an apartment where you pay the agency fee, it is only one month rent. You can also talk them down a bit. There is no reason you should pay 4,000 to 5,000RMB on an agency fee, unless you are looking at apartments in that price range. I know the agents personally and that is not how they operate.

3. You should never pay 6-7 months up front for rent in Beijing. The standard process is 3 months rent upfront, with a one month security deposit. Therefore you will pay 4 months up front. If you are renting a place for 3,000RMB a month, that should total to 12,000RMB. Therefore the 8,000RMB loan is not enough. YOU NEED TO COME TO CHINA WITH SOME MONEY! I love adventurous and carefree people, but you can not come across the world with a few hundred US dollars and think that is enough to survive on. KEEP IN MIND, your first paycheck is the 15th of the following month. So if you were to come on April 4th, you will have to run off of your savings until May 15th!

4. Best Learning respects the loan application that you fill out. After you have filled out the application, it can not be changed. You have three months to pay back the loan starting from YOUR FIRST FULL PAYCHECK. When you arrive to China, you most likely arrive in the middle of the month. Therefore you get paid prorated from the day you started working. If you take the loan, it is not fair to start paying back from an already not full paycheck. Therefore the first payment is from your first full month of work, which you get paid for the following month on the 15th. So if I started on April 4th, and took the loan, my first deduction would be from my first full month of work (May), which I get paid for on June 15th. I hope that makes sense as it is a little confusing if you have not been in China.

I hope this could clarify some of your points. You are very incorrect about some of the comments you have made. Makes me wonder if you have rented an apartment in China before?

A few words of advice to everyone! Do your Research! Do not come across the world without savings! EVERYTHING in China is a negotiation, almost never take the first price on anything you buy (unless you are in a proper store with price tags). Because you are foreign, you will automatically be charged more. DO YOUR RESEARCH, ASK QUESTIONS, BE SMART!