It is well known that China is becoming an ideal place for innovation and entrepreneurship for foreign talents all over the world. China issued 336,000 work permits for foreign experts in 2018 and the number of the foreigners working in the territory of China totals over 950,000, Mr. Wang Zhigang, Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology said at the Opening Ceremony of the 17th Conference on International Exchange of Professionals held on April 14th 2019 in Shenzhen. Meanwhile, great achievements have been made in attracting people from abroad in recent years by adopting more practical talent introduction policies and applications for visa and residence permits have also been much facilitated in China. It is undoubtedly important to understand what is required of foreigners who want to work in China and how to apply for the work and residence permits. In this context, this article is trying to give a brief introduction to the rules and procedures for visa and residence permits to China and also touch on some key and basic issues those foreigners working in China may face during their stay.

The information technologies("IT") have been imposing increasingly greater challenges upon the law, lawyers and their clients worldwide. Among others, the digitalized human resource("HR") management is prone to many more legal pitfalls and uncertainties than ever before. In particular, many of my multi-national company("MNC") clients have come to me for advice on the legal issues and risks they encountered from the use of OA in the course of HR management. As a matter of fact, all MNCs here in China have applied the so-called OA systems in their daily HR management and business operations, with an effort to improve efficiency. In that scenario, I am going to draw on my professional experiences as a former trial judge and a current practitioner of law, to examine the legal features of the OA, analyze the legal challenges it poses on employment-related dispute resolution, and explore the precautions for employers to adopt against such challenges under China law.