My understanding is that they can and actually are required to.

You probably will be invited to the PSB the next time you try to cross a border or check-in for a flight if you don't switch iit, but you will have only 30 days to exit if you do.

As for part one, yeah, as someone pointed out, they can cancel your visa, I think I read somewhere that they are obliged to, but some don't.
The Visa issue thing is a bit of a grey area in China, different schools, provinces etc interpret things differently and smaller cities where there is an incestuous relationship between school and authorities make it even more complex.
Part 2, I am not sure of, there are others here who know this better than I , maybe they will add, but my first thought was if you have worked for them for so long and have [and I am making an assumption here] a good relationship, then you are the one to know if you trust them to give you back your passport or hold on to it as a blackmail tool, which I guess is what you are thinking.
In my case I very rarely let my passport out of my hot little hand unless obliged by law to do so.

This seems right. I've quit working for a couple of companies than threatened repercussions but nothing ever happened.

I have this problem too. I ran away from Chengdu in Sichuan and today I got an email and she asked me to go the PSB to cancel the residency but I told them im in England at the moment. Actually im in Tianjin. I heard somewhere that if they do cancel your residency then they also need to give your foreign experts certificate and a release letter. Is this true？

And if they do cancel my residency can I just get my new school give me the documents and go to Hong Kong and get a new visa. Or do I need to go back to England and do it there?

There are a lot of rumours flying about but not much facts

Yes, they can have it cancelled, but they generally will not.

Unless you physically surrender your passport to the PSB in order for them to cancel your residence permit, the PSB has to go through the actual Ministry of Public Security to have your residence permit cancelled. This involves a certain amount of work / paper work by the local PSB and they generally will not do it unless ...

1. You have committed a crime;
2. Are a political threat; and / or
3. Your ex-employer has a heck of a lot of pull and under constant harrassment the PSB finally capitulates and decides to take the effort to go through the Ministry.

Got the details from some friends in the actual Ministry of Public Security. It takes a lot of paperwork and several layers of approval before the Ministry puts a nationwide cancellation on your residence permit. The local PSB will usually not do it unless they are highly motivated. It will take a lot more than a good relationship for your company to convince them to do it.

As for letting them convert your visa to an "L", can you trust them to do it? If you're going to cancel the visa on your own and get an "L" anyhow, maybe it's ok. You also need to look at the cost. Since you are helping them out by making it easy to cancel your residence permit, have them pay for the new visa. For Americans it is now about 940 RMB they say.

Even if they do cancel your residence permit (which they generally do not), you can stil leave the country without problems or apply for a new visa while inside China. Even though it is cancelled in their system, they can't hold it against you until they have found you and notified you. And -- no -- they will not come looking for you to tell you. That would require too much work!

Hi,

I am a visa consultant. Our company THAT'S CHINA provides visa services to all foreigners in China. I have read thougth the whole communication above and understand your situation. Please see my advice below:

1. If you hold your passport, your employer cannot really cancel your Z visa and your residence permit, but they can easily cancel your expert certificate. So, you don't need to hand in your passport until you have got fully paid.

2. As your company cannot cancel your Z visa (but it is important to the company, as they have a limitation on numbers of hiring foreign employees) and residence permit without your passport, you will be able to stay in Ninbo after you acctually resigned (from April to September). However, later on, you must convert your Z visa into Student Visa. You need to check with your school if they can do it for you. If they cannot, then things will get a little bit complicated.

You're a liar.

If the local PSB wants to, they have the ability to get the Ministry of Public Security to cancel your residence permit. They do not often do this because of the effort required, but it has been done before.

Does it hurt when you think?

Could you be more gentle,buddy?

From what I've seen in BJ.
1. Employer is oblidged to cancel the temporary residence permit but obviously need the passport to do this.
2. The employer is required to give the employee a release letter so they can get new employment, not sure how this affects other visa types.
3. On a related topic it is now not possible to convert visas to temporary resident permit, or even in HK, as this must be done from the home country only.

Wait up, my understanding is that a Visa, Work Permit, Residence permit and Registration Form of Temporary Residence are 4 different things.

Tourist - L - May require registration (unless you stay at a hotel) at the local Police Bureau that will issue you a Registration Form of Temporary Residence which will last until the date stated on your visa

Student - X - May require registration (unless you're staying on campus) at local Police Bureau that will issue you a Registration Form of Temporary Residence which will last until the date stated on your visa

Business (Temporary) - F - Requires registration at local Police Bureau that will issue you a Registration Form of Temporary Residence which will last until the date stated on your visa

Business (Long-stay) - Z - Required to obtain a Residence Permit. However you still need to go to the local Police Bureau to receive a Registration Form of Temporary Residence which will last until the date stated on your visa

Working

Tourist Visa - Not permitted (well not supposed to)
Student Visa - Not permitted (not sure about this actually)
Temporary Business - Permitted with expert certificate (qualifications), no work permit required.
Long-stay Business - Permitted with expert certificate (qualifications)Work Permit is required

Long-stay Visa
A Z visa (30days) is required to enter the country in order to apply for a Residence Permit. You must register with the local Police bureau as soon as you enter the country (within 3 days roughly) in order to obtain a Registration Form of Temporary Residence.

Once your expert certificate is submitted by your employer when they apply for a work permit. Once the work permit is granted then you or the company on your behalf apply for a Residence Permit. You will have to re-register at the local Police Bureau once you have received your Residence Permit.

Your employer then has control over your work permit ONLY (expert certificate is irrelevant). When you terminate your employment they are obliged to cancel your work permit ONLY. As previously mentioned they may want you to convert your Residence Permit to an L or X visa if their Residence Permit quota is low, but technically the school can NOT cancel your visa or your Registration Form of Temporary Residence. Only the PSB can do that and as far as I know they don't cancel visas for termination of contracts.

@roadeye

You're right, it's not logical, and perhaps they are supposed to, I think it depends how diligent the local PSB are.

Although I do know people who are currently working in China on a residence permit received from a previous employer.

Am studying in a university, they issued me student visa for one year it expires end of january 2012. i havent't attend class since they issued me the visa. i was issued the visa april 2011. Now i got sms and mails from school they want me to show up and bring my passport to cancel my visa and gimme 10days to f*** out of china. am too worried. i read from the post here and some seems encouraging but am scared if i try to cross border they might whoop my ass and make me go through troubles. actually am not in the same city where the school is located. am far away from the school but i told the school am still in same city. what do you guys suggest i should do.
should i give them my passport and for them to put the sh*t red stamp in it so i cant return back or what should i do.
i have plans to travel for vacation this summer but am scared i cant exit and re-enter. please help me with your suggestion.
I spoke to my agent but he said there is nothing they can do without my Passport, unless am in trouble and got arrest because it takes much time for them to get this done. and with this they will set much option and threthens if i dont show up so i should stay calm and safe. any expert help me out

SMS FROM SCHOOL: THE SCHOOL AND THE PSB HAS FINALLY DECIDED TO CANCEL YOUR VISA. SO YOU NEED TO SHOW UP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO THEY CAN GIVE YOU 10DAYS TO LEAVE CHINA OR IF YOU FAIL, THEY WILL MAKE YOU HAVE TROUBLES WHEN YOU WANT TO EXIT.

please be nice and share your thoughts. am not the only student with this kinda problem. share your thoughts please. they warn to cancel end of this month