Shanghai will launch a major campaign today to catch overseas workers who are holding jobs illegally.

The month-long inspection effort aims to make sure companies have acquired work permits for their foreign employees and those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau said yesterday.

Businesses that violate work rules face fines ranging from 5,000 yuan (US$617) to 50,000 yuan and will be required to complete proper documentation. Workers who lack permits could be sent home.

Though there were no estimates on how many foreigners are working illegally in the city, officials said about 60 expats were warned, fined or forced to leave the country for various reasons last year, including illegal employment.

Today's campaign is the result of growing concern that government work rules are increasingly being violated.

"With a surging number of foreign professionals in the city, the intensive crackdown is expected to raise awareness among employers and foreigners about the need to follow the law, and it will also help us get a better idea about the size of the illegal employment situation," said Sun Hande, director of the bureau's employment office for overseas workers.

Shanghai had issued 92,000 work permits to foreigners from 152 countries through the end of last month. Around 51,000 foreign nationals are currently working in the city.

The city issued 18,325 permits last year, more than a fourfold increase from 2000.

The registered number of working professionals from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan has totaled 42,500 so far.

Foreigners and overseas Chinese can be granted a work permit for China after signing an employment contract and acquiring a work visa.

Students are banned from taking jobs here as are those who hold tourist or short-term business visas.

It is the employer's duty to apply for a work permit for foreign staff, bureau officials said.

Routine checks by the Shanghai Labor Inspection Team found that 21 foreigners were illegally employed by 15 companies in the first half of this year.

Expats were also advised they should insist on work permits to protect their rights.

One-fourth of the 64 labor complaints filed last year by expats working in the city were rejected because the plaintiff lacked a valid work permit.

(Shanghai Daily July 7, 2006)