Client's fees returned after shady visa arranged

A 30-year-old man, who managed to get a Japanese work visa for a Chinese female client has been ordered to return her 45,000 yuan ($7,114)-fee, after he was found operating his business without a license, Yangpu District People's Court said Tuesday.

The man, identified only by his surname, Yi, was sued two years ago by his client, a woman surnamed Liu, after she ran into problems with the two-year work visa Yi obtained for her.

After Liu received the visa from Yi, Japanese authorities discovered that she had previously worked illegally on a tourist visa at several Japanese nightclubs. The authorities cancelled her visa before she made it to Japan.

Yi argued that Liu was only denied her visa by Japanese authorities through faults of her own. Since he had fulfilled his end of the 45,000-yuan contract by getting her a work visa, Liu was not entitled to her money back, he said.

However, the court ruled that since Yi was unauthorized to do the business, the arrangement, which was secured via close connections with a Japanese company, was illegitimate in the first place.

With some 45 agencies in the city qualified to help Chinese people obtain foreign work visa, cases involving illegal obtainment of foreign work visas are common, said Chen Weihua, a press officer for the court.

"But what makes this case a bit different is that even without a license, Yi was able to secure Liu a work visa despite the fact that she had no Japanese employer," she told the Global Times Tuesday. "In most related cases, unlicensed visa agents make the same promise, but never deliver and prospective clients are simply cheated of their money."