FORCED LABOR: Passport held by boss

I think that you need to request consular assistance as a matter of urgency.

ADDRESS 2 Sam Li Tun Dong no3, Beijing, China
CITY Beijing
EMAIL ambapek@yahoo.com
FAX (86.10) 6532 2102
PHONE (86-10) 65322571
WEBSITE http://www.madagascar-consulate.org/emb … world.html

it may be worth contacting your (US) consulate too.

Good luck

I can honestly say that I have never heard of such a thing. Especially in China.

I can conclude one of the following scenarios;

[1] This is a fabrication, a lie.
[2] Not all the information is being presented. Either you are unaware of the true story, or you are not telling the true story about what is going on.
[3] Or, more probably, your GF is running a scam on you. Hoping to acquire some money from you to "help her". It is semi-common. Many of us have fallen for these sob stories. What she will do is ask for you to wire her some money. That's usually the next step.

I do not want, nor intend to be insulting, but this is 2019. Not China of 1997. The situation that you describe is so outrageous, and unusual that I find your credibility to be a stretch. Posting on a forum like this is not a SERIOUS action to take for the kind of emergency that you describe.

The things that you describe a multiple SERIOUS violations of well-established Chinese law. Like I stated; this is not 1997. Even if one of the gross violations actually occurred then you can well expect some prompt and serious visit by the Corruption Police out of Beijing. The Corruption Police do not mess around. Think of the IRS mixed with the Nazi SS stormtroopers. Like I said. This is 2019. Not 1997.

You need to march straight to your nations embassy and demand immediate action. Anything short of that is simple folly. What you describe is not typical China. I would immediately take serious action based on the premise that it is true. Then talk to your embassy about it. I am quite comfortable that they would be as incredulous as myself.

Best regards. Again, Contact your embassy and get a plane ticket and go in person and help your loved one. PERIOD. There is nothing you can do. You need to be there. Physically within China, and you (yes you) need to physically confront the police face to face. Time is wasting.

Vannrox, thank you so much for your very very helpful, detailed, and reassuring response. I have sent her money as of 1 week ago but so far no one has picked it up.

Point 2 as you said could be true. That is why I am going there in person to see what exactly the hell is going on.

I have contacted the Malagasy and US embassies. The Malagasy embassy said they can't do anything if she doesn't have her passport, even if it's being held by her boss (and she's on a class F visa, if I'm correct she's not  even supposed to be working for money), and to just contact the public security department. US embassy sent me some generic China what to do guides.

The most ridiculous part about all of this is I just found out today she is working at Expo 2019. This is a huge event. Whoever I was talking to on her WeChat account before gave me false directions. How do I know? Because a colleague of a friend working in Beijing recognized the venue from the pictures I have of her working that she sent me before this whole needing to escape and asking me for money then phone confiscated thing happened.

I am going ASAP. Will keep you all updated. As a guy knowing absolutely next to nothing about China (and whose family and friends have been mostly the same) you have so far been the most helpful source of information  Vannrox. Thank you again for the reassurances and hopefully update you all soon.

I wish you all the best.

If it turns out to be a scam, do not be offended. many people have fallen for this kind of thing. Including me. Only I lost large sums of money. As an expat, I have talked with many others who have also gotten tangled up with these ladies that suddenly find themselves in trouble. It is not all that uncommon.

Sometimes it's legitimate. Sometimes its all a big lie.

Take care. China, especially Shanghai is modern and you will find many people there who will speak English and will help you sort things out. Best wishes. If you want to talk personally, you can send me private messages. Best wishes.

I don't know why people would claim this is impossible.  I have heard of several instances of teachers having their passport confiscated coming over here to work illegally.  I know one case personally in 2017 in which a teacher was told she was going to be paid 10,000.  She was paid 5,000 instead and the other half was pocketed by the police officer who found her (I know him on a personal level).

She had to live with her boss and teach their kids privately every night, which she was not originally informed of.  To the point she was brushing their hair.  She was told if she didn't like it the police officer would report her. 

She eventually got her passport back and vanished out of the city.  This type of stuff could very well be real.  That being said obvious rule applies, don't give her money  as it might be a scam.  Do not rule out the possibility of it being real though.

Dear MattyTE,

This sounds exactly like the kind of case my girlfriend is in now.

She had been telling me about her work conditions (said she was like a slave to her bosses at their home after work, mind you this is EXPO 2019 the big 5 month International Expo in Yanqing, north west of Beijing). and how she wanted to escape. Then I sent her money by Western Union to help her escape. That was 10 days ago. No one has picked up the money since.

I didn't hear from her for 2 days then she got back in contact. She said she was taken to the police by her boss because he'd seen her messages with me about escaping, and that he was giving her "one more chance". Mind you, my girlfriend is only one of 3 people (and the only one who I think speaks Chinese fluently as well as English, French, Gujarati, Hindi, and Korean, and the language of her home country) working at a store representing this country during an international event (Expo 2019) which is estimated to have 16 million visitors total.

She is an important part of her bosses money making apparatus at the moment. My worry is that the expo is ending October 7. Since the whole trying to escape and being taken to the police by her boss thing (or so she says, who knows if what she says is the truth now or coerced since her boss read her messages) she hasn't been able to answer any of my very reasonable questions. Such as "What are the addresses of your other bosses businesses?" (They have 2 or 3 stores across China, selling unique goods from this African country they and my girlfriend are all from). Or "When is your contract finished?" Or "What is your boss' phone number?". Or "where exactly are you going after the expo is finished?". She told me she can't answer any of these questions because her boss is very strict and doesn't want people to know much about him. Very scary.

I know definitely that she is at the Expo and she told me that she expects to work there until the end (October 7). How do I know? Because I had a voice call with her and one of her bosses in which I could hear the expo going on, (which I recorded, and in which her boss said my girlfriend has to work until her contract is finished the first week of November). Also get a few pictures here and there from my girlfriend she takes of herself at work, with her boss, and her 2 colleagues (recently we have been able to chat at least a little bit every day. I know it's her because she uses personal terminology with me her bosses wouldn't know to use, but as I said before I'm never really sure if what she's saying is true because of the coercion factor.)

Very scary also because while in the conversation I had with her and her boss by voice call last week her boss said her contract is finished November 5 (2 months total, on F class 60 day duration visa) now my girlfriend texted me that all she knows is that the Expo ends October 7 and her ticket back to her home country is on November 24. Very strange because of what her boss said before (though it sounded when I talked to her boss that she was just saying whatever to get me out of her hair quickly) and also because I have a picture of my girlfriend's exact visa and it's duration is only 60 days (up on November 5). So... Wtf.

I'm very very VERY hesitant to even file a complaint with the Expo, run by the Bureau International des Expositions, for fear of repercussions for my girlfriend. It's not hard to figure out who I'd be telling them about (only 1 booth, for this 1 country, at this expo, with 3 people working there, only 1 of whom is actually from that country).

The scariest possiblities are that:
1. My girlfriend's boss actually IS friends with the police (he does run multiple businesses in multiple cities across China after all)
2. The possiblity of connections my girlfriend's boss might have increases because their country is a prime source country for highly lucrative illegaly poached goods, and other valuable commodities, businesses in their country all headed by Chinese with local help and corruption.
3. This 1 little booth at this big international expo is a personal representation of international prestige (and most importantly and lucratively for a corrupt politician) Chinese relations. If any problems or 'embarassment' for this country were to be caused at this international event (mind you the president of China was at the opening ceremony), might end up very badly for the perpetrators... And if the ones responsible for this booth at the international expo happen to be friends with the president, the ambassador, or other high level politicians from this African country... All I can say is f#@*

My girlfriend has texted me "don't mess with my bosses" and "wish you would believe me" and responsed with things like "yes, better if you just pray" in response to my texting my desire to help.

Again, any advice would be highly appreciated. Will be PMing some of you guys when I am not so swamped trying to figure this all out.

I think the lesson here is -NEVER GIVE UP YOUR PASSPORT.

Hey guys! Good news. Turns out Vannrox was right... All just a big stupid texting miscommunication. My girlfriend didn't see a lot of my messages, leaving me with the impression that she had her passport being held and was being forced to work. I contacted the expo and they did a thorough investigation. So, hooray that at least in this case workers rights and safety are taken very seriously! Thanks you guys for all of your help. All the best.