There are several types of visa to visit China. Most people visiting China hold tourist visa. When you come to China to take a TESOL teacher job, you need a work visa. How can you get a work visa in China? It depends on locations.
For most parts of China, you need to have a bachelor degree and at least two years working experience (working experience also including non-relative working experience). Therefore, if you have a bachelor degree and two years working experience, then you can get a TESOL teacher job anywhere in China legally. However, if you don’t have a bachelor degree or two years working experience, can you get a tesol teacher job in China legally? I’ll say yes to most jobs, but for some I’ll say NO. There are some schools who hire you getting a work visa even though you don’t have a bachelor degree nor working experience.
However, there are some TESOL teachers who hold tourist visa doing TESOL teacher jobs in China.
For those who hold tourist visa doing TESOL teacher jobs in China, they need to leave China every 90 days and entrance China again with a new tourist visa. The reason is that the tourist visa only available for 90 days. Most schools will afford the round-trip airfare tickets for TESOL teachers. Most of the time, it’s ok to hold a tourist visa to work in China, if nobody comes to the foreign affairs of China. That’s why sometimes the employers will recommend you to come to China with a tourist visa and get a work visa later in China.