Teachers, Doctors, Even Retirees: Why China Won't Let Its Public Workers Travel Abroad

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A sweeping crackdown is forcing Chinese public employees to surrender passports, seek layered approvals, and avoid foreign contact, even for personal trips
A report by The New York Times revealed that China has significantly expanded restrictions on overseas travel for public sector employees. These rules now apply not only to senior government officials, but also to frontline teachers, hospital workers, civil servants, and even retirees.
The new policies require many public employees to surrender their passports to their employers and obtain formal approval for any foreign trip, including personal travel. In several cities, foreign vacations have been banned entirely. Employees across sectors have described receiving internal communications warning them that failure to comply could lead to disciplinary action or even dismissal.
In one documented case, a literature teacher at a public school in southern China found a clause in her employment contract stating that unauthorised foreign travel could result in termination. The controls are not limited to teachers. A nurse interviewed by NYT said she would need four levels of administrative approval to obtain permission to travel abroad. Retired government employees in some cities are being told they must wait as long as two years before they can reclaim their passports.
Who Is Being Affected By The Travel Ban?
Shanghai is one of the only exceptions where such applicants are still permitted to apply. But even there, candidates with a spouse or close relative living abroad may be deemed ineligible for law enforcement roles.
In addition to passport controls, employees in some areas have been instructed to avoid speaking with foreign media while overseas, and to report any contact with foreign organisations, particularly those labelled 'anti-China forces", to Chinese embassies.
In some institutions, workers have been ordered to disclose all past international travel, in some cases dating back to 2018.
Why Is China Cracking Down On Public Workers' Travel?
The travel restrictions are part of a wider shift under Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has steadily expanded the Chinese Communist Party's control over not just policy, but the everyday behaviour and thinking of public employees. Beijing has offered three main justifications for the new rules: national security, political discipline, and cost control.
The national security angle has gained prominence in recent years as China's relations with the West have deteriorated. The government has warned of increasing risks from 'hostile foreign forces" — a term often used to describe Western governments, NGOs, and media outlets that Beijing sees as attempting to interfere in Chinese domestic affairs. In 2023, China's Ministry of State Security publicly accused a Chinese national in Italy of spying for the CIA. Around the same time, Beijing passed amendments to its counter-espionage law, broadening the definition of spying and effectively giving authorities more power to monitor foreign interactions.
But the crackdown is also about ideological control. Xi has repeatedly stressed the importance of political loyalty within the civil service. In July 2025, the People's Daily, the Communist Party's flagship newspaper, declared that 'people-to-people diplomacy exists because of the Party and must be led by the Party." The statement underlined a growing fear in Beijing that unsupervised contact with the outside world, even for a teacher or a nurse, might lead to ideological drift or unapproved narratives about China.
The third reason is fiscal discipline. In May 2023, the Chinese government issued orders to cut 'wasteful and unnecessary" spending. According to a report by Firstpost, Official notices singled out travel, alcohol, receptions, flowers, and office luxuries. Senior Party leaders, including Politburo Standing Committee member Cai Qi, urged cadres to stop 'extravagant eating and drinking." The Party's long-running anti-corruption campaign has now been expanded to include personal travel by public employees, even if those trips are self-funded.
By limiting exposure to foreign countries and cultures, the leadership hopes to insulate its officials from ideas or influences that might challenge the Party line, even indirectly. For Xi, it's about ensuring that every government employee, no matter how junior, stays tightly aligned with the official narrative, at home and abroad.
How Are These Rules Being Enforced Across China?
The implementation of the policy has varied by province and department, but the trend is clear: mobility is being tightly monitored and increasingly restricted. Public employees are being asked to submit written requests for travel abroad, provide detailed justifications, and seek clearance from multiple levels of management. In many cities, passport surrender is mandatory and indefinite.
Some institutions have introduced formal questionnaires requiring workers to disclose whether any relatives hold foreign citizenship or permanent residency abroad. In certain local governments, employees are required to undergo ideological education or security briefings before travel is approved.
Applicants to government jobs are facing stricter vetting as well. Individuals with any history of foreign education or professional experience overseas are being screened out during recruitment, especially in provinces outside Shanghai. In some regions, even short-term academic exposure to foreign countries has become a disqualifier.
Has China Done This Before?
This is not the first time China has placed foreign travel under scrutiny. In October 2023, Reuters reported that civil servants and state-linked enterprise employees were facing tighter constraints on personal overseas travel. The restrictions included bans on foreign trips, shorter allowable durations abroad, and more complex approval processes.
Some workers were allowed to travel only once per year, and only for up to 12 days. Others had to attend pre-departure confidentiality training. Public announcements by government entities such as the national pension fund confirmed the tightening of travel rules. In some cities, employees were also asked to submit details of foreign relatives and previous international trips.
The Reuters report described a growing push by Chinese authorities to monitor the foreign ties of its workforce and track any exposure to overseas influence, particularly as China's relations with Western countries grew more strained.
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How Are Workers Responding To The Clampdown?
There has been no visible public pushback, but discontent is simmering. Workers interviewed by NYT described feeling trapped and confused, especially given the contradiction between China's public push for foreign investment and tourism, and the internal message that its own citizens, particularly public employees, must stay put.
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Chinese government public sector Xi Jinping
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New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
August 05, 2025, 11:34 IST
News explainers Teachers, Doctors, Even Retirees: Why China Won't Let Its Public Workers Travel Abroad
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