International Consulting Solutions for Companies in China
How Tai2Tai connects companies with qualified international consultants already based in China
Your company needs expertise you don't have in-house. Maybe it's a market you're entering for the first time, a project that requires a specific skill set for a few months, or a gap left by a role you can't yet justify hiring full-time. Whatever the trigger, the next question is always the same: do we hire, or do we find another way?
Hiring a foreign professional directly means navigating work permits, visa categories, and compliance requirements that can become a long and complex process for your HR team.
This is where international consulting solutions in China become genuinely useful, not as a workaround, but as an established path that others have already built.
1. What international talent solutions actually means
International consulting solutions means accessing qualified, China-based international consultants for a specific project, mission, or period, without your company managing the work visa process or setting up a direct long-term employment relationship.
Tai2Tai handles the legal and administrative structure. You get the expertise.
We offer a unique partnership solution for our consultants and our clients. We are not:
a recruitment agency — you're not hiring an employee, you're engaging a consultant for defined work
an Employer of Record — the value isn't payroll and compliance, it's access to a curated network of consultants who already live and work in China
a generic freelance platform — every consultant is part of our consultants pool and operates within a compliant structure, not as an informal arrangement
For a company that needs to hire international consultants in China quickly, this distinction changes what's possible in weeks rather than months.
2. Why direct hiring is harder than it looks
Hiring a foreign professional directly in China requires a valid work permit, tied to a specific employer and role, plus the correct visa category obtained before the person begins any paid work. Recent enforcement has made this considerably tighter.
As of 2026, cities including Shanghai have reinstated strict salary-based thresholds for foreign work permits, requiring substantially higher minimum compensation levels than were commonly enforced in prior years.
That means a company hiring directly must now justify a higher salary bracket, prepare more extensive documentation, and accept longer processing timelines, all before the person can start delivering value.
Without a structure already in place, most companies default to one of two options: they either delay the project until they've navigated the paperwork themselves, or they give up on foreign expertise altogether and work with what's locally available.
3. A bridge already built
The work Tai2Tai does is built on one core idea. Companies shouldn't have to build a compliance structure from scratch every time they need international expertise.
We built that bridge once, and companies now cross it as needed. In practice, this means:
Access to a network of consultants — international professionals already living in China, with a specific expertise and an established legal status to work here
A compliant employment structure already in place — visa, tax, and contractual requirements handled through Tai2Tai, not built individually by each client company
Flexible engagement models — project-based, time-based, or ongoing, matched to what the mission actually requires rather than a fixed employment contract
This approach as a form of flexible workforce solutions in China means you're not assessing whether to take on the administrative burden. That decision has already been made, and the infrastructure is already running.
4. What to expect when you work with Tai2Tai
If you're considering this kind of international consultant network in Shanghai for the first time, here's roughly what the process looks like.
Format: Most companies and consultants come to Tai2Tai already knowing who they want to work with, whether through a referral, a past project, or an existing relationship, and Tai2Tai provides the legal and administrative structure to make that collaboration possible
Duration: Engagements range from short, defined projects to longer interim missions, depending on what your business actually requires
Scope: Market assessment, transition support, or outsourced expertise in a specific domain, handled by a consultant with direct China experience
What doesn't happen: You won't need to manage the process of a foreigner’s a visa, manage a foreign employee's compliance obligations, or build an HR process for a single hire Some engagement costs, including visa-related fees in certain cases, may be reflected in what's agreed with the consultant, but the process itself runs through Tai2Tai's existing structure, not your team
Each engagement starts from your actual need. That includes recognizing that international expertise in China comes with legal requirements your team may not encounter anywhere else, which is precisely what the existing structure is designed to absorb.
5. What changes once the structure is already in place
The shift companies describe isn't dramatic. It's mostly the absence of a problem they expected to have.
A project that would have been delayed for months while HR navigated permit applications instead starts within weeks, because the compliance groundwork was never the company's to build. A market assessment that needed someone who actually understands the local ecosystem gets delivered by a consultant already embedded in it, rather than a report written from abroad.
This reflects a broader shift in how international expertise reaches China and particularly Shanghai. As regulatory requirements around hiring international consultants in China have tightened, the value of an existing, compliant structure has only grown. Companies aren't just avoiding paperwork. They're avoiding the risk of getting the paperwork wrong.
If this resonates with how your organization thinks about expatriate readiness more broadly, that's not a coincidence.
The same international consultant network that supports project-based consulting also underpins Tai2Tai's China Expatriation Readiness Program for relocating employees, for companies preparing employees for longer-term assignments rather than a single mission.
If your need is closer to a specific skill gap than a full assignment, you can also explore the current network of international consultants in China directly to see the range of expertise available to outsource expertise on your terms.
6. Ready to talk it through?
You don't need to have the exact profile defined before reaching out. Most companies that contact Tai2Tai start with a need, not a job description.
Whether you're looking to outsource expertise in China, considering compliant employment structures for a specific project, or simply exploring what international consulting solutions in China could look like for your team, the first conversation costs you nothing but a message.
Tai2Tai works with companies at every stage, from a single project requiring one consultant to ongoing access to a broader network as needs evolve.
Whether you want to hire international consultants in China for a defined mission or explore flexible workforce solutions as your business scales, the same network and structure apply.
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FAQ
Do we need to sponsor a work visa for a Tai2Tai consultant?
Not necessarily. Consultants in the Tai2Tai network already operate under a compliant legal structure. The consultant then negotiate directly with you their fees for the mission, including or not the visa fee. Your company might also engages them for the mission, without sponsoring a visa or managing their work permit directly.
How is this different from hiring a freelancer directly?
An independent freelancer arrangement can leave your company exposed if the individual's status isn't properly structured under Chinese law. In China, a foreigner cannot have a legal freelancer status. Working through Tai2Tai means the compliant employment structure is already in place, handled on the consultant's side.
Can we start with a short project before committing to anything longer?
Yes. Most engagements begin as a defined, project-based mission. Many companies extend the relationship afterward, but there's no requirement to commit beyond the initial scope.
What kind of expertise is available in the network?
The network spans many expertise as e-commerce, supply-chain, logistics, marketing, market entry, business development, digital and specialized technical skills, among other domains, all delivered by consultants with direct, current experience working in China.
Sources: China Briefing (Dezan Shira & Associates), Foreigner's Work Permit in China: 2026 Updates.
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