Foreign nationals in China must register their temporary residence with the public security bureau (PSB).
This registration is a prerequisite to filing with the PSB Exit-Entry Administration an application for a new visa, stay certificate, or residence permit.
In many cities, no police certificate will be issued to a foreigner unless temporary residence registration was previously completed.
Here’s a FAQ:
Q1: What does the Exit-Entry Administration Law require?
“Article 39. If a foreigner stays in a hotel in China, the hotel shall register their accommodation (住宿登记) according to public security management provisions for hotels, and report accommodation registration information of the foreign to local public security organs.
“If a foreigner resides or stays in a dwelling place (住所) other than a hotel, they or the persons who accommodate them shall, within 24 hours after the foreigner’s arrival (入住) at that dwelling place, go through the registration formalities with the public security organs in the place of residence.”
Q2: What are the penalties for failure to register?
“Article 76. Under any of the following circumstances, a warning shall be given, and a fine of not more than RMB 2,000 yuan may also be imposed: ….”
“(6) Persons concerned fail to go through registration formalities in accordance with the provisions in the second paragraph of Article 39 of this Law.”
Q3: What are the procedures for registering if you are staying at a hotel?
The hotel will register you. When you check in, the hotel is supposed to copy your passport and then file your registration online with the public security bureau within 24 hours, according to the Measures for Safety in the Hotel Industry.
In May 2024, the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Commerce, and the National Immigration Bureau announced they were requiring hotels to stop refusing foreign guests on the grounds that “the hotel lacks a license to receive foreigners.”
Previously, in Beijing, foreigners could stay at any hotel. Rules restricting them to just certain hotels were cancelled in 2006. But some localities–such as Henan Province and Lhasa–still had hotels not open to foreigners (非涉外旅馆). The country’s largest budget hotel chain, Jinjiang Inns, noted on their website that some of their hotels were off-limits for foreigners.
Q4: What are the procedures for registering if you are staying some place other than a hotel?
You or the person whose home you are staying at should register with the police within 24 hours of the time you arrive at that home. Most commonly, registration is done at the local police station (派出所), but in some locations this is done at a police substation (警务室) or foreigner services station (外国人服务站), according to the National Immigration Administration.
You will need to present your original passport and copies of the ID page, visa (or residence permit or stay certificate), and PRC entry stamp. If your current passport is not the one you used to enter China, then also bring the old passport and copies of the relevant pages.
If you are staying in your own home, present the lease or deed. If you are staying at another person’s home, present the host’s hukou (户口簿). If the hukou doesn’t list the address where you’re staying, the host may be required to present a lease or deed as well. Bring copies of these documents for the police to keep for their files. Don’t be surprised if the host at an AirBNB or an illegally rented apartment doesn’t cooperate.
Be prepared for some local variation in procedures. For example:
- In Beijing, you may be required to present a letter from the neighborhood where you live or from your apartment complex’s management company (物业).
- If you are staying at the hospital in Beijing, you will need the hospital’s residence registration certificate issued to you.
- You may be asked to present your previous TRRF.
- Some places will allow a third party to register on your behalf.
- If you are in an area generally closed to foreigners, you may need to show a travel certificate (旅行证) authorizing your presence.
- You may be required to submit 1 or 2 photos.
Q5. What is the registration procedure at a college or university or work unit with foreigners living on site?
According to the National Immigration Administration, colleges and universities that enroll foreign students and work units with foreigners living onsite can apply for registration to the local public security agency on behalf of foreigners living there.
Q6. Is it possible to register online instead of in person?
Effective October 2019, it’s possible to register online in Shanghai. Read more. Shenzhen also allows registration online.
Q7: What evidence of registration will be provided to you when you register?
When you register at the local police station, you will be given a Temporary Residence Registration Form (TRRF or 临时住宿登记表). The form looks different for each city–here are examples from Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenyang.
If you are staying at a hotel, you should ask for the TRRF at the time you check in. Here’s an example from Shanghai, referred to as a Registration Form of Temporary Residence. Note the hotel’s stamp, check in date, and check out date:
Q8: If your application to the PSB for a new visa, stay certificate, or residence permit is pending, can you use the acceptance receipt to register?
If you’ve applied to the public security bureau’s exit-entry division for a new visa, stay certificate, or residence permit, you should–at least in theory–be able to use the acceptance receipt for your pending application to register your temporary residence.
Q9: Does a foreign national need to re-register each time she returns from a trip to another city or country?
The answer is different for a person with a visa versus a person with a residence permit.
A person with a visa should register after each move to a new place within China (hotel, apartment, etc.) and each time she returns to a place from abroad.
In contrast, for persons holding a valid, unexpired residence permit, the answer is not so clear:
- At the national level, instructions written by the Ministry of Public Security prior to enactment of the Exit and Entry Administration Law (and not updated since) say yes, re-registration is required. Draft regulations implementing the new law said that “a foreign national possessing a residence permit that indicates his or her place of residence need not re-register that accommodation” upon returning from another place. But that provision was deleted from the final regulations, so it’s not authoritative.
- So check your local rules. For example, the PSB in Fujian province and Guangzhou says a person with a residence permit returning to their previously registered China address need not re-register.
Q10: Does a person who has just obtained an extension of his or her visa, stay certificate, or residence permit need to re-register?
The Exit-Entry Administration Law is silent on this, but the best practice is to re-register. Some local governments (e.g., Fujian Province and Fengtai District in Beijing) explicitly require it. Besides, when you’ll go to extend your visa, stay certificate, or residence permit again, you’ll need a current Registration Form of Temporary Residence at that time.
Q11: How do you register when you are camping or staying in a recreational vehicle?
Unclear. According to former rules which have been repealed, both the foreign national lodging in “movable living facilities” and the person who provides the site where the foreign national is staying must register.
Who Is Reading This Article?
This article is cited in James Palmer, Is UNESCO the Next Arena for U.S.-China Tensions, Foreign Policy (June 13, 2023), which argues that enforcement of temporary residence registration systems is increasing.
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