New Beijing residence regulations?
16th November 2007
It has come to our attention that re-entry rules are now being enforced for foreigners living in Beijing. According to a public security office in Shunyi and independent reports, when people leave the country and show their passport on their way out, it triggers the police database to change their status to ‘away.’ Upon their return to Beijing, they are required to notify their local police that they are back. There is conflicting information about who is required to follow these new rules; holders of temporary residence cards, permanent cards, or both. This was first reported by a business consultant living in Changping.
“Beijing police now require foreign residents to register again for a
temporary residence card at the local police station within 24 hours of returning from each trip abroad. This requirement applies even if the temporary residence permit has not expired.
So, if I have a residence permit valid for a year and go abroad 10 times in a year, they now require me to register with the local police 10 times. This applies to each re-entry into China. Apparently the border police are now networked to the local police, and beginning in July your exit from China will trigger a notice to the local police who will automatically revoke your temporary residence card until you re-register.
This is in addition to the work and residence permits which are issued by the municipal labor bureau and police, and which are valid for a year or two. This regulation has been on the books since the opening of China, but it has never before been interpreted in this manner. In the past the temporary residence card was renewed for the same length of time as the residence permit. With this new interpretation they can basically revoke your right to stay in your home by not allowing you to re-register — even if you have a valid temporary residence permit for a year residence, any exit from China within that year will void that residence permit and require re-registration. This may be simply preparations leading up to the Olympics or the Congress, but it may mean something more…”
The U.S. Embassy reports:
“The Exit and Entry Administration of Beijing Public Security Bureau was called and it has been confirmed that there is NO change in the policy. A holder of a (long term) Residence Permit which is issued to long term visa ( Z visa, long term F visa, etc.), does NOT need to register with the local police if he/she does not change the place of residence after his/her trip. A holder of a TEMPORARY Residence Registration Card has to register with the local police station after each trip because the card is only valid for the current trip of a short term visa (L visa, short term F visa) holder staying in a place other than a hotel. Once the holder of it leaves his present place of stay/residence, let alone leaves China, the card is NOT valid. So, he/she should register with the local police station each time he/she moves to a new place or re-enters China. The card is not permanent, but only temporary.”
However, calls to the Shunyi public security office revealed that both permanent and temporary residency card holders are required to follow this police-notification rule. It is not clear how foreigners are supposed to know about these regulations or what consequences people face if these rules are not followed.
Does anyone else have information about this?
December 16th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
To be followed up I hope. I meet many foreigners who were told - holding a “residence permit” - they had indeed to re-register every time. I think this is not correct nor legal but try explaining that to your local police office! Anyway, I won’t do it.
January 4th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I’m living in Hohhot in Inner Mongolia, and have recently heard some disturbing news. A few weeks ago one of my foreign friends applying for a year visa was granted a visa only until the 15th of July. Upon enquiring as to why he was not granted a year visa, he was told that all foreigners had to leave China before July 15th unless they were participating in or attending the Olympics. I thought this to be rather strange (how many hundreds of thousands of foreigners live in China now? do we all have to go?) so I contacted a friend in a different city who had also just applied for a visa. He thought the story was funny and was certain that it was a joke until he looked at his and his employee’s visa and discovered that they too had only been granted visas until the 15th of July. He went to the his local PSB and was given the same story. Then today some other friends came over and they told me that at a Christmas dinner they were attending there was a table from the PSB who came over and told them that they had to leave before the 15th of July too. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Is this unique to Inner Mongolia?