Word to the wise, carry your passport or risk having a hassle
14th July 2008
This report comes from a friend of the chamber.
On the round trip return from
Tianjin this morning, a colleague and I were stopped at a routine police checkpoint getting back on the old Tianjin highway to return to Beijing. The police asked for passports, which we have never carried internally in China unless flying. A US driver’s license and my complex’s residence were card not sufficient. Even though they could see us in their computer system (including passports, photos and residence permits), they required actual faxes of the passports and residence permits before they would let us pass. Luckily someone was at home and was able to fax my colleague her the passport/residence permit quickly. They finally let us go without requiring my secretary to go to the office to fax mine. Lesson for everyone is it is best for westerners to keep our passports/residence permits on our persons at all times, at least through September.
There are many more stories like this being told this summer in the capital city. Got one to share?