dear foreign friends,

shenzhen is a youthful and dynamic city which embraces equality, freedom, and inclusiveness, and where one can enjoy a beautiful environment and high quality of life: welcome to shenzhen. there are a few important matters that i would like to address regarding residing or staying in shenzhen.

during the time you are staying in shenzhen, if you decide to stay at a hotel, the law stipulates you must check in and register at the hotel’s reception desk. however, if you choose to live in your friends or relatives’ home or to rent or buy a house, within 24 hours of arriving, you must go to the police station to apply for temporary residence.

alternatively, you may also choose to register your residence via wechat by scanning a qr code. temporary residence registration is an essential document in order to apply for or extend a visa, and to handle important matters such as getting a driver’s license, marriage, employment, study, etc. you or the home owner must go to local public security office to register for temporary residence. if you haven’t completed the registration correctly, you will receive a warning and may be fined up to 2,000 rmb.

if you have a baby while in china, you should also apply for the child’s stay or residence registration at the shenzhen municipal entry-exit administration of the public security bureau within 60 days of the child’s birth. bring the child’s birth certificate and parents’ ids.

while in china, please take your passport or residence permit with you at all times in case of a police inspection.

please pay attention to the expiration date of your visa; renew it or leave the country before the visa expires. if you overstay in china , you will be given a warning, be fined up to 10,000 rmb, and detained.

if you lose your passport, don’t panic. you will need to apply for a “lost passport certificate for foreigner” at the entry-exit administration of the public security bureau in shenzhen, and within 30 days after that, complete visa application procedures.

if you work in shenzhen, you must obtain a work permit and a residence permit for employment purposes. failure to obtain a work permit and residence permit for employment purposes, going beyond what is allowed by a work permit, violating the provisions concerning work-study when studying as a foreign student: these are all types of illegal employment. you will be fined up to 20,000 rmb for illegal employment, and will be detained for up to 15 days.

violation of any laws or regulations will be punished by either being given only a limited time to leave the country or by deportation.

in case of an emergency such as an infringement of rights while in china, call 110.

shenzhen entry-exit administration

(note: the text above is a translation of the chinese version for reference only. in case of any discrepancy between the two versions, the original published chinese version shall prevail.)