Urgent advice needed about registration!

[alpha_beta]

I moved into an apartment a few days ago. I knew I had to register but I thought it wouldn't be a big deal, but now apparently it is. I have 72 hours from the time I moved out of the hotel I was staying in to hand in my registration so that gives me until Saturday. However, I imagine I won't be able to register in the weekend.

I went into the office today with a copy of the leasing contract. I'm not on it (yet) and I've since found out you need someone with you who is on it to come with you an explain that you're just staying, as a friend or whatever. There are 3 people on it, one is now in HK, the other hasn't even registered themselves and so it's up to the 3rd person to be able to help me. They're nice enough so hopefully it won't be too much t ask them to do that.

I also need a copy of my landlords ID. I've never met my landlord because my moving in here was arranged with the people who were in the flat already. I didn't realiae at the time that registering would be so difficult. I hadn't even thought about it because before I'd been in a hotel and they'd just dealt with my registration. So I need my landlords ID, I also read that I need my landlod to actually come into the office with me, this might be hard because I have a day to do this in and they might be busy.

I could also sign onto the contract but the issue is that the contract started 2 months ago. When I took it in today they thought I'd been there for 2 months and wondered my I hadn't registered then. I could only sign on if it stated I moved in on the 4th.

Or I could get fapiao from my hotel that say I left on the 4th. I already have one fapiao from when I first arrived at the hotel. I've since left the country and returned on a different visa but I still have the original fapiao which says I'm staying indefinately on it. I'm wondering if you have to reregister every time you re-enter the country and if so if my hotel would have already done that for me? If they have then I'll just get that fapiao but if not then could I legitimately just stay registered at this hostel? Please help, I'm totally stressed because if I don't get this sorted before 5 tomorrow I'll have to move back into the hotel, which I don't want to do. I'll end up losing money as well, either because I'll have to pay a fine or I'll be paying rent in this apartment and also hotel fees.

If you have any information please help me.

[Cat Jones]

Okay don't panic. This topic gets people very worried, but it's not as serious as you might think. You won't need to move back into the hotel.

Last year I also had problems registering and left it for months in the end. The worst that happens is you might be fined 500RMB. That's not to say you should leave it as long as I did. I actually didn't get fined in the end after apologising and admitting to being a stupid foreigner.

This weekend is actually a working weekend as Monday to Wednesday is a public holiday.

So I'm a little confused - you went to the police station yesterday? So what did they tell you that you needed? Which station are you dealing with? Some stations are stricter than others.

Yes you are meant to re-register every time you leave and return into the country. How many people do this I don't know. I have to admit that I don't. I trvel with work so I'd be in the police station all the time, being sent away and being told to come back with my landlord, a copy of his ID, some ancient scrolls and some bat blood, or whatever is on the list that day.

I actually just realised while typing this that I need to re-register with them again and I'm well overdue. I have already been in twice, but never managed to finish the epic quest of registration.

[alpha_beta]

Thanks for replying,

It's all sorted now. I was stressed because I was uncertain about what to do. There are a few expat sites that said I'd need a copy of my landlords ID and for the landlord to come with me in person. He ended up coming over to the apartment last night to talk to me after one of my flatmates contacted him and he seemed very reluctant to help me and even tried to convince me that it was unnecessary for me to register in the first place. I assume he doesn't want to pay any kind of tax for me living there.

I arranged with a Chinese friend to go to the office this morning but I wasn't sure whether or not my registration would be accepted because I just had a copy of my lease without my name on it, some previous temporary resident documents and just the name, number and ID number of the landlord, which I didn't think would be enough. But apparently it was, they just told me to come earlier next time. I was really relieved especially because when I went to the office yesterday the supervisor or whatever his position is was very unhelpful and rude and I expected the same treatment today but it went ridiculously smoothly, such a contrast between yesterday and today! It's kind of like that though right? How everything goes kind of depends on the day and who's working and also what office you go to. I think I was lucky today ^^

[Cat Jones]

Glad you got it sorted. Yeah you can have a different experience every time you go in, depending on who you see or what the officer had for breakfast that day.