Moving my family to Beijing from another province

[pprendeville]

Does anyone know if this would be a lot of hassle to do? It has become necessary for them move to Beijing pending visa extensions. With my wifes hukou being in her hometown in Hebei Province is she allowed to reside in Beijing? Will our children also allowed reside here? Would getting a kindergarten at this late stage be difficult? My wife hasn't lived in China since 2007 and doesn't know who to contact to find out the necessary information hence my post here.

[Tianjin42]

Will try to help with this. 

 

Just spoken to my colleagues - they said it would be very difficult. 

 

I have one non-Beijing colleague who will probably be able to obtain a Beijing hukou. A candidate needs to meet a certain number of criteria. The reason she was eligible is because she completed a Master's degree abroad and came back to China. Also the government can provide fast-track hukous to key growth industries. You would need to check but I think in Beijing some tech groups fall under this umbrella. So theoretically they can obtain hukous for employees but demand is sky high. If you go down this route you would need to ask the company about their 户口指标.

 

Obviously I hear that some locals obtain them through less formal channels as well. 

 

I honestly think the Chinese message boards would provide more useful information in this case. 

[pprendeville]

Just to clarify, I don't actually want to move her hukou to Beijing. I just want them to be able to live with me here. Her sister had been working here up until recently and her hukou is not in Beijing.

[aroberts42]

Are your children Chinese citizens? If they carry international passports, they can go to school anywhere you want to pay. 

 

As for your wife's hukou, it shouldn't matter. The hukou might keep her from buying property, getting a job, going to school, things like that, but it won't keep her from being able to live in the city with you. 

[PBolchover]

It is fine for your wife to live in Beijing with her hukou in a different province.  She'll still have to register with the local police in Beijing (probably the same place as you register).

[SinoDragon]

I think it is manageable at the moment. But if you want to buy a house and send your kid to college, there may be quotas imposed against you for not being a "local" resident. Either way, it's a big move, I'm trying to make the same move back to the US. It's not easy...