Residence Registration in Beijing

[Kemian]

Hello,

 

I am a little worried about the residence Registration. The first 2 months I am going to stay in a friends appartement (1 foreigner and 1 chinese). What documents do I need for the Residence Registration paper ? I will not have contract with my name so I don’t know if I can do that.

 

Thank you !

[Guest]

I live in Beijing, but I'm not ultimately sure.

 

I think the best thing to do would be to go to your local Public Security Bureau/police station with your friend and explain your situation. If they won't allow you to live with your friend, then is there any way you could 'rent' the room from them. I.e. they could charge you rent of 1RMB/Month so that you can count as legally residing there?

 

Sorry that I can't be of more help.

[roddy]

It very much depends on the local police station, and quite possibly who's on the desk that day. I'd take you, your passport, your friend's rental or ownership documents, your friend's ID, and possibly your friend. It's not generally a huge deal, if they want something else they'll tell you and you can figure it out. Might also be useful to be able to explain what you're doing there - eg, university enrolment documents or something - but that shouldn't be necessary. 

[dtcamero]

you dont need to bring your friend if he/she is available by telephone and speaks chinese

[roddy]

Is there a standard set of rules across every police station in Beijing now, dtcamero? 

[dtcamero]

have you actually seen or heard of someone that needed to bring the friend they're staying with in order to register... after being told by the officer that a phone call would not suffice?

 

if so I stand corrected but it sounds kinda crazy.

[roddy]

It has been necessary in some cases (way back when, at least) for landlords/ hosts to attend. Traditionally the requirements for this have been very variable though - I find it entirely plausible one person might register with just a passport and some form of proof of address, and another has to bring whoever he's staying with. It's daft, but there are a lot of police stations in Beijing, and if the one you're registering with got in trouble last month for not noticing some illegal over-stayers...

 

I'd not expect you to need to take anyone else, but if I was the host and it wasn't too much hassle, I'd go along just in case there are any questions. It wouldn't surprise me if a particularly cautious police station wanted to see someone in person, rather than talk to them on the phone (which makes a certain amount of sense, if you're being paranoid.)