L-visa still 'requires' PSB registration?

[Josh-J]

Are you still supposed to register with the PSB if you're in China on an L(tourist)-visa? All I've found out from a bit of searching is that if you're a foreigner you should register, but normally your hotel will do that for you. Thing is I won't be staying in "hotels" but in youth hostels, so I don't know how that would work.

Personally I can't imagine me being able to communicate with the PSB anyway if they don't speak english so if I don't get registered and I should be, I probably just won't bother particularly as I'm moving around fairly frequently - but still, are you supposed to be registered?

Thanks

[roddy]

All foreigners should register with the local police station. All hotels / hostels should do this for you, and if they don't they will get into trouble, not you.

If you are travelling and staying in hotels / hostels, you won't even have to think about it - it'll happen automatically (place will take a copy of your passport and pass details on to local police). You might need to get a form from the hotel if you are applying for a visa extension, but worry about that if it happens.

I guess now that more places are allowed to take foreigners there are potentially some which don't do this - but the chances of it causing you any hassle are virtually zero.

[Adrian]

Are you suppose to register with the PSB for every single city you stay at, or can you just register with the PSB at a one off time?

I will be visiting Shenzhen then next morning going to Nanning, then Wuhan, Nanjing, Beijing, back to Shenzhen........must I tell PSB I am in each city 6 times?

[JohnDoe2]

I live outside Nanjing. Of course i have the Z visa and the nice red book with my picture in it which was assembled by the local police station after i submitted my passport.

The police took over a month to put this together.

A friend came to visit over the holiday on a tourist visa. We stayed in the same room together. Had she registered with the police, it would have taken forever to register and get whatever they do there done.

Instead, the hotels took her visa when we checked into our room. She filled out a piece of paper indicating where she came from, her passport number, port of entry, length of stay and further destinations.

I, of course, FORGOT to bring any form of identification with me, so when the hotel help asked for my identification, I pretended not to understand. I shook hands. I scratched my head. I handed my visa CARD (as in credit card) to the desk clerk. I showed my bus pass.

--Huh? What? Me no speaka Chinese.

They quit asking me for info after it became apparent that my girl and I were together.

Whether the hotels really do anything with the things you fill out (when you DO fill them out) is a matter of conjecture.

When I arrived in China to work, the police seemed a bit confused about what THEY should do. The kept my passport and they took over a month to give me my residence permit.

I am unsure whether an L visa EVER required a PSB permit. I've never applied for one when i visited.

[roddy]

See here, and bear in mind the difference between registering with the local police station (which is what we're talking about here) and getting a residence permit, which is a completely different process.

Confusion arises because lots of people don't register with the local police, a lot of places don't worry about it, sometimes a school does it for you and you don't realise, and so it's easy to be unsure about whether you should do it or not. Basically, every foreigner, within 24 hours of arriving at a new address - even if you are moving across the street - should walk into the local police station and say 'Hi, I'm here, register me'. There's a name for the actual regulations which I can't remember - 外国人住宿登记规定 or something similar.

I will be visiting Shenzhen then next morning going to Nanning, then Wuhan, Nanjing, Beijing, back to Shenzhen........must I tell PSB I am in each city 6 times?

Technically yes, you should. In reality, forget it. If you're in hotels, they'll do it for you. If you are staying with friends the chances are nobody will care. It's not something you need to worry about unless you are staying somewhere long term, and even then you can often ignore it - I haven't registered in my last three apartments and not had a single problem.

[Josh-J]

Ok, thanks for the help

[aeon]

I'm pretty sure that our registration with PSB when we were staying in Beijing consisted of our Landlord chucking a bung to one of his PSB contacts so that he didn't have to pay the tax...