Job Discussion Forums

[Mei Sheng]

I'm sure most of you who rent an apartment in China know that they must register with the local PSB. What I didn't know is that I must re-register anytime my visa changes. I thought it was a 1 time thing - I'm here, if I move to another apartment in a different neighborhood then I will register with the local PSB there. That is not the case.

The other night the local PSB came to my building in Shanghai. There are a lot of foreign residents here. They had a list of all the foreigners and their "registration expiration dates". I was told that I wasn't registered - my registration expired in June 2007, 1 year after my initial registration.

The police checked my passport to confirm that I had a valid visa and told me that I needed to register again with my latest visa. The nice English speaking officer told me that anytime I change jobs and/or get a new visa, I must re-register.

The next day, yesterday, I went to re-register. The lady at the counter asked for my "expired" pink form. I did not have it. She said I will be fined and went to her supervisor. Fortunately for me, he was the same guy who had come to my apartment. They let me slide.

I'm not sure of all of the details, but I did learn a few things - 1) keep your registration form 2) re-register anytime you receive a new visa or move 3) be nice and say "Oh, I didn't know."

[cj750s]

My local cop shop left my expiration date blank so I would not have to re register...

[kev7161]

You would think, in this fast moving, forward moving country that someone somewhere would have the foresight to have instruction pamphlets or leaflets or something IN ENGLISH for all of us lazy laowai that can't or won't learn Chinese. These papers could list exactly what needs to be done at what times so the clueless laowais that we are could actually try our best to follow the laws of the land (like so many upstanding Chinese citizens do - - sorry, should I put an eye-rolling smiley fact to show my sarcasm?). Not just for the OPs visa confusion but for all the everyday, mundane things that most of probably have not a clue about. You would think . . .

[samhouston]

I would never have heard about the residency registration if it weren't for people on this forum posting how they had gotten into trouble with it, since they hadn't heard about it either, or didn't have clear instructions on it.

I know a Chinese woman that has a contact at the local police station where I used to live, and she got my problem taken care of, even though it was about two months late. She told him I had been traveling the whole time. No money was exchanged.

I moved to another part of town a month later, and, doing my best to stay hip with the local customs, registered with the new local cops. I had an English speaking Chinese co-worker with me to take care of any potential snags, but I think bringing her along may have created more problems.

The bored police woman at the desk started asking questions about my employment and employer, and why was I working at a school with only an F visa, etc. She even asked when I went to Tsingtao, because apparently that's where the visa was done. Of course, I've never been to Tsingtao, but I said that yes, it was quite nice. Then she wanted to see a copy of my contract with the school. I had my contract back at my apartment, but I started playing dumb in an effort to slow this impending disaster. Finally I got my company manager on the phone and she told the cop that I didn't have a contract, which to my surprise, satisfied the cop that all was well. She typed up a new form, and I was done.

I think if I had shown up alone with my apartment contract and previous residency form, both of which I had, it may have gone more smoothly, since there wouldn't have been much to talk about. But since I had an interpreter with me, that opened the gates to all kinds of allegations and accusations.

I seem to recall that the other people having problems with this, like having an officer showing up on Saturday morning to verify papers, were living in buildings with lots of foreigners. Since there are only two whiteys in my part of town, I don't know if I would have ever had that problem.

I assume I have to re-register with the jackboots once I renew my visa in a few months. And since it will be yet another eyebrow-raising F visa, I'm not sure I want to go running into those tripwires again.

[arioch36]

SAM