After entering China, foreigners should apply to the Exit & Entry Administration Office of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau (hereinafter referred to as “Exit & Entry Office”) for staying for a period exceeding visa duration or visa-free duration, or for residence certificates.
Chinese ordinary visa consists of 12 types, which are respectively marked by letter and figure. The letters represent the first letter of the corresponding Chinese phonetic alphabet for such visas. For example, F Visa is the first letter of “Fangwen” (visit). The visa type consists of the figure “1” is issued to foreigners residing in China for a long time, and the type containing “2” is issued to foreigners staying in China for a short time.
Visa issued by Chinese embassies and consulates in foreign countries generally specifies two periods of validity. “Please enter China prior to this date” means the holder will not be allowed to enter China after this date. “The number of days allowed to stay after entry” refers to the period of time allowed to stay from the next day after entry.
Visa issued by the Exit & Entry Office generally specifies three periods of validity. “Valid until” means that if the holder leaves China, he/she should enter China before this date, and will not be allowed to re-enter China after this date.
“Approved to stay before” refers to the time limit of stay after entry.
“Each stay after next entry” is the time limit for the permit to stay from the next day of entry if the holder leaves China and re-enters the country.
In addition, if “entry times” on the visa is “0”, the holder is not allowed to enter China.
Where a foreigner needs to extend his/her stay in a visa, he/she shall apply to the Exit & Entry Administration Office for extension seven days prior to the expiry of the stay specified in the visa. The cumulative duration of stay extended in a visa shall not exceed the original duration specified in the visa. The extension of visa duration is only valid for this entry, and does not affect the entry times and validity period of the visa. For example, an entry visa for a foreigner specifies a stay of 90 days. If the holder needs to stay for more than 90 days, he/she shall apply for an extension, but the extension period shall not exceed 90 days. After the extension of the stay period, the original visa entry validity and times of entry remain unchanged.
Foreigners who need to extend their stay beyond the exemption duration for non-diplomatic or official reasons;
Foreign crew members and their accompanying family members need to leave the port city where the ship is docked;
Foreigners who need to stay in China after renunciation of Chinese nationality upon approval;
Foreigners who need to continue their stay for humanitarian reasons after their residence permit has been terminated;
Foreign babies born in China;
Other circumstances in which a stay permit is required.
Generally, the stay visa is marked with “stay” in parentheses, and the columns of “entry times” and “validity period” are marked with “*”, indicating that the holder is only allowed to stay, but not allowed to enter the country. The date of the permitted stay is specified in the “Remarks” column, and the type of stay visa is specified in parentheses.
The period of validity of the stay visa shall be determined according to the purpose of the stay of the applicant, but the maximum period shall not exceed 180 days.
If the visa held by a foreigner specifies that the foreigner needs to apply for residence permit after entry, he/she shall apply for foreigner residence permit within 30 days from the date of entry. If the length of stay is not specified in the entry visa, in other words, if the column of “stay after entry” is marked with “000”, the column of “remarks” of the visa would generally specify that the holder should “apply for residence permit within 30 days from the date of entry”. After entering China with such visa, the holder shall apply for a residence permit. The holder of a residence permit can enter or leave China for many times within the validity period without applying for a visa.
Foreigners with expertise and foreign investors who conform to relevant State regulations or foreigners who need to change their status from stay to residence for humanitarian or other reasons, may undergo the formalities for obtaining foreigner’s residence permits upon approval by the exit/entry administrations of public security organs under local people’s governments at or above the city with districts.
The validity period of a foreigner’s work-type residence permit shall be 90 days at the minimum and five years at the maximum; and the validity period of a non-work-type foreigner’s residence permit shall be 180 days at the minimum and five years at the maximum.
There are five types of residence permits. The types of work, reunion and personal affairs are introduced herein.
Foreign members of entrepreneurship team in Zhongguancun and foreign technical talents employed by enterprises located in Zhongguancun (not subject to the age limit of 60 years) can directly apply for a 5-year valid work-type residence permit by virtue of the work permit and the employer's guarantee letter after entering China; If a foreign member of the entrepreneurial team fails to apply for a work permit, he/she may apply for a five-year valid residence permit for the purpose of private business (note “entrepreneurship”) with the guarantee letter from the team leader.
Overseas Chinese who start a business in Zhongguancun (not subject to the age limit of 60) can directly apply for a five-year valid work residence permit by virtue of a work permit and the employer's guarantee letter, or directly apply for a five-year valid residence permit for the purpose of private business by virtue of the entrepreneurship plan (note “entrepreneurship”).
Foreign students from overseas universities invited by enterprises in Zhongguancun registered by exit & entry administration office of Beijing Municipal Public Security organs for internship can apply for short-term visa for purpose of personal affairs (note “internship”) to port visa authorities for entry and internship activities; Those who hold other types of visas can also apply for changing their visas into short-term visas for purpose of personal affairs (note “internship”) for internship in China.
Foreign students from Beijing universities who start a part-time business in Zhongguancun can apply for adding “entrepreneurship” to their study-type residence permit and implement part-time entrepreneurial activities in Zhongguancun with the consent of their universities and a letter of recommendation.
Overseas high-level talent recognized by the competent department of talents in Beijing or senior professionals in an industry employed and guaranteed by enterprises recognized by the competent department of science and technology innovation in Beijing (not subject to the age limit of 60 years) can apply for a work-type residence permit with a validity of 5 years (note “talent”). After working for 3 years, they can apply for permanent residence in China upon the recommendation of their employer. The time needed for approval is further shortened.
Overseas high-level talent recognized by the competent department of talents in Beijing, senior professionals in an industry employed by enterprises recognized by the competent department of science and technology innovation in Beijing, or foreigners with certificates of high-level talents issued by other inviting units come to China without a visa may apply for a talent visa to the signing authority at the port of arrival, and apply for a residence permit according to regulations after entering China; those who come to China with other visas may apply for achange to a talent visa or apply for a residence permit according to regulations after entering China.
Foreign students who are willing to conduct innovation or start a business in Beijing can apply for a two-to-five-year valid residence permit for the purpose of private business (note “entrepreneurship”) for graduation internship or innovation and entrepreneurship activities with graduation certificate issued by colleges or universities in China. During this period, those who are employed by relevant units may apply for work-type residence permits in accordance with relevant provisions.
Foreigners who come to Work in Beijing with work permits issued by human resources and social security department or foreign experts affairs bureaus can directly apply for work-type residence permits valid within one year upon entry; they may also apply to the visa authority at the port of arrival for a work visa, and apply for a work-type residence permit for a corresponding period of time after entry.
Foreigners who plan to invest or pursue entrepreneurship and innova_x0002_tion in Beijing and have no time to apply for a work permit can apply for a private-affairs-type visa to the visa authority at the port of arrival with the investment certificate, entrepreneurship plan, source of income certificate, etc.; after entering China, they can apply for a residence permit for purpose of private business (note “entrepreneurship”).
If foreigners working in Beijing have applied for work-type residence permit for successive two times and have no records of violating laws and regulations, they can apply for work-type residence permit for the third time and obtain the permit valid for less than 5 years in accordance with the regulations.
Overseas high-level talent, talents pursuing innovation and entrepre_x0002_neurship and high-level talents from Hong Kong and Macao who have obtained permanent residence permit in China or hold work-type residence permit can apply for residence permit for purpose of private business for the corresponding period for their employed foreign domestic service personnel by providing personal guarantee and employment contract (note “domestic service”).
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