When you are visiting China, and you are not living in a hotel, such as:
- With a relative in their own home;
- Vacation home hosted by a third party;
- Other bread and breakfast places;
You are required to register your place of residence at a police station. We were staying in Foshan city in Shunde area (borough) at 喜悦来国际酒店公寓. We rented a small place with an online platform. We needed to register with the police station within 24 hours of our arrival.
The requirements are laid out by the police station in the PDF document below:
We needed the following pieces of documentation:
- From our passports:
- The photo page;
- The Chinese Visa page;
- The page containing the entry stamp for the current visit;
- We needed a copy of the ID (front and back) of the visiting relative which we previously used to apply for our Q2 Visa. You must also provide the relative’s phone number as well;
- From the landlord or management who leased the room to you:
- The rental contract;
- Either one of:
- The business registration of the management company who leased the property along with the ID card (front and back) of the person responsible for the company;
- The ID card (front and back) of the owner of the property and the deed of the property;
Not all police station will perform the registration service, so you will have to ask around. For this trip in 2025, we had to register at:
- 广东省佛山市顺德区乐从镇荔南路b34号
The process will take approximately an hour to register assuming there is not a huge line up.