Your first weeks in China: three clocks and one order

The Chinese arrival isn't chaos but a chain: every registration is the key to the next, and three clocks are running. Whoever knows the order is sorted in three weeks; whoever doesn't finds out at the bank that they first have to go back to the police station.

Clock one: 24 hours — the police registration

Within 24 hours of arrival your residential address must be registered with the police. In a hotel it happens automatically at check-in; if you live on your own straight away, you register at the local police station — with passport and the (registered) tenancy agreement — or online: since March 2026 a nationwide online service of the immigration authority has been running, after years in which Beijing and Shanghai already had channels of their own. The proof you get, the registration slip, is the most important piece of paper of your first months: the residence permit, the bank and the driving licence all ask for it. And the duty repeats after every move and every return from abroad — hotels along the way take it over from you each time.

Clocks two and three: 15 and 30 days

Straight after landing you schedule the medical examination at an International Travel Healthcare Center of customs — the Chinese examination the residence permit wants to see, a matter of days. Meanwhile your employer converts the work permit notification into the permit itself within fifteen days; it appears digitally in the social security card app, because a physical card no longer exists since the end of 2024.

Then the big one: within thirty days you apply at the Exit-Entry Administration of the police for the residence permit — for yourself and for the family members on their S1 visas. The decision takes at most fifteen working days and your passport stays with the authority for that period: don't plan any travel in it, and do banking that requires a passport before or after. The fees run from ¥ 400 (one year) to ¥ 1,000 (five years); the first permit is usually a one-year permit, and after two well-behaved years the five-year one is ready at the third round.

The order that saves weeks: SIM → bank → apps

China is effectively cashless, and everything hangs together. First the SIM card, in your own name at an official shop of China Mobile, Unicom or Telecom — real-name registration with your passport is required by law, and without a Chinese number you can't log in anywhere. Then the bank account, in person at the counter: bring passport, residence document, registration slip and employment contract; the big state banks in the expat cities know the list. Only then WeChat Pay and Alipay, linked to that Chinese account. Your Dutch credit card can nowadays go into both apps and saves you the first days — but rent, salary and transfers between people require the Chinese account. Finally, keep every stamp and every contract: China asks for paperwork, and rewards whoever has it in order.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the clocks watched. See the whole journey to China.