You must register upon arrival, even if it is only for one night. Go today.

If you don't register with the police, you won't get a new visa or extension. Go for a stroll around your neihborhood today. Police stations are plenty, and if you take the wrong one, they will let you know where to go.

Take as many things as you can: your friend's tenancy contract, a copy of the landlord's ID, your passport, the address of course. Go for the "stupid foreigner" approach and they shouldn't get too angry.

Out of interest, how much did you get fined?

Lucky you. Friend of mine had to sign the same letter, but only after she copied it meticulously character by character. But then, she didn't have to pay anything.

Anyway, thanks for sharing!

Copy of your landlord's ID is perfectly acceptable. That's what I used.

Cheers,

V

Thanks guys! I'll take my friend down to the nearest police station the moment she gets off the train!

I have had so much trouble and hassle over those stupid residence permits that I wont go into it here.

Suffice it to say that I would recommend you do it.

I also hear that they are randomly checking foreigners around colleges.

When you renew your visa for sure.

They also might stop you randomly on the street. Sometimes they have campaigns and they might camp outside your apartment block in the evening when you return home - they'll get you then. Sneaky bastards!

It doesn't really matter. The registration procedure will take you just a few minutes, so why not do it? If you stay at a hotel, they do it for you. If you travel around, you don't need to do it (if you don't stay for more more than 24 hours in towns or 72 hours at the countryside, technically, but I think they won't mind too much if you tell them that you are leaving the day after).

i came here in september, and just got around to registering now (now being jan. 28th). this is a thorough documentation of my unpleasant experience:

- since my stay in china, i've been stopped twice by an authority and asked to show the registration. once in the subway, once they raided the offices of an english-teaching company i work at. miraculously, i got out unscathed in both instances. the first time, in the subway, she came out of nowhere... i just turned around and i was facing a short, fat lady with a badge on her sweater asking me "WHERE DO YOU LIVE?" in broken english. she said "I AM POLICE". i was nervous, so i just said the name of a district far away from where i was at the time, and she let me go. the second time, when they raided the offices, i told the officer that i have registered, but i didn't have the registration paper on me. he seemed kinda sneaky, so someone at the office asked to see his ID. he said he forgot it, so he left and said he'd be back. we were suspicious, but it turns out they were real. it was a cop, a girl assistant (assuming she was a translator) and someone else in a suit... i couldn't tell what his role was. i also had a copy of my visa and passport somehow in my backpack, which i think took a little heat off me.

after this experience, i decided that i definitely needed to go get registered. here's how it happened (i couldn't have done it without the help of my beautiful chinese girlfriend).

- had a representative from the real-estate agency (aka landlord) come meet us at the apartment complex (i live in a traditional community). we went to the office of the community, and signed a piece of paper there. don't ask me what it was, but apparently we had to do this first. i think this step was registering with the community. they asked to see my passport, and also requested a copy of my passport and a copy of my visa. they also requested a photo, which i didn't have, but they let it slide.

- after that mess, we went to the police station. this is the tricky part. i took with me my passport, a copy of my passport, a copy of my visa and the housing contract. since i had been here for a long time, but hadn't yet registered, my landlord schemed with my girlfriend to lie to the authorities that i just got in. HUGE MISTAKE. every time you come into china, they stamp your passport with the date of your arrival. the lady at the office was not pleased, and of course caught them on the lie immediately. i had to pay a 200 yuan fine and sign a "i didn't know" statement. after everything was processed, i was given the registration paper with the wrong spelling of my name, and wrong birthdate. we had to really argue with them to convince them that they should print a new one with the correct information.

- i finally received my registration, thank god, after 3 hours. it was quite a messy experience.

COMPARE THIS experience to that of my friend who just moved into his new flat. he doesn't know any chinese, has been here for longer than i have, and never registered... his landlord just took him to the station and he came back 30 minutes later with a registration form, no fees, no hassle, no fines, no questions.

SO,

if you are wondering about the registration, it is these points i wanna make clear to you:

- get registered ASAP. preferably within 24 hours, if you don't you will regret it later FOR SURE. if you haven't registered yet and you've been here awhile, you may pay more than me, may pay less or nothing at all.

- bring the following items:

+passport
+two copies of each and all chinese visas (previous, current)
+two copies of main passport page
+photos
+housing contract

- go with the landlord, but don't make the same MISTAKE that i did! make sure you go with someone that has done this before, someone with experience. my landlord had never done this before, and he was a terrible liar too. my friend, who is a f-ing lucky bastard, went with his landlord who was very experienced at this. he got the whole operation done in 30 minutes, no fines, no hassle. let me reiterate that this friend has been here for a year and never bothered to register.

- don't lie to the officers. as a foreigner, they automatically think you're stupid and they probably have some kind of a inferiority/superiority complex towards you anyway. if i could go back again, i wouldn't go with a translator at all, i would just play stupid and pretend like i didn't know i had to register... but i wouldn't have lied about my arrival date. i could see how much pleasure the lady officer took in catching us in the lie, so don't bother putting yourself in that position unless you really think you've got your bases covered. and i also firmly believe that i probably wouldn't have paid a fine if we hadn't pissed off that lady by lying.

GOOD LUCK

More info then

Couple of days ago, Dongfeng PSB

Passport/Visa - required
Passport size photo with white background - on hand, but not required
Rental contract - required
Photocopy of landlord's ID card - required
Landlord - not present, not required
Stamped statement of residence from Property Management - required

Total time: 10 minutes

Sounds like I live in the same neighborhood, as I also have to go to the police station in that area. I have never seen this, and I NEVER carry my passport with me. Can you (if you want to) tell us where exactly these three ladies were ??

I live out here in the sticks, East 6th Ring Road.

Was living my little compound yesterday, when one of our local rent-a-cops came over and asked if i lived here. After answering a few questions, he said next time, he would like to see a copy of my registration paper, because the community had been contacted by the police, and asked to check all foreign residents.

Something else i would point out, and this is only my advice. But if if you live in Beijing, don't carry your actual passport around with you. Photocopy the info page, the visa page, and your last entry stamp page, as well as your registration paper, and carry those. If cops have a problem with that, you can tell them you can show them the real one later.

But from my 9 year experience, carrying the real thing is way to much of a risk. Lose it, and your hassles will be huge. Better safe than sorry.

I have no idea where I put that little registration paper.

Anyway, not going to worry about it. I've registered already and I am on a legal Z visa....

If someone wanted to really investigate me then let them. The whole thing is stupid...