Yes. This is perfect timing because I just wasted alot of time there today for nothing. Amazing how similar police stations and banks can be here in terms of having so many windows but nobody working them.

Anyways, even though ive given them my housing info before, they said i needed it again even though last time they didn't ask for it.

So bring your:

1. old residence card, if you have one
2. Passport and Visa
3. Photocopy of your passport and visa
4. Housing Lease form

Of course this is all i bring, but im sure they can find a way to need more, especially if there is a long line but you know...TIC.

It's red tape.
The same is true with Tax Bureau. You are lucky enough that you don't need to deal with Chinese Tax Bureau. I'm kidding. Both are quite annoying.

Last time I ever encounter an astonishing matter when dealing with the Tax Bureau.
It was required to give the administration permit within 10 working days. But at last it takes 18 or 19 working days after my kind remind and push.
Do you know what they did with the official paper? They changed the applying date. Thus the date of my application becomes 10 days late to fulfill the deadline :shock:

The worst is that you can never ever complain to them.

a better analogy would be that's how they kept on having double digit growth for the past decade.

Yes you need that shitty bit of paper regardless,

the earlier posters were pretty accurate but its even tighter now.

take the following:

i)letter of introduction from small tax bureau usually next to your compound (shows your landlord/landlady has declared you for taxpurposes)
ii) passport, containing residence permit/visa
iii) your landlord/landlady or a bona fide copy of their ID
iv) your old temp residence permit, if you have it

....
pain in the arse, they will then likely ask you for the details of your employer- despite the fact you have spent the last month submitting forms to various governmental departments repeatedly specifying the same information over and over again...

Imagine that every person you speak to in this process is unaware of any other individual or department existing. They will store your information on their personal hard drive rather than any kind of network and prevent efficiency at any cost...

enjoy...