Arriving and Registering

01Two Clocks Start

What has to be done on the opening day in China?

Much of what a traveler does on the opening day can be done in any order. Two things cannot. One is a legal deadline that begins the moment a bag is put down somewhere that is not a hotel. The other is a dependency: several Chinese apps verify a new account by text message, so the account meant to be set up on arrival stalls at a verification screen if nothing in the phone can receive a Chinese text.

This page is about those two and the small decisions around them. It does not cover visas, which sit on the Visa and Permits page, and it does not cover what to see. It covers where the document is checked on the way in, who files the registration and by when, how a phone number is issued against a foreign passport, and what order to do these in so that each step has what it needs.

Everything here is located by article number or by the office that publishes it. Where no official source exists for a number, the number is written as a band with the year it was observed, and it says so. Prices at a phone counter move, and a page that pretends otherwise is worse than no page.

02The Hotel Files It

Does a hotel in China register foreign guests with the police?

Article 39 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law has two paragraphs, and the opening one costs a visitor nothing. A hotel that accepts a foreign guest registers that guest and submits the record to the police. This happens at the front desk while the passport is being copied, and it is the reason the desk asks for the passport itself instead of a photo of it.

What this means for a trip: if every night is in a hotel, this page's deadline never applies. The passport is handed over, the desk scans it, and the filing is done. Licensed guesthouses booked through a platform usually register arriving guests the same way.

The passport has to be the original. A copy on a phone is not accepted for the registration step, though it is worth having for other purposes. One thing is worth confirming at check-in: that the desk has actually filed the record and has not just copied the page, because a small guesthouse in a smaller city occasionally has to send someone to the station with it.

03Twenty-Four Hours

What is the 24-hour registration rule for staying in a private home in China?

The second paragraph of the same article covers everything that is not a hotel: a friend's spare room, a rented flat, a private apartment booked by the night. In those cases the traveler or the host files the registration with the public security organ where the stay actually takes place, within twenty-four hours of moving in. It is the same article as the hotel rule, and the obligation moves to the traveler and host because there is no front desk to carry it.

The clock does not pause overnight. Landing at 23:00 and sleeping until noon spends half of the window. In practice that makes the filing a morning task if the opening night is in private accommodation.

Booking through a platform does not automatically move the obligation. The law names two categories, hotels and everything else, and does not name platforms. A licensed guesthouse usually registers its guests; a private flat rented by the night usually does not. The way to find out is to ask the host before flying whether they will file, or whether the two will walk to the station together. City-level practice varies here, and this page locates the article without predicting how any given district applies it.

Article 76, paragraph 1, item 6 sets the penalty: a warning, and in serious cases a fine of RMB 1,000 to 5,000. The host is exposed under the same clause, which explains why a host who has done this before will bring it up unprompted.

04Where to File

Where is accommodation registration filed in China, and what is brought?

The place is the local police station of the neighbourhood where the stay takes place, or the exit-and-entry service window of the municipal public security bureau. For a stay with a friend, the friend is the host under the law, and the friend goes to their own local station rather than to one in another district.

Since 20 March 2026 the National Immigration Administration has run an online filing pilot in seven provinces and municipalities: Hebei (河北), Liaoning (辽宁), Zhejiang, Hubei (湖北), Guangxi (广西), Chongqing (重庆) and Sichuan (四川). Inside those seven, the traveler or the host can file through the NIA service website or the 12367 mini-program (小程序) without walking in. Outside them, the in-person route is the default. A pilot list is the kind of thing that grows, so the NIA site is the place to check rather than this sentence a year from now.

What to bring. The original passport is the anchor. If the host files, the host brings their own ID as well. For a rented flat, that means the landlord's ID and the lease contract; for owned property, the property certificate. Stations ask for slightly different extra papers city by city, so the useful move is a phone call to the station beforehand, or asking the host to make it.

The filing itself takes minutes once the window is reached. What takes time is finding the right station and arriving during its hours, which is the argument for doing it in the morning.

05Getting a Number

How does a foreign visitor get a Chinese SIM card?

A Chinese mobile number is issued against a passport in person, and the counter takes a facial scan as part of the real-name registration. Nobody can pick one up on a traveler's behalf. One passport covers up to five numbers.

Three carriers, and the difference is smaller than the internet suggests. China Mobile has the widest rural coverage, China Unicom usually has the well-staffed English-speaking counters at airports, and China Telecom is strongest in the south. Inside a tier-one city the practical difference between them is small.

Where to buy matters more than which one. The arrivals-hall counters at Beijing Capital, Beijing Daxing, Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou (广州) Baiyun, Chengdu (成都) Tianfu and Shenzhen (深圳) Bao'an sell a tourist SIM and activate it on the spot; their plans are short and priced for visitors. City stores carry a longer list and lower prices, though not every branch handles foreign passports, and a call to 10086 for Mobile, 10010 for Unicom or 10000 for Telecom before making the trip is worthwhile. Small street kiosks usually cannot complete the passport step at all, which is the one way to lose an hour here.

Prices, as a band and not as a tariff. Tourist prepaid plans observed in 2026 cluster around RMB 50 to 100 for seven days, RMB 100 to 150 for fifteen days, and RMB 150 to 250 for thirty days of domestic data, each with a small call allowance. The Chongqing (重庆) municipal government confirms that seven-day and fifteen-day short-term cards with automatic cancellation exist. No national official price page was located, so treat these as numbers to check at the counter.

06eSIM and the SMS Problem

Does an eSIM work in China, and can it receive verification codes?

An eSIM bought before departure gives data the moment the plane lands, and that is genuinely useful. Products sold abroad ride on the same three carrier networks as plans without a number. What they usually do not give is a phone number, which means they usually cannot receive a text message.

That is the whole problem. WeChat (微信), Alipay (支付宝), 12306 and the ride-hailing apps verify a new account by sending a one-time code by SMS. A line without a number has nowhere for that code to arrive, so the registration planned for the taxi ride stops at the verification screen.

The fix has two halves, and the opening one happens before the flight. Register WeChat and Alipay and link the foreign card while still on the home network with the home number working normally. Then keep the home SIM in the phone with international roaming switched on for SMS while data roaming stays off, so codes can still arrive without a data bill. To roam for data as well, the home carrier sets that price and Chinese carriers do not publish it, so the number to ask for is the home carrier's.

A mainland eSIM with a +86 number does exist. Official carrier stores issue eSIM profiles to foreign passport holders on supported phones, though the supported-device list is not the same as the list used in the home market. Getting one still means standing in a store, so it saves nothing over a plastic card on arrival.

07Where Documents Are Checked

Where is a passport actually checked between the airport and the city?

Between the aircraft door and the opening night there is exactly one mandatory document check, and it is border inspection. The passport is handed over with the visa or the visa-free entry, plus an arrival card. Since 2024 that card can be filled in the NIA app or mini-program (小程序) in advance and shown as a QR code at the desk, which is worth doing on the plane.

After that the checks thin out fast. Baggage claim has none. Customs is a green channel for nothing to declare and a red one otherwise, with bags through an X-ray and no routine passport check on the channel itself.

Outside the controlled area, the pattern is that transport reads a payment method and not an identity. The metro and the airport rail links put bags through a scanner at the entrance, and the gate reads a transit card or a bank card. A taxi or a ride-hailing car checks nothing.

The exception is the railway, which is real-name. An intercity train out of the airport, for example the Beijing to Xiong'an service from Daxing, reads the travel document used when the ticket was bought. If that was a passport, that passport has to be the one in hand at the gate. The Booking and Tickets page covers this at length, and it is the one document rule that follows a traveler around the country.

08For Those Intending to Drive

Can a foreign visitor drive in China?

A foreign driving licence is not valid on its own, and the thing that makes it work is applied for after arrival. Holders of a foreign licence can apply for a Temporary Motor Vehicle Driving Permit at a vehicle management office. It is valid for three months for a short stay and extendable to a year for a stay longer than three months.

What to bring: the passport, the foreign licence with a Chinese translation, and two one-inch photographs. A road safety law session follows, and the permit is issued on the spot afterwards. This is a same-day procedure rather than a waiting one, which puts it in a different category from everything else on this page.

One deadline applies to people bringing their own vehicle in. If the car crossed the border with the traveler, the application is due within two days of entry.

What this means for a trip: driving is available and it is a decision to make at home. The translation of the licence is the part that is hard to arrange after landing, and the vehicle management office takes half a day. For a two-week trip built on trains and ride-hailing, the permit buys very little; for a trip whose point is a road in Xinjiang (新疆) or Yunnan (云南), it is the enabling document. The rules were published in the State Council gazette in 2025.

09The Order, and What Breaks

In what order should the opening day in China be done?

• Before the flight. Register WeChat (微信) and Alipay (支付宝), link the foreign card, save the recovery codes. This runs on the home network with the home number receiving texts normally, which is the condition that stops being true later.
• At the port. Border inspection, passport out, arrival card ready.
• After customs. At a major international airport, the carrier counter in the arrivals hall is the fastest place to get a number. Data here buys maps, translation and the ride into town.
• At the opening address. A hotel files the registration. Anything else starts the twenty-four-hour clock.
• Within twenty-four hours. File the private-stay registration in person, or online if the province is in the pilot list.
• After a +86 number is in hand. Add it to the apps registered before the flight. This is not an opening-day task.
• Three ways the order goes wrong. Relying on an eSIM that carries data alone leaves a traveler able to browse and unable to receive a Chinese verification code, so app setup stalls. Sleeping the opening night at a private flat before filing spends the window during sleep, and the filing is still owed the next morning. Trying a street kiosk for the SIM usually ends with an unfinished real-name step and a second trip to a proper counter.