Tourist visa registration - 1 night in a hotel?

[brekk2]

Hi Everyone,

 

I would like to ask for your advice with the following situation:

 

I study at one of the Chinese universities and I live in a dormitory. My boyfriend is going to visit me in January - he already has a tourist visa. 

I asked people in the school's office if he could stay with me, but they said that due to the winter break noone will be in the office, so they will not be able to help me register him with the police. Even if we do the registration on our own, there would be noone in the office during January to answer any inquiries if the police called to check if he is really staying in our dormitory.

 

I think i read it somewhere on the internet that it is possible sometimes for tourists to go to a hotel for the first night, then the hotel would register them with the local police, and then they would just continue travelling. 

Do you think this is a possible solution?

 

Some some students also suggested that I could just rent the cheapest accomodation in town for the whole 3 weeks he is spending here and let the hotel register him and he could stay with me in the dormitory. - In which case finding a better hotel and staying there with him would be a more desirable option for me considering that I have roommates. (Although, it would cost a lot)

 

I really don't want to get him into trouble and end up with a fine or any other consequences... maybe i just worry too much

 

Could you please let me know what your experiences are and what you would suggest to us in this situation?

Thank you for your help in advance!

[Ruben von Zwack]

I thought in order to get a tourist visa in the first place, you need to have a ho(s)tel reservation anyway. But apparently, this is not always the case?

[brekk2]

well, I sent him an invitation letter, but as far as I know he didn't need to use it. He just applied for a tourist visa and showed them his plane ticket.

[Ruben von Zwack]

I see!

I have no experience how the Chinese authorities are with students, and in your particular town. I've just been to China as a tourist, and made two observations that may be relevant to you:

- the hotels seem to de-register you when you leave. So this thing you read on the internet does not seem plausible to me.

But at the same time:

- I had a lot of "missing" nights where I wasn't registered anywhere, cause I spent them on some over night train. But I did not have the impression there was some "Big Brother" watching me, like: disappeared from Foreigner Police's monitor in Taishan - re-appeared 24 hours later in Xi'An - ah, there is a train ticket Taishan-Xi'An with her passport number. It did not feel like this.

 

But I have no idea how "hard" the Chinese are on students and students' guests.

 

Basically, isn't it that you are doing everything correctly and right, and it's just the people in your dorm's office that got you to start worrying?

My personal attitude would be to stick with what you were doing in the first place, and not get into something shady and complicated, just because you want to make it even better. Don't they say well-intended is the opposite of well?

 

But it's just an opinion, I have no experience to back that up, and who knows, maybe someone has got experience with how the police are with students?

[Silent]

 

I think i read it somewhere on the internet that it is possible sometimes for tourists to go to a hotel for the first night, then the hotel would register them with the local police, and then they would just continue travelling. 

Do you think this is a possible solution?

Depends on your definition of solution. To my best knowledge (but I'm not an expert) the official rule is that you always have to register. So staying in a hotel for one night and then moving is only a valid solution for the night he's staying in the Hotel. That said, missing a few registrations is to my best knowledge and experience no issue at all. I've stayed at hotels where they were not prepared to register me, in temples that did not ask for my details etc and experienced no problems. I don't know how far you could stretch it before running into trouble. My guess would be fairly far. I'ld say if you cover the first night, make a couple of overnight trips where you get registered that should be fine. If they make trouble tell them you were told that first night registration was sufficient. If you're really in doubt it might be a good idea to check out the possible consequences (future visas, fines, etc) and decide based on that and the price of the hotel or it's worth the risk.

[tysond]

Sounds complicated.  The rules are simple, register within 24 hours.  Why not just register him yourself as staying in the dorm?

 

There being nobody in the university to answer the phone isn't really your problem .... and I doubt very much the police will call to check, and if they do you have a legitimate reason why they aren't answering.  As long as you get what you need from them in advance, maybe this is the easiest and most truthful option.  

 

I find living in China people tell me many complicated ideas for getting around a problem... but the problem really isn't there or it isn't my problem.  From the description you've given maybe this is the case here.

[Steingletscher]

For those wondering about how they are with people on student visas, when I first came to China, I spent the first couple of nights in a hotel in Beijing, took a train to Shandong, and then basically disappeared off their radar for 3 weeks when I stayed with a friends family. I never registered with the police there (at least to my knowledge), and was never asked about the "missing" weeks I spent when I registered for my residence permit in Chengdu.

For some reason, a friend was asked about the 2 or 3 nights where he wasn't registered when he applied for his residence permit, but he just said he stayed with his sister (who was also living in China).

 

But as for people on tourist visa's, I've met people who went backpacking in Yunnan for a couple of days, and they were never asked about it.

[Lu]

I think you're worrying too much (about the police, that is). You should register, but if your boyfriend doesn't they are highly unlikely to care about that. If you do register, they are also highly unlikely to come knock on your door or call the university; they generally have better things to do (whether it's catching thieves or drinking tea). When I had guests while living in Beijing, I usually took them to the paichusuo to register, but I also forgot once or twice and nothing bad happened. My advice would be to check beforehand (with the uni office) whether it's possible for you to register your boyfriend at your dorm, and if it's possible and not too difficult, to do so. If it's not possible, or very difficult, just let him stay over without registering.

 

What I do wonder about: assuming you're a woman living in a woman's dorm, does the university allow men (ie your boyfriend) to stay over? That might be a more pressing issue.

[Matty]

I've had a bit of issues with this before, and my old solution was to forget it. I'd been without one many times because I was unable to get all the required documentation.

 

I've never found it to be an issue except in the following circumstances:

1) Visa extension/change

2) Getting a driver's license

3) In the case of an emergency (H1N1) and the govt. really wants to know where you are.

 

In the case of situation (3) I had to take a trip to the city Police Headquarters (or whatever it be called) and pay a 500元 fine, which I negotiated to 300元. I was told by the police officer this is not considered too serious an issue.

 

There are rumors that you may be fined on leaving the country if you never applied for it, but I've found that to be false on many occasions.

 

Of course the best solution is to get it all set up right, so I'd take a Chinese friend to the local police stations, which is usually within a 10 minute walk of the school and ask them for their solution to the problem. The police are usually very helpful.

 

I've also found when going to apply within the first 24 hours they'll tell me to come back in a day or 2 when the registration officer is there, or with more documentation.

 

Even if he gets here and you still don't know what to do, take him to the local station and ask them, they'll give a solution if they can.

 

Also remember always be polite and friendly, never be angry or shout, it will likely end badly for you if they decide they don't like you.

 

Each province, city, and police station is also different, so I can't guarantee that my experiences are the same as what you will encounter.

 

However, if he wants to change or extend visas he WILL need registration documentation.

[brekk2]

Thank you for all your answers!

 

Ruben von Zwack: I see your point, and thank you for sharing the observations you made!

 

Silent: To be honest, the thing is that we wanted to travel to "my city" and stay here for two weeks then stay for a week in Beijing. I can buy some tickets for him for those two weeks to some other places just to make sure he is "on the move" though.

 

Tysond: re the police calling someone in the office... I tried to make the same point as you do when I talked to them, but it kinda suprised them that I am trying to find a way to solve this situation instead of just accepting what they tell me... It was kinda funny to see their reactions And at the end they just said, no.

 

Lu: We have only 1 dormitory for foreign students, and about 60 students live there, so we have free rooms. Boys and girls are separated, but in a not too complicated way. Boys live on the 1st, 2nd and 6th floor and girls live on the 3rd and 4th floor. Compared to the Chinese dormitories ours is quite laid back in this way.

 

Matty: I wish the police station would be that close to our place. If i go by bus, it's about 1,5 hours to get there and 30 mins if I go by taxi. Nothing is "nearby" in China

[Matty]

@brekk

 

You must be talking about the PSB, you go there for visas and larger issues.

 

As for registering your location of residence you just need to go to the local police station (派出所). Usually these are pretty close to the university, they're everywhere, but you need the one that watches over your university.

[roddy]

Brekk, did you get the registration sorted out ok?

[TomThomas]

I wouldn't make an issue out of not registering on a tourist visa. In fact, in 2012 in Kunming we tried to register a student friend of mine from Thailand who was then on a tourist visa I believe, but were told by the paichusuo to "go away" until the time came to apply for a conversion to a student visa. I believe she was to get this visa with paperwork from the university who was sponsoring her for her practical experiments (she wasn't a language student or any other type of traditional student but rather, was a practicum student).

 

On other occasions I have never bothered to register friends ranging from a Vietnamese friend, my Thai girlfriend or a Norwegian friend who've spent time at my place. Nor did we register myself on my occasional one night at my Norwegian friend's place or prior to that, dorm room. In any case, both myself and Norwegian friend were on student visas (residence permits for study purposes) and already registered at our respective accommodations by the Paichusuo anyway. The idea of registering an unexpected night at a different location was too tedious, too big brother and no one would know anyway. Even the lack of ANY registration for my Thai girlfriend who visited me twice for a period of around 1-2 weeks, or my Vietnamese friend who came for similar time periods and who also came twice, was a non-issue.

 

Traveling in rural Yunnan, including staying at both cheaper and rather opulent and expensive accommodation in various cities such as Dali, Jinghong, Zhaotong and Dehong Mangshi didn't require any passport or registration at all - at least not for me. I recall my Vietnamese friend being registered in Zhaotong but I wasn't (I didn't even bring my passport with me but only my Chinese driver's license, no problem. Only in Dali did I present my Chinese driver's license for a room but that was it (and my other 3 foreigner friends didn't have any ID with them at all, nor did my 2 Chinese friends who joined us). Even in Kunming, a room was made available for me and the hotel didn't register me as they had registered my room in someone else's name (my Chinese boss). Another expat friend of mine,also from Norway stayed with me for almost 3 weeks at that hotel and was never registered (he was already registered at another location anyway but moved out of that place a few weeks earlier).

 

Never a problem. However, one time I was grilled by the same paichusuo lady who had served me on every occasion since 2010 for not coming in to re-register, but I explained that this was due to my absence from China. I went in to register my new Z visa around 6 months later (in between this 6 month period I was not in China at all) told to come back to re-register in a few weeks once my residence permit came around (which I did on the same day) and have not had any other issues since.

 

This was all in Kunming. Registering is mainly an issue when you want to get a visa extension done (irrespective of the visa class), to obtain a Chinese driver's licence and related matters. It's barely an issue as a tourist, especially if you don't get any extensions done.

[Lu]

Traveling in rural Yunnan, including staying at both cheaper and rather opulent and expensive accommodation in various cities such as Dali, Jinghong, Zhaotong and Dehong Mangshi didn't require any passport or registration at all

It's good that this worked out so well for you, but I'd like to note that I've never stayed at any hotel or hostel that didn't need my passport and registered me. From what I know, your experience is atypical, and I wouldn't try and travel without a passport or other official ID.

[TomThomas]

Actually, it depends on where you travel. In rural areas hotels and guesthouses generally would prefer not to register you as it's often too much trouble for them. In the cities, they are stricter. I've also noticed that some smaller guesthouses that aren't normally registered for foreigners will happily take you if you hold an ID such as a Chinese driver's license, but not if all you have is a passport.

 

As for taking a passport on your travels, I would take it if I go to border regions (such as Mangshi in Dehong) or the Vietnamese border town of Hekou, even if I'm not crossing over as there are border patrol police that check documents of all travelers (ID cards for Chinese and passports for foreigners) in both directions, near these places (although going to Mangshi only on the way back). For travel to other rural regions in Yunnan, I wouldn't bother. For travel via air or train, of course I would also bring it along as you're supposed to show a passport even for domestic travel in such cases. Also, for travel to Shanghai and Beijing I would bring one, although likely I'd be traveling by plane to get there hence it's required (except if bringing along a note from the PSB in case you are getting a visa extension done).