UPDATE (20/03/2008): Because of the Olympics, the government has cracked down hard on immigration and as a result if you don’t get your permit right away within the 24 hour window, you will get fined. Even if you still live at the same place, you’re supposed to do it. I didn’t realize this and got screwed, funny thing is, I asked the cops and they said that unless you really need to get the TRP form for something specific (ie. permanent residence permit for school visa, z-visa, etc), you don’t really need to get one at all. So if you’re just a tourist, or you’re living here on an f-visa, it doesn’t really matter. Just don’t get arrested doin something bad.

I must apologize for a little post I wrote a while back about the medical test you need to take for your visa, and how it should be the first thing you do. As it turns out I was talking smack. The first thing you should you need to get on what will seem like an eternal quest to acquire legal status in China is the temporary residence permit. It may also be called simply the residence permit. I like to think of it as the legitamizer. Legally, you need get this within 24 hours of moving to your new residence in China. Illegally you don’t need to do a damn thing, hell you could go take a dump on a portrait of Mao if you’re the thrill seeking type.

My knowledge of this elusive little pink piece of papier chiffon was amiss, not unlike most of my other thoughts. I went to the university registrar to check out how my health examination went and forge ahead with the visa application. The test showed that I was healthy but in rapid decline as was normal for those new to mandarin air quality. They then told me I needed this so-called residence permit because I wasn’t living on campus. From what I’ve been told through highly unreliable sources, in normal cases your company or school get this done for you (although you may want to double check on that to be safe). So I had been presented with yet another mission. I set forth immediately to claim my queerly coloured proof of property proprietorship. Little did I know the lovely prizes that awaited those who had failed to get the form within the 24-hour window. Criminal charges, fingerprints, and a 1000RMB fine. Yes those can all be yours for not getting the form done right away.

Ironically (isn’t everything in China?) this is the easiest step of getting a visa, all you have to do is go to the local police station nearest your dwelling, bringing with you a copy of your tenancy agreement and passport (always make the photocopies yourself, never expect them to do it for you because they will only laugh at your pompousness for thinking that you could use the brand new photocopier that’s sitting behind them), as well as the originals and they fill a form out for you and stamp it. My case was different. It was special. Because I had been illegally residing in the city of Qingdao for a month now, I got to take a trip to the back of the office. The office had about two or three other officers sitting in the room all smoking like the chimneys outside and glaring at me just like I had walked into a scene of a John Woo flick. I then met what seemed to be the boss in charge of these types affairs, as he was sitting behind the largest desk at the end of the room. We proceeded to go through what I needed and what I did wrong. He also explained to me what the penalties were. Now I don’t know how things work normally, but I do know this is China, and I know that rules here are like turns on an F1 circuit. They may be tough, but you get points for getting around them as fast as you can.

I quickly reached into my invisible backpack I keep on me and put on my weepy ignorant foreigner hat, apologizing but also staying firm on the fact that I had no idea I needed to get this stuff right away. No one told me I needed to get it, not the rental agent, my landlord or even the school until now. This was the honest truth. I was doing this all in my broken “diligent Chinese student” Chinese. The boss seemed to appreciate this, and the fact that there was a cop who translated the few…Ok, FINE…everything I didn’t understand also helped out. Things seemed to be going well. Then he noticed I was Canadian. He was suddenly taken aback. “Oh you’re a Canadian are you? Well just hold on a minute there, I need to make a phone call.” After talking a bit on the phone much faster than I could understand, and his friend cared to translate, he told me to take the phone. On the other end was what I gather was either his wife or his friend’s wife. She explained to me that she really liked Canadians because her English teacher was one and he was just a swell guy. Saved. To make short this little experience, the boss told me not to do it again, not to have any wild parties in my apartment without inviting him and if I accommodated any other foreigners and they try and pull this same stunt they would wind up as organ donors.

To summarize, if you are moving to China, when you get here after getting your tenancy forms, make sure you get your temp residence permit right away. Yes things went well for me, but remember, I have a horseshoe stuck up my ass, and I killed the only man who could do that for you with my bare hands.

Filed under: quick guides