Shanghai at a Glance
Visas and Residence Permits for Shanghai
The Chinese visa application process is lengthy, so plan your stay in advance.
Short-Term Visas
As a foreign employee, executive, or investor, a member of your country’s consulate staff, or an expat spouse living in Shanghai, you are subject to the usual visa regulations for moving to Shanghai. You might use an L visa for tourists and private visitors for a first fact-finding trip to the city to go flat hunting or visit a couple of international schools.
However, as soon as you travel to Shanghai for commercial or academic purposes, an L visa is no longer going to cut it. In this case, you need an F visa, which remains valid for up to six months and requires – among other things – a letter of invitation from your Chinese contacts, a Chinese business organization, academic institution etc.
An F visa is especially suitable for shorter business trips, academic research projects, or extended language-learning holidays. For the exact details of the application process and the mandatory documents, please make an enquiry at the nearest Chinese Embassy or Consulate in your home country.
Long-Term Visa
Most expatriates would like to live and work in China for a couple of years, which is only possible with a so-called Z visa. The application procedure is a lengthy one, and we recommend you to plan your stay in China well in advance.
At first, your future employer needs to obtain an Employment License from the Shanghai Administrative Center for Employment of Foreigners (4F, Meiyuan Lu 77, Shanghai 200070). For this, you need to give the HR department a copy of your valid passport, your up-to-date CV as well as all relevant diplomas and references. Ask them which other documents, such as your police record /clearance, they might require.
After that, your employer-to-be can use this Employment License to get you an official invitation to Shanghai from the Shanghai Foreign Economic Relations & Trade Commission (11F, Loushanguan Lu 55, 200336).
You are going to need these documents – the Employment License and the official invitation – in order to apply for your Z visa. If you want to stay in China for more than six months, please make sure to include a health certificate as well. This health certificate requires chest x-rays, testing for HIV and other STDs, an ECG, and other medical check-ups. Once you have obtained your Z visa, don’t forget to register with the local Shanghai police within 24 hours of your move to Shanghai.
Residence and Work Permits
Within the first 30 days of your stay, you also need to change your visa into a proper Residence Permit for Shanghai, which will be valid for one or several years. In order to do so, you need to get a health certificate from the International Travel Healthcare Center of the Shanghai Exit and Entry Inspection & Quarantine Bureau (15, Jinbang Lu, Changning). If you have undergone the medical exam at home, you only need to take the required documents and their official translations to China to obtain your health certificate there.
Once completed, there is some more bureaucracy waiting for you. Take your employment contract, your Employment License, and your health certificate to the Shanghai Administrative Center for Employment of Foreigners (4F, Meiyuan Lu 77, Shanghai 200070). They will now issue your Alien Employment Permit (colloquially sometimes referred to as employment registration or employment card).
Residence Permit Applications
Go to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau Exit-Entry Administration (Minsheng Lu 1500, Pudong, Shanghai 200135) and bring along the following:
- completed application form
- passport
- two passport photographs
- Alien Employment Permit
- health certificate
- Police registration
- letter of application from your Shanghai company
- business license of your Shanghai company (copy)
- Enterprises Code Certificate of your Shanghai company (copy)
When you finally have your Shanghai residence permit, go to the police and re-register with your changed residence status. If you need some support along the way, there are several institutions you might ask for advice: the Chinese embassy or consulate back home; your new company’s HR department; your general consulate in Shanghai; the Shanghai branch of your national Chamber of Industry and Commerce, or a commercial visa / relocation agency.
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