OlaChina

Your First Month Working in China: A Checklist

Jobs
Jul 5, 2026
Narrow residential lane in a Chinese city, evoking the settling-in of your first month working in China

Your first month working in China moves fast, and it runs almost entirely on deadlines. You land with a Z visa in your passport, a job waiting, and a stack of tasks that each carry a legal clock. Miss one, and the next stalls. So this checklist walks the first thirty days roughly in the order they actually happen: register where you sleep, pass a health check, collect your work permit card, convert your visa into a residence permit, then set up the everyday things — a bank account, a phone number, mobile payment, and a proper lease. Follow the sequence, and the paperwork stays boring instead of scary.

Why Your First Month Working in China Runs on Deadlines

Two rules set the pace. First, you must register your address within 24 hours of arriving. Second, you must apply for your residence permit within 30 days of entry. Both are legal obligations under the Exit and Entry Administration Law, not friendly suggestions (Exit and Entry Administration Law, 2013). Everything else — the bank, the SIM, the lease — hangs off those two anchors.

Here is the honest part. Your employer or a relocation agent will handle some steps for you, especially the work permit. Others you do alone. Knowing which is which saves a lot of confusion in your first month working in China. So treat the list below as your map, and keep every receipt, stamp, and form. The paper you were handed last week is often the paper the next counter demands.

Step 1: Register Your Address Within 24 Hours

This is the very first clock, and it starts the moment you arrive. Every foreigner must complete temporary residence registration with the local police within 24 hours (Exit and Entry Administration Law, 2013). Where you sleep decides who does it.

  • In a hotel: reception registers you automatically at check-in. Nothing to do — but ask for a printed copy.
  • Renting or staying with a friend: you must go in person to the neighbourhood police station (派出所) within 24 hours, or up to 72 hours in some rural areas.

Bring your passport, your entry stamp, and your lease or your host’s household register (户口簿). The station issues a Registration Form of Temporary Residence. Guard it. You will need it for the residence permit, the bank, and any later visa work. For the full walkthrough, see our guide to temporary residence registration in China. Skipping this step can bring a warning or a fine, so do it before you unpack.

Step 2: Pass the Mandatory Health Check (体检)

Next comes the medical. If your residence permit will run longer than a year, you need a Health Certificate for overseas personnel, issued by an official international travel healthcare centre (国际旅行卫生保健中心) run by customs and quarantine (National Immigration Administration, 2022). A clinic report from home will not be accepted.

The exam is routine but thorough: blood tests, a chest X-ray, an ECG, blood pressure, and a general check. It screens for serious infectious disease. Go early in the morning, fasting, and bring your passport plus passport photos. Results usually take a few working days, and the certificate stays valid for six months. Because the work permit and residence permit both lean on this document, book it in your first week. If you want context on where these centres sit in the wider system, our overview of China’s good hospitals and where foreigners go helps you tell a travel healthcare centre apart from a regular hospital.

Step 3: Collect Your Foreigner’s Work Permit Card

This step is employer-led, which is a relief. After you enter on the Z visa, your company files for the Foreigner’s Work Permit online, usually within 15 days of your arrival. You mostly supply documents and your fingerprints. The output is a physical Work Permit card carrying your unique permit number — the number that identifies you as a legal worker for everything that follows.

Stay involved even though HR drives it. Check that the name, passport number, and job title match your reality exactly. A typo here echoes into your residence permit and your tax records. And a plain warning worth repeating: this card exists because you may only work on a Z (or R/K) visa plus a work permit and residence permit. Doing a job on an L tourist or M business visa is illegal and actively enforced. There is no shortcut around it.

Step 4: Apply for the Residence Permit Within 30 Days

This is the big one, and it is the second legal deadline. Within 30 days of entering China, you must apply for a work-type residence permit at the exit-entry administration bureau of the local Public Security Bureau — the PSB (Exit and Entry Administration Law, 2013). The residence permit then replaces your single-entry Z visa and becomes your real long-stay status, valid for one to five years.

By now you can see why order matters. The PSB counter typically wants your passport, the registration form from Step 1, the health certificate from Step 2, the work permit from Step 3, plus your employer’s letter and a photo. That is four earlier steps feeding into one. The bureau keeps your passport for about a week while it prints the permit. To see how the whole sequence connects, our explainer on the Z visa to work permit to residence permit chain lays the links out end to end.

Step 5: Open a Chinese Bank Account

With the residence permit in hand, the everyday setup gets easier. Salary needs somewhere to land, so a local bank account comes next. You have to open it in person — remote setup is not an option for most branches.

Bring the core pack: your passport, your residence permit, and, in most cases, a Chinese mobile number already active (which is why Step 6 often overlaps here). Some branches also ask for your employment letter or proof of address. Pick a large bank near your office or home, and, if you can, take a Chinese-speaking colleague. The name on the account must match your passport exactly. Once open, you get a UnionPay debit card — the key that unlocks mobile payment.

Step 6: Get a Real-Name SIM and Set Up Mobile Payment

Daily life in China is a phone number and a QR code. Both need care to set up cleanly, so treat them as one task.

China requires real-name registration for every SIM, meaning your passport links to your number. So buy from an official China Mobile, China Unicom, or China Telecom store — not a street reseller — and bring your passport. With a number active, install WeChat and Alipay, then link your new UnionPay bank card inside each app. That turns your phone into a wallet that works almost everywhere, from the metro to the noodle stall.

Foreign Visa and Mastercard cards can also be linked directly now, which is handy in the gap before your Chinese card arrives. Either way, our guide on how to pay in China covers the setup, limits, and small fees in detail. Get this working and the city suddenly feels usable.

Step 7: Sort Out Housing and Your Lease

Housing threads through the whole month, because your address underpins both the registration in Step 1 and the residence permit in Step 4. If your employer arranged temporary housing, use those weeks to find a permanent place calmly.

A few lease basics keep you safe:

  • Get a written contract in both Chinese and, ideally, English, with rent, deposit, and term spelled out.
  • Check the landlord owns the flat — ask to see the property certificate against their ID.
  • Confirm they will register you or provide the documents your police station needs.
  • Deposits usually run one to three months; get the amount and return terms in writing.
  • Re-register within 24 hours of moving — a new address means a new registration form.

That last point catches people out. Every time you change address, the 24-hour clock resets. Keep the habit, and your record stays clean for renewals later.

Where Your First Month Working in China Fits in the Journey

Your first month working in China is the arrival chapter of a longer story. Here is what comes before and after:

Frequently Asked Questions

What must I do first in my first month working in China?

Register your address within 24 hours of arrival. A hotel does it for you at check-in; if you rent or stay with a friend, go to the local police station yourself. It is a legal requirement and the base for everything else.

How long do I have to apply for the residence permit?

Thirty days from your date of entry. You apply at the exit-entry bureau of the local Public Security Bureau, using your registration form, health certificate, and work permit. Missing this deadline can affect your legal status, so do not leave it late.

Do I really need the health check?

Yes, for a residence permit valid over one year. It must be done at an official international travel healthcare centre in China; a report from your home country is not accepted. Book it in your first week, since the work and residence permits both depend on it.

Can I open a bank account early in my first month working in China?

Usually not smoothly. Most banks want your residence permit plus a Chinese phone number, so opening an account is easier once Step 4 is done. Bring your passport, residence permit, and employment letter, and open it in person.

Which parts of the first month working in China does my employer handle?

Mainly the Foreigner’s Work Permit, which HR files online within about 15 days. Your employer often helps with the health check and residence permit too. During your first month working in China, registration, the bank account, your SIM, and the lease are usually on you.

References