证件翻译
Vaccinated abroad, enrolling in a Chinese school: how the immunisation check really works
A child vaccinated abroad enrolling in a Chinese school must go through the immunisation record check. Guangdong CDC's published guidance: overseas records cannot use the online self-service route, so you bring the local record plus the child's ID to an immunisation clinic in person. As for the widely repeated claim that a notarised translation is required — we searched the national Measures, the 2023 Practice Standards and the Guangdong and Beijing guidance, and found no such rule. Sources with links, both routes, two catch-up exceptions, and the timing confusion explained.
Contents
A child vaccinated abroad who is enrolling in a Chinese kindergarten or primary school has to go through 预防接种证查验 — the immunisation record check. Two questions come up constantly: can it be done online, and does the foreign record have to be notarised and translated?
Short answers: records from outside the mainland cannot use the online self-service route, and the claim that a notarised translation is required does not appear in any current published rule we could find.
What Guangdong actually says
The Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention published guidance on 27 August 2024 with a section specifically headed "children vaccinated in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan or abroad". It says (unofficial translation; the Chinese text is authoritative):
Please bring the local immunisation materials and the child's valid identity document to the nearest immunisation clinic for the check to be done in person.
Two things: the local immunisation record and the child's ID. No translation is mentioned, no notarisation, and no particular kind of agency is specified. (Source: https://cdcp.gd.gov.cn/zzzq/jkts/content/mpost_4483923.html)
Why the check exists
The legal basis is Article 48 of the Vaccine Administration Law of the PRC (2019, Presidential Order No. 30): when a child enrols, the nursery or school must check the immunisation certificate, and where required National Immunisation Programme (NIP) vaccines are missing, report to the immunisation unit and help ensure catch-up doses are given.
The implementing rules are the Measures for Checking Immunisation Certificates on Entry to Childcare and School (国卫办疾控发〔2021〕4号), issued on 21 January 2021 by the General Offices of the National Health Commission and the Ministry of Education. They apply nationwide to all childcare institutions, kindergartens and primary schools, covering new enrolment, transfer and mid-term entry. (Source: https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2021-02/09/content_5586296.htm)
Two routes — a foreign record can only use the second
| Record already in the Guangdong system | Vaccinated abroad / HK-Macao-Taiwan | |
|---|---|---|
| How | 粤苗 app or mini-program → school-entry check → download the report yourself | Bring documents to the nearest immunisation clinic, checked in person |
| Visit needed | No | Yes |
粤苗 is Guangdong's official immunisation service platform. An overseas record generally cannot go through it because the child has no immunisation file in the system yet (Guangdong CDC also notes a second situation: a file exists but is incomplete or unlinked). The in-person step is essentially a clinician reading your foreign record and entering it into the system.
Separately, Shenzhen's health commission FAQ states that where the conditions are met the certificate can be self-printed without an additional stamp (http://wjw.sz.gov.cn/ztzl/ymjz/cjwt/content/post_9024769.html). Guangdong CDC's own page makes no general statement about stamping, so follow what your district's clinic and school ask for.
So is a translation required?
This is the part worth being precise about.
We searched the following current documents and none contains a provision about translating an overseas immunisation record:
- 国卫办疾控发〔2021〕4号 — no provision mentioning overseas records or translation
- Guangdong CDC's school-entry guidance of 27 Aug 2024 — asks only for "the local immunisation materials and the child's valid identity document"
- Beijing's municipal plan for the check and catch-up vaccination (2021 version) — likewise no overseas or translation clause (https://wjw.beijing.gov.cn/zwgk_20040/ylws/202107/t20210723_2447484.html)
- The Immunisation Practice Standards (2023 edition) (国疾控综卫免发〔2023〕17号) — a full-text search for 境外 / 国外 / 港澳 / 翻译 / 公证 returns no hits; its section on the school-entry check simply refers back to the Measures above (https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202312/content_6920274.htm)
In other words: among the current published documents we located, none requires an overseas immunisation record to be translated, still less to carry a translation company's seal or be notarised.
Why does the internet say otherwise? Because for these search terms, most of page one is translation companies' own sales pages. That is a vendor claim, not a regulation.
None of which means a translation is useless. In practice a nurse or doctor at the counter has to work out, in a few minutes, which vaccines the child received, which NIP vaccines they correspond to, and which doses are missing. If the record is in German, Spanish or Arabic — or is handwritten English abbreviations like DTaP, MMR, IPV, HepB — that judgement cannot be made if it cannot be read.
So the sensible approach is: prepare a Chinese version so the clinician can read it, not to satisfy a rule. Bring the original, add a line-by-line Chinese rendering of vaccine names, dates and dose numbers, and the visit goes faster. Whether a stamp or notarisation is wanted, ask the specific clinic you are going to — local practice varies, and local requirements govern.
Catch-up doses: only what is missing, with two exceptions
Missing NIP doses need catching up, and the principle is that only the incomplete doses are given — the schedule does not restart. Doses already received abroad are generally not discarded.
Two things not to overlook:
- Some vaccines are not given past a certain age. Under the current schedule, BCG is not given as catch-up to children aged 4 or older.
- Credit depends on there being an acceptable record. Beijing's plan states plainly that no card and no certificate is treated as not vaccinated. Whether an overseas record is accepted, and how gaps are assessed, is the clinic's judgement.
One timing trap: the National Immunisation Programme Childhood Immunisation Schedule (2026 edition) (国疾控卫免发〔2026〕16号) was issued on 17 June 2026, replacing the 2021 edition, with changes to doses and ages (https://www.ndcpa.gov.cn/jbkzzx/c100014/common/content/content_2073005020766703616.html). Much of the catch-up comparison material online still reflects the old edition. Do not calculate your own gap from a table you found by searching — let the clinic assess it against the current schedule.
Timing: parents usually think they are late
The national rule says the check must be completed "within 30 days of the start of term, or of the child's transfer or mid-term entry", with a re-check for catch-up cases before the end of December that year.
What parents actually meet is earlier. Beijing's plan sets 30 September for completing the check and 30 November for the first round of catch-up doses. In Guangzhou, district enrolment plans list the 预防接种证 among the materials to bring at registration, and some schools ask for the check materials at registration or enrolment.
That is not a contradiction — the 30 days is a deadline imposed on schools, not a bar on asking earlier. But it does mean the school's timetable, not the national text, is what you should plan around.
Suggested order of operations
- Ask the school first: what to submit and by when. Names for the document differ by locality but it is the same artefact.
- Gather originals: the local immunisation record plus the child's valid ID (passport, travel document, household register).
- If you can, add a Chinese rendering so the clinic can read the record.
- Go to the nearest immunisation clinic where you live for the in-person check and data entry.
- If doses are missing, follow the clinic's catch-up plan, then collect the result.
Requirements differ by locality — always confirm with the authority handling your case.
