Accommodation Registration for Foreigners in China: the 24-Hour Rule, the 2026 Online Pilot in Seven Provinces, and the Slip Guangzhou Puts at Item 4

If you stay in a hotel, registration is the hotel's job. If you stay anywhere else, it is yours or that of the person putting you up — and you have twenty-four hours. Those two sentences are the two paragraphs of a single article. The duty falls on completely different people; the penalty sits in the same place.

From 20 March 2026 the National Immigration Administration has been piloting online accommodation registration for foreigners staying outside hotels in seven provincial-level regions, and on the list printed in that announcement, Guangdong is not one of them; at a press conference on 10 July 2026 the NIA said the service will be rolled out nationwide step by step. In Guangzhou, meanwhile, this slip is not something a counter "may ask you for": it is fixed item 4 on the materials list of the city's visa and residence-permit service guides.

This article is about foreigners only. Article 89 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law defines a foreigner as "a person without Chinese nationality". We have not researched the rules for residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and they are outside the scope of this piece — the Guangzhou guides call the form the Registration Form of Temporary Residence for Overseas Personnel, a name that takes them in as well, so ask 12367 or your local police station about the details.

This is not legal advice. We are a translation company, not a law firm; every point below carries its source and a link so that you can go back and check it yourself. For anything involving penalties, detention or exit and entry restrictions, see a practising lawyer.

1. Find your row first

One person can be in several rows at once — someone renting a flat and working in Guangzhou is in rows 2, 5 and 6. Every cell is unpacked in a section below; the authority is in the last column.

Where you are staying	Who registers	When	Authority
A hotel (premises in the business of accommodating travellers)	The hotel registers you and submits the information to the local public security organ	Where the guest is from outside the mainland, the registration form goes to the local public security organ within 24 hours	Exit and Entry Administration Law, article 39(1); Measures for Security Administration of the Hotel Industry, article 6
A domicile other than a hotel (a friend's home, a relative's home, a rented flat, a dormitory)	You in person, or the person who accommodates you	Within 24 hours after arrival	Exit and Entry Administration Law, article 39(2)
In Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing or Sichuan, staying outside a hotel	The same two people, but it can be done online on the NIA platform; the host assists the first time, with two exceptions	The same	Announcement No. 1 of 2026; Policy Interpretation, questions III and V
Already registered, returning to your self-owned or habitual residence after travelling inside or outside China	Under question IV of the Policy Interpretation, no re-registration is required	——	Policy Interpretation, question IV (scope discussed in section 6)
Applying in Guangzhou for a visa extension or change, or for a residence permit	What you hand in is the form "valid in this city" (the stay-permit guide says "valid in Guangzhou")	When you file	Guangzhou PSB service guides, materials list item 4

2. The text: one article, two paragraphs, two different duty-holders

Article 39 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China has 2 paragraphs, 1 sentence each. This is the National Immigration Administration's official English text:

Where foreigners stay in hotels in China, the hotels shall register their accommodation in accordance with the regulations on the public security administration of the hotel industry, and submit foreigners' accommodation registration information to the public security organs in the places where the hotels are located.

For foreigners who reside or stay in domiciles other than hotels, they or the persons who accommodate them shall, within 24 hours after the foreigners' arrival, go through the registration formalities with the public security organs in the places of residence.

The difference between the two paragraphs is not only the place. It is the duty-holder: the first paragraph puts the duty on the hotel, so after you hand your passport to the front desk what follows is what the hotel shall do — note that the text says "shall", not "will", and section 8 covers what happens when it does not; in the second it is "they or the persons who accommodate them", and no third party backstops you.

Two things in the first paragraph are easy to miss. First, the hotel owes two separate duties: to "register their accommodation" and to "submit foreigners' accommodation registration information" — and the second paragraph of article 76 punishes those two failures separately, as quoted in section 8. Second, the first paragraph routes the manner of registration to "the regulations on the public security administration of the hotel industry", and that body of rules has a twenty-four-hour clock of its own, also in section 8.

The official English above keeps the same two-paragraph split as the Chinese. Wherever an official English version exists this article quotes it rather than translating; where none exists we say so at that point and give our own working translation. In both language versions the Chinese text governs.

3. When the twenty-four hours start running

The text says "within 24 hours after the foreigners' arrival". The moment it refers to is not defined — not landing time, not arriving in the city, not signing the lease. We counted through the Exit and Entry Administration Law: the Chinese word appears only in this one place; and neither the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners, nor Announcement No. 1 of 2026, nor the Policy Interpretation defines it.

A difference between the two texts is worth flagging here. The Chinese word is 入住 — taking up the accommodation, checking in. The National Immigration Administration's official English renders it as "after the foreigners' arrival". Those are not the same word: "arrival" reads like landing, 入住 is moving in. Neither text defines it, so taking the earlier of the two is the safer reading for you.

Two things follow:

Do not treat twenty-four hours as something to be calculated to the minute. Arrive today, register today is the version that needs no explaining; if you land late at night or on a public holiday and simply cannot do it that day, see the last paragraph of section 7.
Twenty-four hours is the only deadline inside article 39(2). But other clocks are running elsewhere in the same Law, and they are not the same clock: article 30(1) says that where the visa held specifies that a residence permit is to be applied for after entry, the application shall be made "within thirty days from the date of entry"; article 32 says an application to extend the period of residence shall be made "thirty days before the expiry" of the residence permit; and article 40(1) says that for a foreign infant born in China the parents or an agent shall go through stay or residence registration within 60 days of the birth. Doing the accommodation registration does not do any of those.

One more point about texts rather than clocks: the Regulations on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners say nothing at all about accommodation registration. The governing rule is article 39 of the Law; the Regulations deal with the issuing of visas and of stay and residence permits, with administration of stay and residence, and with investigation and repatriation. We read the Regulations through, all thirty-nine articles, and the words do not appear — that is the result of our search of that one text, not an assertion about every regulation in force.

4. Who counts as "the person who accommodates you"

Article 39(2) puts the duty on two subjects, you and the person who accommodates you, but the Law itself does not define that second person, and the term appears nowhere else in it. In question III of its Policy Interpretation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels, dated 20 March 2026, the National Immigration Administration added one line (1 sentence):

The accommodation host may be either a Chinese citizen or a foreigner.

The same question contains this passage (3 sentences in the official English and 3 in the Chinese, about who may do the filing online):

Accommodation registration may be completed online either by the foreigners who reside or stay in domiciles or by the persons who accommodate them. Considering that accommodation hosts are generally more familiar with the information regarding the residence, the initial registration should be completed with their assistance to ensure the accuracy of the registration information. Under the following circumstances, the foreigners may go through the registration formalities independently: where the foreigners have previously gone through the registration formalities through the NIA Government Service Platform and need to register again at the same residence; where the foreigners reside at a self-owned residence.

Read that passage to the end: "the initial registration should be completed with their assistance" is immediately followed by two exceptions — registering again at the same residence, and living in a self-owned residence, in both of which the foreigner may file alone. Someone living in a home they own does not need to find a host for this step.

Note also what the passage is limited to: it is about online filing, and "the initial registration should be completed with their assistance" is an operating rule of that platform, not a re-allocation of the duty in article 39. The Law still reads "they or the persons who accommodate them" — both are in range, and either one can be penalised for a failure to register (the penalty text is quoted in section 10).

This holds for anyone staying in a friend's home, a rented flat, a company dormitory or a student dormitory. Which of you goes is something you and your host work out between you; the consequence of nobody going does not disappear because you discussed it. We do not allocate responsibility between the two of you, and we would not assume the other person is handling it.

5. What changed on 20 March 2026: online filing, in seven places only

The operative sentence of the National Immigration Administration's Announcement No. 1 of 2026 (dated 20 March 2026) is this one (1 sentence):

To further enhance the convenience for foreigners in China and facilitate accommodation registration for those residing or staying in domiciles other than hotels, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) will, starting from March 20, 2026, pilot on online accommodation registration service in seven provincial-level regions: Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing, and Sichuan — and will gradually roll out the service nationwide based on the progress of the pilot program.

Two more sentences from the second paragraph of the same announcement have to be read together with it (2 sentences; the paragraph opens with one more, listing the four online channels, which is set out just below):

To fulfill the needs of different groups, the offline channel for accommodation registration at local public security organs will remain available. Online registration has the same legal effect as registration completed on site.

The four online channels are the NIA Government official website, the "NIA 12367" App, the "NIA 12367" WeChat mini program and the Alipay mini program. Question VI of the Policy Interpretation states that anyone in difficulty may call the NIA 12367 hotline, or go to the exit-entry administration service windows of the local public security organs or to local police stations for help registering on site.

Guangdong is not among those seven. The Chinese announcement reads "Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan and other 7 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities)" — the open-ended "and other" is followed by the exact figure 7, and exactly seven are listed, so this is a list you can count.

Will the list change? At the National Immigration Administration's regular press conference on 10 July 2026, the China Media Group reporter asked precisely whether the pilot would be extended to more provinces. The last two sentences of the answer given by Lin Yongsheng, NIA spokesperson and Director-General of the Department of Policy and Regulations, were (2 sentences; the transcript is in Chinese only, and the rendering below is our working translation):

Since the pilot began the system has run smoothly and accommodation registration for foreigners has become more convenient and orderly. Going forward, the National Immigration Administration will give equal weight to administration and service and will roll out online accommodation registration for foreigners nationwide step by step, providing more efficient and convenient government services to foreigners working, studying and living in China.

Note that this is a statement at a press conference, not an announcement changing the list. As of 15 September 2026, when this article was written, we went through the listing page of the "Immigration Administration News" column of the NIA website — the column in which Announcement No. 1 of 2026 itself sits — from today's newest entry back to April, and found no later announcement changing those seven provinces. If you are reading this later, go by the most recent announcement you can find.

6. When you do not have to register again

Question IV of the Policy Interpretation gives two situations in which re-registration is not required (1 sentence):

For foreigners who reside or stay in domiciles other than hotels and have already gone through the registration formalities after arrival in accordance with the relevant regulations, re-registration is not required under the following circumstances: where foreigners reside at their own residences within China and return to the same residences after traveling within or outside China; where foreigners holding residence permits or permanent residence permits reside at their habitual residence in China and return to the same residences after traveling within or outside China during the validity period of the same permit.

The same question defines both terms (2 sentences in the Chinese and 3 sentences in the official English, which puts the reference to the Regulations in a sentence of its own; the split is the English text's own):

A self-owned residence refers to a residence owned by the foreigner or his/her spouse within China. A habitual residence refers to a residence where the foreigner resides or plans to reside in China for a long term. According to Article 36 of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners, "long term" refers to residing in China for a period exceeding 180 days.

The structure is one common precondition plus two alternative limbs — you need the precondition and either one of the limbs:

The common precondition: "have already gone through the registration formalities after arrival". The first registration still has to happen. What this question waives is the repeat, not the first one.
Limb one (self-owned residence): a residence owned by the foreigner or their spouse, returned to after travel inside or outside China. A rented flat is not inside that definition.
Limb two (habitual residence): this one adds two further conditions, holding a residence permit or permanent residence permit, and "during the validity period of the same permit". A new permit restarts the clock on this limb.

Two things to be clear about. First, scope: this question appears in the interpretation of the online filing policy. It does not say it applies only in the seven pilot regions, and it does not say it applies to offline filing nationwide either. We are not going to make that call for an accepting authority — if your city is off the pilot list and you want to rely on this, call 12367 or ask your local police station first. Second, do not merge two different things: "re-registration is not required" means you do not have to make the trip and declare again. It does not say that you need not hand in the form when you apply for a visa or a residence permit. What the Guangzhou counter wants is item 4 on its materials list, which is a different matter; see section 9.

7. At the counter: which window, what to bring, and what happens if your papers are short

Where to go first. Besides the police station there are two other places. The National Immigration Administration's reply to comments from foreign internet users, published on the Chinese government's portal on 16 July 2025, says (1 sentence; the page is in Chinese only and the rendering below is our working translation):

At present, foreigners who reside or stay in domiciles other than hotels may, besides going to a public security police station to register their accommodation, also make the declaration at the community policing office or the foreigner service station of their locality.

Another sentence in the same reply explains where the 2026 pilot came from (1 sentence; our working translation):

The National Immigration Administration is developing a nationwide online platform for foreigners' accommodation registration, improving the way registrations are declared and making life in China more convenient for foreigners.

The seven pilot regions in section 5 are that sentence landing, in March 2026. The same reply also mentions that Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan, Chongqing "and other places" have introduced online self-service accommodation registration for overseas personnel — "and other places" is an open-ended list, and the reply does not say whether Guangdong and Guangzhou are inside it.

Now what to bring. The authority for this is not in the Law but in a ministerial document: the Ministry of Public Security's Measures for the Administration of Accommodation Registration of Foreigners by Public Security Police Stations (Trial) (Gong Tong Zi [2007] No. 69, issued 31 October 2007; article 18 of the Measures puts them on trial from 1 January 2008). State the premise first: article 1 of these Measures gives their basis as the Law of the People's Republic of China on Control of the Entry and Exit of Aliens and its implementing rules — that Law was superseded by the Exit and Entry Administration Law passed in 2012, and those implementing rules were expressly repealed by article 39 of the Regulations on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners. We have not found a document in which the Ministry of Public Security repealed these 2007 Measures, and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government website still carries them under "Personal Zone — Exit and Entry Affairs — Accommodation Registration — National Documents" (page dated 26 August 2024). So treat the next two provisions as a guide to what happens at the counter, not as a conclusion about what is currently in force; the police station you go to governs.

Article 4 of those Measures has 2 paragraphs, 1 sentence each (Chinese only; our working translation):

When accommodation registration for a foreigner is handled, the police officers of the public security police station shall examine the foreigner's passport or other identity document.

Where an individual or institution accommodating the foreigner declares the accommodation registration on their behalf, the valid identity document or the institutional certificate of the person declaring shall be examined at the same time.

So what article 4 says you bring is a passport or other identity document; and if your host or an institution goes for you, that person also brings their own valid identity document or an institutional certificate. The text does not say to bring a title deed or a tenancy agreement, and it does not say one cannot be asked for either — article 5(2) leaves room for material that "does not conform to the requirements", so what your locality asks for is for your locality to say, and a phone call before you set out is the cheapest way to find out.

Article 5 of those Measures has 2 paragraphs, 1 sentence each (Chinese only; our working translation), and the second paragraph is the one worth remembering:

Where the supporting material provided by the declarant is true and complete, the declarant shall fill in the Foreigner's Accommodation Registration Form (specimen attached) on the spot.

Where the material provided by the declarant does not conform to the requirements, registration shall be effected first and the declarant shall be told on the spot what further material to supply.

"Registration shall be effected first" means incomplete papers are not a reason not to register you. Three further provisions, in passing: registration is handled by the household registration room of the police station, and in areas where foreigners live in concentration it may be handled at a community policing office (article 3); where a foreigner leaves the station's area to stay elsewhere, the station cancels the Foreigner's Accommodation Registration Form and notes the intended destination in the remarks column (article 8) — which is the counter-level version of item 9 in section 11; and the specimen of the Form is laid down uniformly by the Ministry of Public Security (article 16).

When it is done, keep that slip and photograph it. Section 9 explains that the Guangzhou counter asks for it off a materials list; and for anyone filing online in the seven pilot regions, question II of the Policy Interpretation says that once it is done you can click "Registration Record Inquiry" and see your own registration record. Whether there is an equivalent lookup outside the pilot regions we have found no public statement on — which is all the more reason to keep the paper one.

Finally, opening hours. A household registration room is not a 24-hour counter, hours differ from place to place, and we have found no uniform rule on them. If you arrive late on a Friday night or on the first day of a holiday: first leave a trace of when you arrived (a boarding pass, a train ticket, a hotel check-in record, a chat with your landlord all count), then first thing the next day call 12367 or your local police station to ask what to do that day, and write down the answer including who you spoke to and when. Note that 12367 is as far as we can take you: question VI of the Policy Interpretation and the 2025 reply both list it as a channel for enquiries, and the 2025 reply also gives the mailbox 12367@nia.gov.cn, but on the languages that hotline serves and the hours it keeps we have found no public statement.

8. The hotel paragraph: the Law routes it to another set of rules

Article 39(1) does not itself say how a hotel registers you. It says "in accordance with the regulations on the public security administration of the hotel industry". Those are the Measures for Security Administration of the Hotel Industry (approved by the State Council on 23 September 1987 and issued by the Ministry of Public Security on 10 November 1987, revised in 2011 and again in 2020; the text in force is on the Ministry of Justice's national administrative regulations database).

First, who they cover. Article 2 is 1 sentence (Chinese only; our working translation):

All hotels, restaurants, guesthouses, hostels, inns for goods and passengers, cart-and-horse inns, bathhouses and the like that are in the business of accommodating travellers (hereinafter collectively "hotels") must comply with these Measures, whether state-run, collectively run, run as a partnership, individually run or foreign-invested, whether the business is exclusive or a sideline, and whether it operates year-round or seasonally.

That article helps with "is the guesthouse I booked a hotel", but it cannot give you a definite answer: the definition turns on being in the business of accommodating travellers "and the like", and it expressly takes in individually run, sideline and seasonal operations — but it names no short-let, no homestay and no platform. Whether the place you are staying in is carrying on the hotel trade is not something we can determine, and probably not something you can either. There is one observable difference: did somebody at a front desk take your passport and register the prescribed particulars? If so, that night almost certainly ran under paragraph 1; if nobody ever asked for your passport and you simply received a door code, treat yourself as being under paragraph 2 and go and register within twenty-four hours. Registering once too often does no harm; missing it does.

Second, their deadline. Article 6 is 3 sentences (Chinese only; our working translation):

A hotel must register the travellers it accommodates. At the time of registration it shall examine the traveller's identity document and truthfully register the prescribed particulars. Where it accommodates a traveller from outside the mainland, it shall additionally submit the accommodation registration form to the local public security organ within 24 hours.

So there is a twenty-four-hour clock on the hotel side too — but it runs on the submission, and the duty-holder is the hotel, not you.

And the slip itself? The Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department's Q&A library carries an answer published on 27 June 2023 to the question "Where can I download the Registration Form of Temporary Residence for Overseas Personnel?" The answer has three parts: a greeting, a restatement of article 39, and the substantive reply. That reply is 1 sentence (Chinese only; our working translation):

If you are staying in a hotel, the hotel issues you the Registration Form of Temporary Residence for Overseas Personnel; if you are living somewhere other than a hotel, it is issued by the police station for the area where you live.

That is a Guangdong answer and other provinces may put it differently. But it settles one thing: in Guangdong the form is issued by the hotel or by the police station; it is not something the applicant supplies.

If the hotel fails to register you, or registers you but does not submit the information, the hotel is the one punished. Article 76(2) of the Exit and Entry Administration Law is 1 sentence:

Hotels that fail to process accommodation registration for foreigners shall be punished in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security; hotels that fail to submit foreigners' accommodation registration information to public security organs shall be given a warning; where circumstances are serious, such hotels shall be fined not less than RMB 1,000 yuan but not more than RMB 5,000 yuan.

The Law on Penalties for Administration of Public Security that the first half points to is the text revised on 27 June 2025 by the Sixteenth Session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress and in force from 1 January 2026 (article 144 of that law). In the text now in force, hotel registration is dealt with in article 67. That article has 3 paragraphs; the first has 1 sentence and is the only one quoted here. The second deals with the same conduct where it obstructs counter-terrorism work, in which case the Counter-Terrorism Law applies; the third lists three "knows and does not stop or report" situations (dangerous substances brought into the accommodation area, a guest who is a criminal suspect or wanted by the police, a guest using the hotel to commit crimes). There is no official English text of this law that we have found, so the following is our working translation and the Chinese governs:

Where a person engaged in hotel business operations fails to register guests' names, types and numbers of valid identity documents and other such information as required, or provides accommodation services to a person whose identity is unclear or who refuses to have their identity information registered, the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be fined not less than RMB 500 yuan but not more than RMB 1,000 yuan; where the circumstances are minor, a warning or a fine of not more than RMB 500 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 17 of the hotel-industry Measures joins up the same way: a breach of their article 6 is punished against the persons concerned under the relevant provisions of the Law on Penalties for Administration of Public Security.

Two details. First, that paragraph of article 67 fines "the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel" — it lands on people; but the fine of 1,000 to 5,000 yuan in the paragraph above it is written in the Exit and Entry Administration Law against the hotel. Second, "not less than 500 yuan but not more than 1,000 yuan" includes both endpoints: article 143 of that law provides expressly that 以上 ("not less than"), 以下 ("not more than") and 以内 ("within") as used in it include the stated figure.

The useful sentence for you: ask the front desk for the registration form before you check out. Whether you will need it is the next section.

9. Who asks for this slip later

The national position is set out in item 19, "Accommodation Registration", of the National Immigration Administration's Notice on Application for Visas and Certificates by Foreigners. It is 2 sentences (Chinese only; our working translation):

Foreigners shall go through accommodation registration in accordance with the provisions of the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China. When accepting a foreigner's application for a visa or certificate, the exit-entry administration of a public security organ may require the applicant to provide proof of accommodation registration in China.

Note the wording: "may require".

Guangzhou is firmer. The Guangzhou Public Security Bureau's page "Exit-Entry Service Points and Service Guides" (page timestamp 6 September 2026) carries ten attachments under the heading "service guides for foreigners' exit-entry business". We opened and counted three of them, covering visas, residence permits and stay permits:

Attachment	Guides inside it	Position of the registration form on the materials list	Name of the form
Foreigners' ordinary visa applications (C, F, G, J2, L, M, Q2, R, S2, X2)	10	Item 4	Registration Form of Temporary Residence for Overseas Personnel, valid in this city
Foreigners' residence permit applications (family reunion, study, work, private affairs, journalist)	5	Item 4	Registration Form of Temporary Residence for Overseas Personnel, valid in this city
Foreigners' stay permit applications (covering application, renewal and reissuance)	1	Item 4 for application, item 3 for reissuance	Foreigner's Accommodation Registration Form, valid in Guangzhou

So in Guangzhou this slip is not something that "may be required". It is a fixed material that every one of those sixteen guides asks for: fifteen of them put it at item 4; inside the stay-permit attachment, "application" puts it at item 4 and "reissuance" at item 3 (reissuance drops the passport-copy item, so the whole list moves up one), while "renewal" says to follow the application requirements. Item 4 of the materials list in the work-category residence permit guide reads as follows — a line on a materials list, not a sentence, and our working translation of the Chinese:

Registration Form of Temporary Residence for Overseas Personnel, valid in this city;

Items 1 to 3 of the same list are the passport and visa, originals and copies; a completed Visa and Certificate Application Form for Foreigners; and a Guangdong Province exit-entry digital photograph with its inspection receipt. Item 5 reads "Health Certificate issued by the Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau", with a parenthesis reading "submitted when applying for a residence permit for the first time; not required for those aged 70 or above" — we have written separately about that one, linked at the end.

Three details that have to be spelled out:

Watch how current these guides are. The "Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau" in the line just quoted, and the Alien Employment Permit and Foreign Expert Certificate still listed in the work-category guide, are all old names. The guides read that way and we quote them as they are; but what the counter asks for on the day governs.
The form goes under two different names inside one city's own documents. We counted: across those three attachments "Registration Form of Temporary Residence for Overseas Personnel" appears 21 times and "Foreigner's Accommodation Registration Form" 4 times. Those 4 break down as: twice in the stay-permit attachment, once in the visa attachment (Q2 visa, material 7) and once in the residence-permit attachment (family reunion, material 7(5)) — the last two both in the same slot, where the person being visited holds a Permanent Residence Permit and the permit was issued elsewhere. Whether the two names are the same form we have found no public document explaining, so if a counter asks, go by what that authority says.
"Valid in this city" is not defined anywhere in the guides. How long it stays valid, whether a change of address ends it, whether a hotel-issued slip can be used for a certificate application — none of that is written down. This one goes by the accepting authority's own position; do not reason it out yourself. Call 12367, or ask the counter where you will be filing.

While we are here: the same materials lists contain something that is also about registration but is a completely different thing — the receiving entity has to file online in the system for entities that deal with foreigners. That is the entity's filing, not your accommodation registration. There are more than these two systems with "registration" and "filing" in their names, and we have taken them apart in a separate piece.

10. What happens if you did not register, or missed the twenty-four hours

The penalty is in article 76(1) of the Exit and Entry Administration Law. That paragraph lists items (1) to (6), 6 items in all; quoted here are the opening line and item (6). The other five cover refusing to accept examination of exit/entry documents by public security organs, refusing to submit a residence permit for examination, failing to go through birth registration or death declaration for a foreigner, failing to alter the registration when a registered item on a residence permit changes, and a foreigner in China using someone else's exit/entry documents. The opening line ends in a colon and item (6) hangs beneath it; together they are 1 sentence:

Under any of the following circumstances, a warning shall be given, and a fine of not more than RMB 2,000 yuan may also be imposed:

(6) Persons concerned fail to go through registration formalities in accordance with the provisions in the second paragraph of Article 39 of this Law.

Four points about that.

First, it is "a warning shall be given, and a fine ... may also be imposed", not shall be imposed. The fine is discretionary; the warning is not.

Second, item (6) has no subject in the Chinese text. The official English supplies "Persons concerned". For the actual duty-holder you have to go back to article 39(2), which reads "they or the persons who accommodate them". Question VII of the Policy Interpretation says it more plainly (1 sentence):

According to Article 76 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, foreigners or their accommodation hosts who fail to process accommodation registration in accordance with the relevant regulations shall be given a warning and may also be subject to a fine.

One discrepancy worth flagging: that sentence drops the ceiling on the fine, saying only "may also be subject to a fine", where the Law says "not more than RMB 2,000 yuan". The Law governs.

Third, failing to register is not the same thing as illegal residence — but do not treat it as a sealed little box either. Illegal residence is in article 78(1), where foreigners who reside in China illegally "shall be given a warning; where circumstances are serious, they shall be imposed with a fine of RMB 500 yuan per day, with a cap of RMB 10,000 yuan in total, or be detained for not less than five days but not more than 15 days". That provision, and repatriation under article 62(3), both hang on illegal residence as their precondition, and someone whose visa is still valid and who simply has not registered is not there. But two other provisions in the same Law are left open, each with "may" and a condition attached: article 81(1) says a foreigner who has "other circumstances of violating the laws or regulations of China, which make it inappropriate for them to continue to stay or reside in China, may be ordered to exit China within a time limit"; and article 31(4) says a residence permit shall not be issued where the applicant is "in violation of the relevant laws or administrative regulations of China, and thus unsuitable for residence in China". Whether either reaches you is for the public security organ and the accepting authority to judge, and we will not answer for them — but you should know they are there.

Fourth, "we did not find it" and "there is no way out" are not the same statement. None of the documents above contains a rule saying that registering late gets you off. But the general rules on lighter, reduced and waived penalties are not in those documents — they are in the Administrative Penalty Law. Article 84 of that law provides that where foreigners, stateless persons or foreign organisations commit a violation within the territory of the People's Republic of China and an administrative penalty is to be imposed, that law applies unless the law provides otherwise. Article 32 lists five situations in which a penalty "shall be lighter or reduced", the first being that the party voluntarily eliminated or mitigated the harmful consequences of the violation. Article 33(1) is 2 sentences (Chinese only; our working translation):

Where the violation is minor and is corrected in time, and no harmful consequences have been caused, no administrative penalty shall be imposed. Where it is a first violation, the harmful consequences are minor and it is corrected in time, no administrative penalty may be imposed.

Whether any of that reaches your case, and how to argue it, is a practising lawyer's job and not ours — we are only telling you those provisions exist, and that being a few days late does not mean taking the penalty is your only option.

What to do if the twenty-four hours have already passed. There are at least these steps:

Take your passport to the police station for the area where you live and register late (whoever goes for you also brings their own valid identity document or an institutional certificate; the authority is in section 7). In the seven pilot regions you can try the NIA platform first, but we have no published source on how the platform handles an overdue case; if it will not go through, go to the police station. This step is doable, and the sooner the better.
You can also ask your host to go — under article 39(2) they are a duty-holder just as you are.
Ask at the counter, there and then, whether the delay will be dealt with, and write down the answer, including who you spoke to and when; photograph the slip when it is issued.
If you are told there will be a penalty, or you have other status problems (an expired visa, a residence permit application in progress, an earlier penalty on record), see a practising lawyer straight away. We do not give legal advice.

11. One line each: which one is you

Each line is tagged with where it applies. You may be in several of them at once; this section does not replace the conditions set out above, it just pulls out the action.

(Nationwide) Staying in a hotel, hostel or other premises in the business of accommodating travellers: hand your passport over at the front desk and ask for the registration form before you check out. Registering you, and submitting within 24 hours, are the hotel's duties (article 39(1); article 6 of the hotel-industry Measures). That slip is the only paper trace you hold; whether it can be used directly for a visa or residence permit application is not written down — see section 9. On who issues the form we are quoting a Guangdong answer, and other provinces may differ.
(Nationwide) Staying at a friend's or relative's home, a rented flat, a company or student dormitory: within 24 hours of arrival, you or the person accommodating you registers with the public security organ where you live. Both of you are duty-holders; do not assume the other one is doing it. Bring your passport; whoever goes for you brings their own identity document or an institutional certificate.
(Nationwide) Not sure whether your place is a "hotel" (a homestay, a short-let, a room booked on a platform): look at whether anyone at a front desk took your passport and registered you. If nobody ever asked for it, go and register yourself under paragraph 2 — doing it once too often costs you nothing.
(Nationwide) Living in a home owned by you or your spouse: the first registration still has to happen, and under question III of the Policy Interpretation someone in a self-owned residence may file online alone, without a host. After that, returning to the same self-owned residence from travel inside or outside China needs no re-registration under question IV; if your city is off the pilot list and you want to rely on this, call 12367 first. Note that "no re-registration" does not mean you need not hand in the form when you apply for a certificate — see line 7.
(Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan) Staying outside a hotel: you can file on the NIA Government official website or the "NIA 12367" App, WeChat mini program or Alipay mini program; the host assists the first time, but where you are registering again at the same residence, or you live in a self-owned residence, you may file alone. The offline channel stays open and online has the same legal effect as on site; when it is done, click "Registration Record Inquiry" and look at the record.
(Guangdong, including Guangzhou) Staying outside a hotel: Guangdong is not one of those seven, so the safe route is to register in person at the police station for the area where you live (or a community policing office or foreigner service station). The Guangzhou Public Security Bureau website has a separate "境外人员住宿登记自助申报Accommodation Registration" entry under Government Services → Personal Services, pointing to the municipal bureau's own online system for overseas personnel; we have found no published document equating that entry with the NIA platform or setting out its scope, so whether it works for you goes by that system's own pages and by your local police station.
(Guangzhou) Filing next week for a visa extension or change, or for a residence permit: make sure you already hold the form — all sixteen service guides list it, the fifteen visa and residence-permit ones at item 4 and worded "valid in this city"; the stay-permit one says "valid in Guangzhou", and its reissuance section puts it at item 3. What makes it valid is not written down, so ask the counter where you will be filing, or call 12367, rather than finding out at the window.
(Nationwide) You are a Chinese citizen with a foreign friend staying at your place, or you rent your flat to a foreigner: you are the "person who accommodates" in article 39(2), a duty-holder on the same footing as the guest, and the penalty is article 76(1)(6) (a warning, and a fine of up to RMB 2,000 may be added). Two more things to know: someone letting out a property owes a separate duty under article 68(1) of the Law on Penalties for Administration of Public Security to register the tenant's name and the type and number of their valid identity document, with a fine of not less than RMB 500 but not more than RMB 1,000, or a warning or a fine of not more than RMB 500 where the circumstances are minor; and if the person you are putting up is himself in illegal residence, article 79(1) of the Exit and Entry Administration Law (harbouring a foreigner in illegal residence) is in range, and that one starts at not less than RMB 2,000 and not more than RMB 10,000. At this point, see a practising lawyer.
(Nationwide) Travelling to three cities in a week, or moving from a hotel into a rented flat: article 39(2) works by domicile, so each new non-hotel domicile is a new registration; moving out of the hotel into the flat restarts the twenty-four hours. Article 8 of the 2007 ministerial Measures follows the same logic: when you leave the station's area, it cancels your form and notes where you are going.
(Nationwide) A student on a study-category residence permit living in a university dormitory: a dormitory is a "domicile other than a hotel". Whether the university does this for you, and whether it actually did, is a question for your international students' office — and ask for the answer in writing — do not assume it was handled because you submitted a stack of documents at enrolment. The same goes for anyone in employer-provided housing: get a clear answer from the employer, who is the host, but the consequence of nobody filing lands on you as well.
(Nationwide) Living with a spouse and children under 18: article 39(2) writes the duty-holders as the foreigner "in person or the person who accommodates them", and that paragraph sets no minimum age (compare article 38(1), which does say "having reached the age of 16" for carrying documents). Who does this step for a minor child, and how, is not written in the text; go by the accepting authority, and take the child's passport and documents with you when you ask.
(Nationwide) You rent from a sub-landlord, or you are in a county rather than a city centre: who the "person who accommodates" is, and which public security organ to go to, are covered only by the words "the public security organs in the places of residence". We have found no more detailed public rule for either situation; call 12367 or ask the police station for the area the property is in, rather than guessing from where you are registered or where your company is.
(Nationwide) The twenty-four hours have already passed: go to the police station for your area and register late now, and ask at the counter whether the delay will be dealt with. None of these documents contains a "register late and you are clear" provision, but the lighter, reduced and waived-penalty rules in articles 32 and 33 of the Administrative Penalty Law do exist (article 84 of that law says it applies to foreigners in China). If a penalty is involved, or your visa has also expired, see a practising lawyer, not an agent.

12. Sources and dates

Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, articles 30, 31, 32, 39, 40, 62, 76, 78, 79, 81 and 89 — Chinese text on the National Immigration Administration website; official English text.
Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners (thirty-nine articles in all; article 36 supplies the definition of "long term") — Chinese text. That Chinese page is the original State Council Order No. 637 version; the Regulations were amended and re-promulgated by State Council Order No. 814 (promulgated 7 August 2025, in force 1 October 2025). We read both: still thirty-nine articles, the article 36 definition unchanged, and still no mention of accommodation, so nothing quoted here is affected. The official English text is likewise the pre-amendment version.
Announcement of the National Immigration Administration on the Pilot Implementation of Online Accommodation Registration for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels (No. 1 of 2026, 20 March 2026) — Chinese; official English.
Policy Interpretation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service for Foreigners Residing or Staying in Domiciles Other Than Hotels (20 March 2026) — Chinese; official English.
Transcript of the National Immigration Administration's regular press conference of 10 July 2026 — original. Chinese only; the translation here is our working translation and the Chinese governs.
Measures for Security Administration of the Hotel Industry (approved by the State Council and issued by the Ministry of Public Security in 1987, revised in 2011 and 2020), articles 2, 6 and 17 — Ministry of Justice national administrative regulations database. Chinese only; the translation here is our working translation and the Chinese governs.
Ministry of Public Security, Measures for the Administration of Accommodation Registration of Foreigners by Public Security Police Stations (Trial) (Gong Tong Zi [2007] No. 69, issued 31 October 2007, on trial from 1 January 2008) — the text as carried under "National Documents" on the Shanghai Municipal People's Government website, page dated 26 August 2024. The Law and implementing rules on which article 1 of those Measures relies have both been superseded or repealed; see section 7. Chinese only; the translation here is ours.
Law of the People's Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security (revised 27 June 2025, in force from 1 January 2026), articles 67, 68, 143 and 144 — full text as carried by the Supreme People's Procuratorate from Xinhua. We have found no official English text of this law; the translation here is our working translation and the Chinese governs.
Administrative Penalty Law of the People's Republic of China (revised 2021, in force from 15 July 2021), articles 32, 33 and 84 — full text from the NPC website as carried by the Ministry of Education. Chinese only; the translation here is ours.
Notice on Application for Visas and Certificates by Foreigners, item 19 (National Immigration Administration, 13 May 2020) — original. Chinese only; the translation here is our working translation and the Chinese governs.
National Immigration Administration reply to comments from foreign internet users (Chinese government portal, 16 July 2025) — original. Chinese only; the translation here is ours.
Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department Q&A library, "Where can I download the Registration Form of Temporary Residence for Overseas Personnel?" (27 June 2023) — original. Chinese only; the translation here is our working translation and the Chinese governs.
Guangzhou Public Security Bureau, "Exit-Entry Service Points and Service Guides" (page timestamp 6 September 2026) and its attachments for foreigners' ordinary visa applications, residence permit applications and stay permit applications — page. Those attachments are in Chinese only; the translations here are ours.
The "境外人员住宿登记自助申报Accommodation Registration" entry under Government Services → Personal Services on the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau website — list page, pointing to the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau Integrated Service System For Foreigners and HongKong/Maucau/Taiwan Residents (the English name the system gives itself).

Practice varies between localities; go by what your own city's accepting authority publishes at the time. This article was written on 15 September 2026.