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accommodation registration

Temporary accommodation registration in China: hotels, homes and online filing

This guide explains how a foreign national who has just arrived in mainland China should handle temporary accommodation registration, covering hotel stays, rented flats, staying with family, returns to the same home, the host's role, nationwide online filing from 2026-09-21, and the continuing in-person route.

Sources checked ·

The short answer

If you sleep somewhere in mainland China that is not a hotel, the law expects a registration of where you are staying, and it must normally be completed within 24 hours of arrival at that non-hotel address. If you stay in a hotel, show your valid passport or other travel document at reception; the hotel files the registration. Since 2026-09-21, the non-hotel registration can be completed online through National Immigration Administration (NIA) channels nationwide, or in person at the local public security organ, and both routes have the same legal effect (NIA notice, 2026-09-21).

This article is general information, not legal advice, and it does not register anyone. For your specific address and status, confirm with the local exit-entry administration or the police station, or call the NIA service line 12367.

What the rule actually is

Under Article 39 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law, as summarised by the NIA, the duty is split by type of dwelling. Hotels register and submit accommodation information. For dwellings that are not hotels, the foreign guest or the host must register with the local public security organ within 24 hours after arrival (NIA notice, 2026-09-21).

Two things follow from that wording. First, the 24-hour clock is attached to arrival at the non-hotel dwelling, not to your landing in China. Second, the obligation can be discharged by either party, which is why the host matters so much in practice.

Scenario 1: a hotel or similar lodging

You present your passport or travel document to reception, and the hotel handles the registration. This is the process described in the State Council's A Guide to Working and Living in China as Business Expatriates (2025) (State Council guide, 2025).

Practical consequence: keep your passport with you at check-in, and ask the hotel what confirmation it can provide if another official process later asks for proof of your registered address.

Scenario 2: a rented flat

A rented flat is a non-hotel dwelling, so the 24-hour rule applies to you or your host. Ask the landlord or person providing the accommodation to assist with the first registration: the NIA's current interpretation says the initial registration should be assisted by the host, for the sake of address accuracy (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21).

In practice this means: agree with your landlord, before or immediately after you move in, who files and when. Do not assume the landlord has done it. If you file online yourself, the address you enter must match the address the host would confirm, which is exactly why the NIA puts the host alongside the first filing.

For an in-person filing, the 2025 State Council guide lists the local police station as the place to go within 24 hours, with your passport or travel document and a rental contract or ownership certificate (State Council guide, 2025). Treat that as a useful indication only: the guide was published before nationwide online filing, and it does not claim to be the universal local checklist. Local windows may ask for more or fewer items, so check locally.

Scenario 3: staying with family or friends

Staying in a relative's or friend's home is also a non-hotel dwelling, and the same 24-hour rule applies. The host — the householder — can register on your behalf, or you can do it yourself. The NIA interpretation again recommends host assistance for the initial registration, because address accuracy is the point of the whole exercise (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21).

This is the scenario where arrivals most often assume they are exempt, on the theory that a private home is not "accommodation." It is. Family visits are registrable stays.

Scenario 4: coming back to the same home

Repetition is where people waste effort or, worse, skip a filing they still owe. The NIA interpretation sets out narrow conditions under which a previous valid registration need not be repeated:

  • you are returning to your own residence; or
  • you are a residence-permit or permanent-residence holder returning to a habitual residence during the validity of the same permit (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21).

These are narrow. A second stay at a friend's flat, or a return to an address after your permit has been reissued, is not covered by the wording above. When in doubt, file again or ask the local window; ask the local authority before assuming a past registration remains valid.

Separately, the interpretation allows you to file independently — without host assistance — when you have previously registered on the platform at the same address, or when you are staying at a residence you own (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21). So the host-assistance step is really a first-time safeguard, not a permanent requirement.

Online filing from 2026-09-21

The NIA expanded online accommodation registration for foreigners in non-hotel dwellings to the whole country from 2026-09-21. The online channels named in the notice are:

  • the NIA Government Service Platform website;
  • the NIA 12367 app and its WeChat mini program;
  • the Alipay mini program (NIA notice, 2026-09-21).

Within those channels the filing sits in the Foreigners' Service accommodation module, which also lets you query your registration records (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21). Querying your own record is worth doing after any filing, online or in person, because the record is what an officer would look at later.

Note the timing of sources. The 2025 State Council guide predates nationwide online filing, and earlier NIA pilot materials describe a geographically limited pilot. Do not treat that limited pilot scope as the current position: from 2026-09-21 the nationwide arrangement described in the NIA notice is the operative one (NIA notice, 2026-09-21).

The in-person route still exists

Online filing did not replace the counter. Registration in person with the local public security organ continues, and online and in-person registration have the same legal effect (NIA notice, 2026-09-21).

Choose the in-person route if your address will not validate online, if your situation involves documents the online form does not cover, or if you prefer help at a local counter. If you hit difficulties online, the NIA directs users to the platform's guide, the 12367 service line, or the local exit-entry administration window or police station (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21).

If you do not register

Failure to register can lead to a warning and possibly a fine. No amount is stated in the official interpretation and none should be assumed (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21). Treat the 24-hour window for non-hotel stays as a real deadline rather than a formality.

Decision checklist

Work through this in order on the day you arrive at a place to sleep:

  1. Is it a hotel or similar lodging? Show your passport or travel document at reception; the hotel registers and submits (State Council guide, 2025). Stop here.
  2. Is it a home, flat, dormitory or other non-hotel dwelling? The 24-hour clock from arrival applies (NIA notice, 2026-09-21). Continue.
  3. Is this your first registration at this address? If yes, get the host involved so the address is accurate (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21).
  4. Have you registered on the platform at this address before, or do you own the residence? Then you may file independently (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21).
  5. Are you returning to your own residence, or a residence-permit/permanent-residence holder returning to a habitual residence within the same permit's validity? If yes, a previous valid registration need not be repeated (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21). If not, file again.
  6. Pick your channel: NIA Government Service Platform website, NIA 12367 app/WeChat mini program, Alipay mini program, or in person at the local public security organ — both routes have equal legal effect (NIA notice, 2026-09-21).
  7. After online filing, query your record in the Foreigners' Service accommodation module. For in-person filing, ask the office how to confirm completion (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21).
  8. If something blocks you — address mismatch, unclear host, form error — use the platform guide or 12367, or go to the local exit-entry window or police station (NIA policy interpretation, 2026-09-21).
  9. Move address? Each new non-hotel dwelling is a new stay with its own 24-hour window.

Where the layers differ

It helps to keep the sources in separate mental boxes. The law (Article 39 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law) is the duty and the 24-hour rule. The NIA notice and policy interpretation explain the nationwide online channel and the authority's current practice: host assistance on first filing, independent filing in defined cases, narrow non-repetition conditions, and the warning-or-fine consequence. The State Council guide is practical guidance for business expatriates, useful for the hotel description and for the documents it names at a police station, but written before nationwide online filing, so its material list should not be read as the definitive current local checklist (State Council guide, 2025).

When two layers seem to disagree, the NIA notice and interpretation dated 2026-09-21 are the more current statements of procedure. For your own case, the local exit-entry administration or police station remains the authority that will actually process the filing.

Sources and verification

Verified 2026-09-28 (Australia/Perth). This guide describes general published rules, not legal advice or a registration service. Confirm any local procedural question with the National Immigration Administration or the public security office handling the address.