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Learn the names of documents!!

What's the difference between a visa, residence permit and temporary residence permit?
Once you've lived in China for more than a month it can get really confusing when everyone refers to everything as a "visa". Another classic is everything is a reduced to "a colour".

"A: Yeah, I went to the police community station office and got my white paper. I went to another place and they gave me another piece of white paper. That's what you mean?
B: I'm talking about my yellow paper. Did you get your visa yet?
A: What do you mean? I got my visa in the UK. I need another one??!!!"
Learn the names!!
They say something on them in English that helps you identify them...
Visa
The easiest way to think about a visa is that it just lets you into the country. You have no long(er) term right of abode. The visa name is related to your purpose for being in country. A Z visa typically lasts 30 days and its purpose to let you in the country to start the process of getting a Residence permit. A visa is currently a full page sticker in your passport.

This is an example of a Chinese visa. It says 'visa' on it. There are also 'blue' versions of the visa that look more like residence permits (helpful!).


Residence permit
A residence permit lets you stay (reside) in the country for (usually) a period of one year. You enter and exit freely without needed a "visa" or to reapply for anything. The residence permit is tied to your employer. You typically need the help of your employer during the application process. If you change employer, you will get a new residence permit in your passport. If you're a student, the X visa will be tied to your place of study. A residence permit is currently a full page sticker in your passport.

An example of a residence permit is below. Under the Chinese title, there is an English one.
Temporary residence permit
The easiest way to think about this is that it's just an accommodation registration document. If you're staying in hotels or hostels on a tourist trip you don't need to do anything about this. It's taken care of by the accommodation. If you're living in China you're supposed to get this sorted 24 hours after you've moved into an apartment. In reality you can take a few more days over this. The temporary residence permit is the "white paper" that is referred to above. Definitely don't lose this.

A temporary residence form typically looks like this. It has the name, in English, on the front.

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