Foreign students studying in China should Visa"X"(study) to enter China and apply for, within 30 days of entry, residence permit to the Division of Exit-Entry Administration of Beijing Public Security Bureau. The residence permit shall be valid for no more than 1 year within the validity period of the passport.

I. When applying for residence permit, the applicants should present the following documents and certificates:

1 .Valid passports and visa (Diplomatic or business passports should be changed to ordinary passports, in case of impossibility of the change, a notice from the applicant'embassy should be presented to declare that the applicant gives up the privileges of diplomatic or business passport and accept the treatment as the ordinary passport holders),

2."Foreign Students' Application Form for Visa"(JW201 or JW202), or its photocopy and the "Admission Notice" issued by Chinese institutes, in case that the original form cannot be submitted.

3."Health Certificate" issued by Beijing Exit-Entry Inspection and Quarantine Bu-reau (Foreign students under 16 are exempt from this).

4.Two recently taken, half-length bareheaded and full-faced photos of 2 inch size(either color or black-white).

5. Parent's letter of commitment for foreign students studying in the primary or middle schools in Beijing. Those applicants who study in Beijing for less than 1 year should apply for temporary residence permit, without presenting "Health Certificate".

II. When applying for extension or alternation to residence permit, applicants should present the following documents:

1 .Valid passports and residence permits;

2.Should there be any alternations to the contents of the residence permits (name, nationality, occupation or identity, address, passport number, children), the permit holders shall register, within 10 days, the changes at the Division of Exit-Entry Administration of Beijing Public Security Bureau. "Admission Notice" should be presented when applicant applying for alternation to the host institution. Should the permit holders move into or out of Beijing, they shall finish the transferring procedure before they move. After they reach the destination, they should handle the moving-in procedure within 10 days.

III. The procedure of applying for a Exit-Entry Visa

With their passports and residence permits, applicants could apply for a single journey return visa which is valid for 3 months or a double and multiple return visa valid for a half year, or a multiple Exit-Entry visa valid for a year (the term of validity of visa should be within the validity of residence permit).Applicants could apply for visa and residence permits at the same time.

IV. Applying for the alternation to the category of visa

oreign students who enter China with visa "L" (touring and visiting relatives) visa "F"(visiting) and visa "Z" (work) or free of visa, can change their visa to visa "X" (student)after approval. When applying for the alternation to the category of visa, applicants should present the following documents:

1. Valid passports and visa;

2. "Foreign Students' Application Form for Visa" (JW201 or JW202), or its photocopy and the "Admission Offer" issued by Chinese institutes;

3. Official letter provided by his/her school to state the reason for alteration.

V. Filling in the application form and points for attention

1. When handling the above mentioned procedures, applicants should fill in the "application form for visa and residence permit, on which a recently taken, half-length bareheaded and full-faced photos of 2 inch size should be stuck.

2. Applicants should fill in the application form with the seal of the host institutions.

3. The application form should be clearly and neatly filled in with blue-black ink pen or ballpoints.

(english.gov.cn)