Online residency registration saves police time

About 4,500 overseas people registered their residence in Shanghai online with the police from October 25 to Thursday, accounting for 25 percent of all those residing in Shanghai in this period, the exit-entry police said yesterday.

From October 25, people can log onto crjzndg.gaj.sh.gov.cn/24hr to register their residence in Shanghai, which saves them the trouble of going to the police in person.

Chinese law requires people from overseas to register their residence on the Chinese mainland within 24 hours of arrival, except if they stay in hotels.

To register, people need to sign up with their e-mail address, upload a picture of their passport page with personal information and photo, and give their address in Shanghai as well as their entry and exit dates. A confirmation text message comes just seconds after the digital registration form is submitted.

This is a part of the city’s exit-entry police measures to serve a greater number of people from overseas to help them attend the second China International Import Expo. 

Ye Jun, director of the foreigner administration division of Shanghai Public Security Bureau’s exit-entry administration bureau, reminded applicants to check the form’s information in case there are any problems.

The system can capture data on a passport page to save applicants trouble of typing in the information themselves, but they need to double-check the automatically filled in data in case there’s a misreading by the machine. 

Also, when applicants enter the address of the residence, the digital map offers only names of the streets, so they will have to enter further details themselves, he said.

If for any problem the online registration fails to go through, applicants still have to go to the police in person with all required materials to register their residence.

Police said the Japanese and Korean versions of the system will soon be introduced, alongside with the English version available at the moment.

WeChat application forms will be also made available at a later date.