Contents: Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Entry into the Country Chapter III
Residence Chapter IV Travel Chapter V Exit
from the Country Chapter VI Administrative Organs
Chapter VII Penalties Chapter
VIII Supplementary
Provisions
Chapter
I General Provisions
Article
1 This Law is formulated with a view to
safeguarding the sovereignty of the People's Republic
of China, maintaining its security and public order and
facilitating international exchange. This Law is applicable
to aliens
entering, leaving and transiting the
territory of the People's Republic of
China and to those residing and
travelling in China.
Article
2 Aliens must obtain the permission
of the competent authorities
of the Chinese Government in order to enter, transit
or reside in China.
Article
3 For entry, exit and transit, aliens
must pass through ports open to aliens or other designated
ports and must be subject to inspection by the
frontier inspection offices. For entry, exit and
transit, foreign-owned means of transport
must pass through ports open to aliens
or other designated ports and must be subject to
inspection and supervision by the frontier inspection
offices.
Article 4 The Chinese Government shall protect the lawful
rights and interests of aliens on Chinese territory.
Freedom of the person of aliens is inviolable. No
alien may be arrested except with the
approval or by decision of a people's procuratorate
or by decision of a people's court, and arrest must
be made by a public security organ or state security organ.
Article 5 Aliens
in China must abide by Chinese laws and may not endanger
the state security of China, harm public interests or
disrupt public
order.
Chapter
II Entry into the
Country
Article 6 For entry into China, aliens shall apply for
visas from Chinese diplomatic missions, consular offices or
other resident agencies abroad authorized by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. In
specific situations aliens may, in
compliance with the provisions of the State Council,
apply for visas to visa-granting
offices at ports designated by the competent
authorities of the Chinese Government. The entry of
nationals from
countries having visa agreements with the
Chinese Government shall be handled in accordance with those
agreements. In cases where another country has special
provisions for Chinese citizens entering and transiting that
country, the
competent authorities of the
Chinese Government may adopt reciprocal
measures contingent on the
circumstances. Visas are not
required for aliens in immediate
transit on connected international flights who
hold passenger tickets and stay for no more than24 hours in
China entirely within airport boundaries.
Anyone desiring to leave the airport
temporarily must obtain permission
from the frontier inspection
office.
Article 7
When applying for various kinds of
visas, aliens shall present valid
passports and, if necessary, provide pertinent
evidence.
Article 8 Aliens who have been invited
or hired to
work in China shall, when
applying for visas, produce evidence of the invitation or
employment.
Article 9 Aliens desiring to reside permanently
in China shall, when applying for
visas, present status-of-residence
identification forms. Applicants may obtain
such forms from public security
organs at the place where they
intend to reside.
Article 10 The competent authorities
of the Chinese Government
shall issue appropriate visas to aliens according to
the purposes stated in their
entry applications.
Article
11 When an aircraft or a
vessel navigating international routes arrives at a
Chinese p ort, the captain or his agent must submit a
passenger name list to the frontier inspection
office; a foreign aircraft or vessel must also
provide a name list of its crew
members.
Article 12 Aliens who are considered a possible
threat to China's state security and public order
shall not be permitted to enter
China.
Chapter
III Residence
Article
13 For residence in
China, aliens must possess identification papers or
residence certificates issued by the competent authorizes
of the Chinese Government. The term of
validity of
identification papers or residence
certificates shall be determined according to the purposes
of entry. Aliens residing in China shall
submit their certificates to the local
public security organs for examination
within the prescribed period of
time.
Article 14
Aliens
who, in compliance with Chinese laws, find it necessary to
establish prolonged residence in China for
the purpose of investing in
China or engaging in
cooperative projects with Chinese enterprises or
institutions
in the economic, scientific, technological and cultural
fields, or for other purposes, are
eligible for prolonged or permanent
residence in China upon
approval by the competent authorities of the
Chinese Government.
Article
15 Aliens who seek asylum for
political reasons shall be permitted to reside in
China
upon approval by the competent authorities of the Chinese
Government.
Article 16 Aliens who fail to abide by Chinese
laws may have their period of stay in China curtailed
or their status of
residence in China annulled by the
competent authorities of the Chinese
Government.
Article 17
For a temporary overnight stay in China,
aliens shall complete registration procedures
pursuant to the relevant
provisions.
Article 18 Aliens holding residence certificates
who wish to change their place of residence in
China
must complete removal formalities pursuant to the
relevant provisions.
Article
19 Aliens who have not acquired
residence certificates or who are on a study
programme in China may not seek employment in China without
permission of the competent authorities of the
Chinese
Government.
Chapter
IV Travel
Article
20 Aliens who hold valid
visas or residence certificates may travel to places open to
aliens as designated by the Chinese
Government.
Article 21 Aliens desiring to travel to places
closed to aliens must apply to local public
security organs for travel
permits.
Chapter
V Exit from the
Country
Article 22 For exit from China, aliens shall present their
valid passports or other valid
certificates.
Article 23 Aliens belonging to any of the following
categories shall not be allowed to leave
China:(1) defendants in criminal
cases or criminal
suspects confirmed by a public security organ,
a people's procuratorate or a people's court;(2) persons
who, as notified by a people's
court, shall be denied exit
owing to involvement in unresolved civil cases; and(3)
persons who have committed other acts in violation of
Chinese law who have not been
dealt with and against whom the competent authorities
consider it necessary to institute
prosecution.
Article 24 Frontier inspection offices shall have the power
to stop aliens belonging to any of the following
categories from leaving the
country and to deal with them according
to law:(1) holders of invalid exit certificates;(2) holders
of exit certificates other than their own; and(3) holders of
forged or altered exit
certificates.
Chapter
VI Administrative
Organs
Article 25 China's diplomatic missions, consular office s and
other resident agencies abroad authorized by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall be the Chinese
Government's agencies abroad to handle aliens' applications
for entry and transit. The Ministry of Public
Security,
its authorized local public security
organs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its
authorized local foreign affairs departments
shall be the Chinese Government's agencies in China to
handle aliens' applications for entry, transit, residence
and travel.
Article 26
The authorities handling aliens' applications
for entry, transit, residence and travel
shall have the power to refuse to
issue visas and certificates or to cancel
visas and certificates already issued or declare them
invalid. The Ministry of Public Security and the ministry of
Foreign Affairs may, when necessary, alter
decisions made by their respectively
authorized agencies.
Article
27 An alien who enters or resides in
China illegally may be detained for
examination or be subjected to residential surveiance or
deportation by a public security organ at or above
the county level.
Article 28 While performing
their duties, foreign affairs police
of the public security organs at or above the
county level shall have the power to
examine the passports and other certificates
of aliens. When conducting such examinations,
the foreign
affairs police shall produce their own
service certificates, and relevant organizations or
individuals shall have the duty to offer them
assistance.
Chapter
VII Penalties
Article
29 If a person, in violation of the
provisions of this Law, enters or leaves
China illegally, establishes illegal residence or makes an illegal
stopover in China, travels to places closed to
aliens without a valid travel document,
forges or
alters an entry or exit certificate, uses
another person's certificate as his own or transfers his
certificate, he may be penalized by a public security
organ at or above the county level with a warning, a fine or
detention for not more than ten days.
If the circumstances of the
case are serious enough to constitute a
crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in
accordance with the law. If an alien subject to a fine or
detention by a public
security organ refuses to accept
the penalty, he may, within 15 days of receiving
notification, appeal to the
public security organ at the next higher
level, which shall make the final decision; he may also
directly file suit in the local people's
court.
Article 30
In cases where a person commits any of the acts stated
in Article 29 of this Law,
if the circumstances are serious, the Ministry
of Public Security may impose a penalty by ordering
him to leave the country within a certain time or
may expel him from the
country.
Chapter
VIII Supplementary
Provisions
Article
31 For the purposes of this Law the
term "alien" means any person not holding Chinese
nationality according
to the Nationality Law of the People's
Republic of China.
Article
32 Transitory entry into and exit from
China by aliens who are nationals of a country
adjacent to China and who reside
in areas bordering on China
shall be handled according to
any relevant agreements between the two
countries or, in the absence of such agreements, according
to the relevant provisions of the Chinese
Government.
Article 33 The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs shall, pursuant to this Law, formulate
rules for its implementation, which shall go into
effect after being submitted to and approved by the State
Council.
Article 34 Affairs concerning members of
foreign diplomatic missions and consular
offices in the People's Republic
of China and other aliens who enjoy
diplomatic privileges and immunities, after their entry into
China, shall be administered in accordance with the
relevant provisions of the State
Council and its competent
departments.
Article 35 This Law shall go into effect on February 1, 1986.
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