Don’t procrastinate on your visa renewal this year: the Exit and Entry Administration under the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau will close during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting holiday, November 7-12.

That means several things: your visa renewal will take even longer this year, beyond the 15 business days the process normally now requires; if your visa is due to expire during that period, and you don’t get it in before then, it will be considered expired; you won’t have your passport for international travel or domestic travel on trains.

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At least if you get your application in by the end of business on November 6 (4.30pm, when they close), you won’t overstay and you’ll have the receipt for your passport that may be used as ID in many functions, but not all. China’s railway system, which requires ID to board, does not accept the receipts as identification, although domestic airlines usually do.

Chinese law requires all foreigners to carry their passports on them at all times. Although photocopies of the identification and visa pages may sometimes be accepted in lieu of the original passport, copies do not technically satisfy this regulation and may be rejected.  

Get this one done on time. The consequences are serious.

Photo: Visa Service for China