China Customs General Administration Suspends Health Screenings for Beijing Arrivals

Medical examination results are essential documents for residence permit application... Entry procedures remain unclear
If residence permit is not applied for within 30 days after entry, it leads to illegal stay status

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Kim Hyunjung] The General Administration of Customs of China has suspended health examinations for overseas arrivals, citing epidemic prevention as the reason.

According to the General Administration of Customs on the 21st, the Beijing International Travel Health Center of the Customs General Administration will stop conducting health examinations for overseas arrivals starting from this day. The date for resumption is still undecided, and it was added that a separate notice will be given later.

The health examination report for overseas arrivals is a mandatory document for applying for a "residence permit" for long-term stay. The residence permit is a type of identification issued to people residing in China, including foreigners, and is similar in nature to the foreigner registration card issued in Korea. If more than 30 days pass from the date of entry without a residence permit, the person is considered an illegal resident and must pay a daily fine of 500 yuan (approximately 94,000 KRW), up to a maximum of 5,000 yuan.

The problem is that despite the suspension of health examinations causing issues with the residence permit issuance schedule, there has been no separate guidance on this matter. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, in cases where the 30-day period is exceeded due to unexpected situations such as quarantine, leniency has been shown compared to the past, and issues have not been raised, but this is not an officially announced policy either.

Meanwhile, the total number of confirmed cases across China reached 26,824 (including 24,547 asymptomatic cases) as of the 20th (0:00?24:00). In Beijing, 962 confirmed cases (including 808 asymptomatic cases) were reported, approaching 1,000. Notably, a 91-year-old woman in Chaoyang District and an 88-year-old man in Daxing District died from COVID-19, marking the first deaths in over six months since May 26.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.