Your first week in Beijing

✓At a hotel, present your valid passport and confirm that check-in included accommodation registration.

✓At a private address, use Beijing's online accommodation system, the listed public-security WeChat service, or the relevant local police station.

✓For online filing, prepare the passport information page, the requested live photo, and the address page of the ownership certificate or lease.

✓Retain the approved electronic registration form and register again when the applicable address changes.

✓If arriving at a supported terminal, ask the counter about the current SIM, Wi-Fi, payment, cash, and transport options before leaving the airport.

✓For a local SIM, take your passport to an operator-run service hall or an eligible airport counter.

✓Ask the operator to explain the package price, included data, renewal, cancellation, and any minimum term before activation.

✓Keep roaming active until the new number can receive calls, messages, and data reliably.

✓Complete the current identity and card-linking steps for an eligible mobile wallet, then test a small in-person payment.

✓Keep a physical card and modest RMB cash separately from the phone while the wallet is being established.

✓Compare a BEIJING PASS, supported travel code, bank-card tap option, and single tickets based on each family member's device and payment access.

✓If buying a standard BEIJING PASS, take a passport and review the published CNY 20 card cost, top-up process, and loss limitations first.

✓Read the validity, permitted stay, and any residence-permit instruction shown on each family member's current document.

✓Ask the employer, school, sponsor, or exit-entry authority to confirm the correct route, document owner, appointment, and deadline in writing.

✓If a visa specifies a post-entry residence permit, confirm the published requirement to apply within 30 days of entry and the exact documents for your case.

✓Keep accommodation registration and evidence for any change to passport or residence information; Beijing's published guidance includes a 10-day change-reporting rule for listed residence-permit details.

✓Confirm the eligible school route, grade placement, first day, campus entrance, and the admissions documents still outstanding.

✓Verify school-bus eligibility, stop location, pickup authorization, late-bus arrangements, meals, uniform, and payment channels.

✓Share allergies, medication, vaccination, learning-support, and emergency-contact information only through the school's approved process.

✓Save admissions, classroom, nurse, transport, and emergency contacts offline.

✓Shortlist a nearby provider with the language, pediatric, specialist, or emergency capabilities your family may need.

✓Ask the insurer which Beijing providers support direct billing and what identification, pre-authorization, or reimbursement evidence is required.

✓Use Beijing's official foreigner medical guide and its listed Beijing 114 appointment route to check current options.

✓Keep passports or accepted identification, insurance details, medication names, allergies, and essential medical records accessible.

✓Save 110 for police, 119 for fire, 120 for medical emergencies, and 122 for traffic accidents.

✓Save 12345 for non-emergency Beijing municipal services and 12367 for immigration-service questions.

✓Store the home address in English and Chinese, compound or building, gate, unit, and a local callback number.

✓Make a lock-screen note and paper copy with insurer, employer, school, consulate, and trusted-contact details.

✓Travel the school and work commute at the times your family will normally use it.

✓Verify the owner or the lessor's written authority, inspect appliances and safety issues, and confirm that the address can support accommodation registration.

✓Use a written lease covering rent, deposit, term, repairs, utilities, inventory, breach, and handover; do not rely on oral promises.

✓Keep the signed lease, payment evidence, meter readings, inventory photos, keys, and handover contacts in the family document folder.