Your first week in Shanghai

✓At a hotel, present your valid passport and confirm that the hotel completed registration.

✓At a private address, use Shanghai's online self-declaration service, Suishenban International, or an eligible public-security service window.

✓Download or retain the approved Registration Form for the Accommodation of Overseas Personnel.

✓Register again after moving to a different address and follow the current instructions for that address.

✓Keep roaming active until the local line works and you have tested calls and data.

✓Bring your passport or accepted permanent-resident ID to an official China Telecom, China Mobile, or China Unicom service office.

✓Ask the carrier to explain the plan term, included data, renewal, cancellation, and any activation deposit before paying.

✓Update your employer, school, housing contact, and emergency contacts with the new number.

✓Link an eligible overseas or Chinese bank card to Alipay or WeChat Pay and complete the in-app identity prompts.

✓Test a small in-person payment before relying on the wallet for a larger purchase or journey.

✓Keep a physical bank card and modest RMB cash separately from your phone.

✓If opening a local bank account, take your passport and ask the branch which current supporting documents apply to your situation.

✓Choose a Shanghai transport QR code, the Metro Daduhui app, a physical transport card, or single-journey tickets.

✓Keep the destination in Chinese and a physical ticket or cash fallback until your preferred method is tested.

✓Create a 12306 account using your passport name exactly as shown and complete the identity-verification flow.

✓Allow time for manual passport review or station verification before a time-sensitive rail booking.

✓Read the validity and permitted stay shown on your current visa, stay document, or residence permit.

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

✓If your route requires a post-entry residence permit, confirm whether the general 30-day post-entry timing in official guidance applies to you.

✓Keep your passport, accommodation registration, work or admission paperwork, photos, and requested supporting records ready—but verify the exact list before submitting.

✓Confirm the first day, campus entrance, class contact, school-bus stop, pickup authorization, uniform, meals, and payment channel with the school.

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

✓Locate a nearby clinic or hospital and ask your insurer how direct billing, reimbursement, and emergency admission work.

✓Save the school's admissions, nurse, transport, and emergency contacts offline.

✓Save 110 for police, 119 for fire, 120 for medical emergency, and 12345 for Shanghai municipal services.

✓Store your address in English and Chinese, building or compound name, gate number, and a local contact.

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

✓Give each child an age-appropriate card that does not expose unnecessary personal information.

✓Test the school and work commute at the time your family will actually travel.

✓Confirm school-bus eligibility, pickup points, late buses, and the effect of moving address before signing a lease.

✓Verify the landlord or authorized agent, inventory condition, utilities, repairs, deposit terms, and registration support before paying.

✓Keep the signed lease, payment evidence, inventory photos, and handover contacts in a secure family folder.