Delta Law Expat Services Desk ｜ Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China（《中华人民共和国出境入境管理法》）, Presidential Order No. 57（主席令第五十七号）, in force from 2013-07-01, article 40 read with article 76.
- Article 40 contains two separate duties in two paragraphs — one at the beginning of a life in China and one at its end — and both are easy to miss because neither is prompted by anything else.
- A foreign infant born in China must be registered for stay or residence within 60 days of birth, by the parents or an authorised representative, at the exit and entry administration authority of the place where the parents stay or reside — not the place of birth.
- Where a foreign national dies in China, the family members, guardian or authorised representative must report to the exit and entry administration authority of a local people's government at or above county level and have the stay or residence permit cancelled.
- Failure to do either is penalised under article 76, paragraph 1(3): a warning, with a fine of up to RMB 2,000 that may also be imposed.
- The 60-day registration is not a residence permit. Article 30 runs a separate 30-day clock from entry where the visa says a residence permit is needed, and the two should not be conflated.
1. The document at a glance
| Item | Content |
|---|---|
| Full title | Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China（《中华人民共和国出境入境管理法》） |
| Document number | 主席令第五十七号（Presidential Order No. 57） |
| Adopted / promulgated | Adopted 2012-06-30 by the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress |
| Current version in force from | 2013-07-01 (article 93) |
| Issuing authority | Standing Committee of the National People's Congress |
| Official text | https://www.nia.gov.cn/n741440/n741547/c1013311/content.html |
| What this page covers | The two duties in article 40, who bears each of them, and what each one connects to on either side. |
2. Article 40: two duties in one provision
第四十条 在中国境内出生的外国婴儿，其父母或者代理人应当在婴儿出生六十日内，持该婴儿的出生证明到父母停留居留地县级以上地方人民政府公安机关出入境管理机构为其办理停留或者居留登记。
外国人在中国境内死亡的，其家属、监护人或者代理人，应当按照规定，持该外国人的死亡证明向县级以上地方人民政府公安机关出入境管理机构申报，注销外国人停留居留证件。
Article 40, paragraph 1: For a foreign infant born in China, the parents or an authorised representative shall, within 60 days of the infant's birth, take the infant's birth certificate to the exit and entry administration authority of the public security organ of a local people's government at or above county level in the place where the parents stay or reside, and there register the infant for stay or residence. Paragraph 2: Where a foreign national dies in China, the family members, guardian or authorised representative shall, as prescribed, take the deceased's death certificate to the exit and entry administration authority of the public security organ of a local people's government at or above county level, report the death, and have the foreign national's stay or residence permit cancelled.
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
Read the two paragraphs against each other and the design becomes clear. Each fixes a moment at which a person enters or leaves the population that the Law tracks, and each names the people who must act, because the person concerned cannot. Neither duty is triggered by an application, a renewal or an inspection. Nothing arrives in the post. That is precisely why both are missed.
Two details in paragraph 1 are worth pausing on. The authority is the one in the place where the parents stay or reside, not the place of birth — so a birth in a hospital in another city does not move the registration. And the registration is of the infant for stay or residence, which is a status question, not a nationality question: the Law is silent on the infant's nationality, and this page does not address it.
In paragraph 2, note who is named: family members, guardian or authorised representative, in the alternative. As with the accommodation duty in article 39, paragraph 2, the Law does not rank them. The practical consequence is that a family outside China cannot assume that a Chinese employer, a hospital or a funeral service will discharge the duty; unless one of the named persons does it, it is not done. Paragraph 2 also does two things at once — reporting the death and cancelling the permit — and it is the cancellation, not the report, that closes the file.
3. What happens if neither is done
第七十六条 有下列情形之一的，给予警告，可以并处二千元以下罚款：……（三）未按照规定办理外国人出生登记、死亡申报的；（四）外国人居留证件登记事项发生变更，未按照规定办理变更的；……
Article 76, paragraph 1: In any of the following circumstances, a warning shall be given and a fine of up to RMB 2,000 may also be imposed: … (3) failing to handle the birth registration or the death report of a foreign national as required; (4) failing to record a change as required where a registered particular of a foreign national's residence permit has changed; …
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
Item (3) covers both halves of article 40 in a single item. The sanction is a warning; the fine of up to RMB 2,000 is expressed as something that may also be imposed, so it is discretionary while the warning is not. As with the accommodation registration duty, the amount is not the point. The point is that an administrative penalty is a recorded finding against a named person — and on the birth side, that named person is a parent whose own residence file is with the same authority.
Item (4) is included here because it often accompanies item (3) in practice. Article 33, paragraph 1 lists the registered particulars of a residence permit — the holder's name, sex, date of birth, purpose of residence, period of residence, date and place of issue, and passport or other international travel document number — and paragraph 2 requires the holder to apply to record a change within 10 days of the change occurring. A change in family circumstances may or may not alter a registered particular; that has to be checked against the list rather than assumed either way.
4. The birth end: what the 60-day registration is, and is not
第三十条 外国人所持签证注明入境后需要办理居留证件的，应当自入境之日起三十日内，向拟居留地县级以上地方人民政府公安机关出入境管理机构申请办理外国人居留证件。
外国人工作类居留证件的有效期最短为九十日，最长为五年；非工作类居留证件的有效期最短为一百八十日，最长为五年。
Article 30, paragraph 1: Where the visa held by a foreign national states that a residence permit is to be obtained after entry, the person shall, within 30 days of the date of entry, apply for a foreign national's residence permit to the exit and entry administration authority of the public security organ of a local people's government at or above county level in the intended place of residence. Paragraph 3: A work-type residence permit for a foreign national is valid for a minimum of 90 days and a maximum of five years; a non-work-type residence permit is valid for a minimum of 180 days and a maximum of five years.
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
Article 30 and article 40, paragraph 1 are different mechanisms and run on different clocks. Article 30's 30 days run from entry and apply to a person whose visa says a residence permit is required; article 40's 60 days run from birth and apply to an infant who has not entered China at all. Completing the article 40 registration does not answer the question of what status the child then holds going forward, nor does it dispense with anything article 30 requires of a person who later enters on a visa.
Article 31, paragraph 1 lists five grounds on which a residence permit is not issued — including a visa category for which a residence permit should not be issued, falsification during the application, inability to provide the required supporting materials as prescribed, breach of Chinese law or administrative regulations making residence in China unsuitable, and other circumstances in which the issuing authority considers a permit inappropriate — and paragraph 2 provides a route by which specified specialist personnel, investors, or persons who need to change from stay to residence for humanitarian or similar reasons may obtain a residence permit with the approval of an exit and entry administration authority at or above the level of a city divided into districts. Which route is available in a given case is subject to the current published requirements of the accepting authority.
5. The death end: cancellation is administrative, succession is not
第一千一百二十一条 继承从被继承人死亡时开始。
第一千一百二十二条 遗产是自然人死亡时遗留的个人合法财产。
依照法律规定或者根据其性质不得继承的遗产，不得继承。
Article 1121, paragraph 1: Succession opens at the time of the deceased's death. Article 1122, paragraph 1: An estate is the lawful private property left by a natural person at death. Paragraph 2: Property that may not be inherited under the law or by its nature may not be inherited.
Unofficial translation; the Chinese text as officially published prevails.
These two provisions make the boundary clear. Succession opens at death, by operation of law, and the composition of the estate is fixed at that moment. Cancelling a stay or residence permit under article 40, paragraph 2 does not create, extinguish or postpone any of that: it is an administrative act closing an immigration record, and it neither confers nor removes a right in the estate.
The two nonetheless sit next to each other in sequence, because the death certificate is the document both start from, and because a family dealing with a China-situs estate will generally be asked to produce evidence of the death and of the deceased's status. Handling the article 40, paragraph 2 report early therefore costs nothing and removes one variable from a period in which the family is doing several things at once. What any particular institution will accept, and in what order, is subject to the current published requirements of the accepting authority.
One point of timing is worth flagging on the civil side. Article 1124, paragraph 1 provides that an heir who renounces the succession must do so in writing before the estate is dealt with, and that silence is treated as acceptance; paragraph 2 gives a legatee 60 days from becoming aware of the legacy to accept or renounce, failing which the legacy is treated as renounced. Those periods run from the events the Civil Code describes and are independent of anything done or not done under article 40.
6. What has already changed, and what is being revised
State Council Order No. 841（《国务院关于出境入境管理的规定》）was adopted on 2026-06-29, dated 2026-07-22, published 2026-07-31 and has been in force since 2026-09-15. Its article 3 requires the grounds stated for an application for exit, entry, stay or residence to be true and lawful, and makes an entity or individual issuing an invitation letter or other application materials responsible for the authenticity of what is certified. That is relevant here because both halves of article 40 are performed by someone other than the person concerned, on the strength of a document — a birth certificate or a death certificate — that the authority does not itself issue.
7. Who runs into this, and how it is used
- Misconception: registration for a baby born in China is handled where the birth took place. In fact: article 40, paragraph 1 names the authority in the place where the parents stay or reside.
- Misconception: the 60-day registration gives the child a residence permit. In fact: it is a registration for stay or residence; article 30 is a separate mechanism running 30 days from entry, for a person entering on a visa that requires a permit.
- Misconception: after a death, the hospital, the employer or a funeral service deals with the permit. In fact: article 40, paragraph 2 names the family members, guardian or authorised representative, and does not rank them; unless one of them acts, the duty is unperformed.
- Misconception: cancelling the permit affects who inherits. In fact: succession opens at death under article 1121 of the Civil Code and the estate is fixed at that moment; cancellation is an administrative step and changes nothing in the estate.
- On a birth, identify the authority by reference to where the parents stay or reside, and diarise the 60-day period from the date of birth rather than from the date the birth certificate is issued.
- Check whether the same event alters a registered particular of a parent's residence permit under article 33, paragraph 1, which carries its own 10-day deadline under paragraph 2.
- On a death, confirm which of the persons named in article 40, paragraph 2 is going to act, and record that decision — the alternative drafting means an assumption is not enough.
- Treat the article 40, paragraph 2 report as separate from, and not determinative of, the succession analysis; the estate is fixed by article 1122 of the Civil Code at the moment of death.
- Where a legacy is involved, note the 60-day period in article 1124, paragraph 2 of the Civil Code, which runs on its own trigger.
- Laws and Regulations for Foreign Nationals in China — the provision-by-provision index.
- Entry, Stay, Residence, Permanent Residence: The Four Legal Statuses a Foreign National Holds.
- Settle · Cross-Border Marriage, Family & Children in China.
- Legacy · Wills & Succession Covering Your China Assets.
- Who Inherits What When a Foreign National Dies Holding Assets in China (forthcoming in this batch) — which law governs the estate once succession has opened.
- 《中华人民共和国出境入境管理法》, Presidential Order No. 57, in force from 2013-07-01: https://www.nia.gov.cn/n741440/n741547/c1013311/content.html （articles 30, 31, 33, 39, 40, 76, 93）
- 《中华人民共和国民法典》, in force from 2021-01-01: https://www.court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/233181.html （articles 1121, 1122, 1124）
- 《国务院关于出境入境管理的规定》, State Council Order No. 841, in force from 2026-09-15: https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/202607/content_7077172.htm （article 3）
- 《国务院2026年度立法工作计划》, 国办发〔2026〕14号: https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202605/content_7068346.htm （annex, item 11）
- Status and timing note 效力与时点提示：Verified on 2026-09-07; timing note updated 2026-09-15. Article 40 is in force. State Council Order No. 841 has been in force since 2026-09-15. The revision draft of the Law has not been published. Every procedural matter is subject to the current published requirements of the accepting authority.
This article is general legal research and does not constitute legal advice; by law, a law firm may not guarantee case outcomes. 本文为一般性法律研究，不构成法律意见；依据法律规定，律所不得承诺办案结果。
