Your First 30 Days in China: Airport to Campus Card

Anything you cannot afford to lose should stay in your carry-on. Start with the originals and copies named in your Admission Notice, visa checklist, and university registration guide. This commonly includes your passport and visa, Admission Notice, study-visa form, academic documents, and any medical or scholarship records the university tells you to bring.

Do not copy another university's list. Shanghai University's current 2026 registration notice, for example, names the Admission Notice, JW form, passport and visa pages, accommodation registration, academic originals, language evidence, insurance, signed notices, and—where applicable—scholarship or CSCA records (official notice). Your university may ask for a different set.

Also keep the university's Chinese address, registration dates, emergency contact, pickup reservation, housing confirmation, and a payment method you have tested. Carry enough accessible funds for your own travel and first expenses, but check customs and currency rules rather than relying on a universal cash amount.

Download an offline translation tool and the maps or communication apps recommended by the university before travel. See our Phone & Internet chapter for a planning checklist.

Follow the border officer's instructions, then collect your luggage and use the transport plan confirmed by your university.

Airport pickup is not universal and may require advance booking. Shanghai University currently offers free and paid Pudong Airport pickup options through pre-registration, while Beijing Normal University tells incoming students to reserve pickup in its service system (Shanghai University; Beijing Normal University). Those examples do not prove that your university, airport, arrival date, or extra passenger is covered.

Confirm the terminal, meeting point, booking deadline, luggage limit, cost, contact number, delay policy, and backup route before flying. Save the campus address in Chinese and use official airport transport information if the pickup is unavailable.

Register on the dates and at the campus printed in your Admission Notice. If you cannot arrive on time, contact the university before the deadline and obtain written instructions.

The sequence varies, but the written guide may include:

• online pre-registration and housing confirmation;
• identity, visa, Admission Notice, JW/DQ, academic, language, scholarship, or CSCA checks;
• temporary-residence registration and insurance;
• tuition, housing, deposit, or other published payments;
• health-certificate verification and residence-permit instructions;
• orientation, student registration, and campus-card setup.

Pay only through an official university channel and obtain a receipt. Shanghai University's 2026 notice separates online pre-registration from two stated onsite registration days and lists the evidence it will check (official notice). Use that as an example of why your own intake guide matters, not as a national sequence.

If your student visa requires a residence permit after entry, apply within 30 days of entry through the competent local exit-entry authority. Shenzhen's current government service page states that rule for qualifying student-visa holders (official guidance).

Do not assume that the university files everything for you. It may organize appointments or provide documents, while you may still need to appear, submit your passport, complete a health check, or pay the government fee. Shanghai's official student FAQ lists the passport, Admission Notice, JW form, health certificate, and temporary-residence registration among the materials and also states that temporary residence must be registered within 24 hours (official FAQ).

Processing time, permit duration, documents, fees, passport retention, and travel consequences depend on the local authority and your case. Follow the university and exit-entry office instructions, keep the application receipt, and ask before making travel plans while your passport or application is being processed.

A health certificate or local verification may be required for the residence-permit process, but acceptance of an overseas examination and the need for extra tests depend on the current consular, university, health-centre, and local exit-entry instructions.

Use the official form and complete every item requested by your route. Keep the original form, laboratory reports, image reports, signed medical evidence, and copies in your carry-on. Do not add tests or invent a national fee based on another student's experience.

Shanghai's official student-visa FAQ lists a health certificate for the residence-permit application, while individual universities publish their own arrival and appointment instructions (official FAQ). Our physical examination guide explains how to verify the current checklist.

Housing is offer-specific. Your award or admission documents should state whether accommodation is included, subsidized, assigned, reservable, or paid separately. Confirm the campus, building, room type, roommate policy, bathroom, utilities, deposit, bedding, check-in hours, holiday rules, off-campus permission, and refund terms.

Do not assume a scholarship guarantees a single room or that a quoted housing allowance covers private rent. Beijing Normal University's 2026 arrival notice, for example, says scholarship students whose package includes on-campus accommodation will be assigned a dorm, while other incoming students use the reservation system (official notice).

Bring only the first-night essentials until you see what the room provides. Read the signed accommodation rules for visitors, cooking, electrical appliances, absences, checkout, and address registration.

Campus-card functions and payment systems differ by institution. At orientation, ask where to collect or activate the card, which services it controls, how to add funds, how to freeze a lost card, and whether a passport, student number, Chinese phone number, or local bank account is required.

Do not keep more money on the card than you can afford to lose. Save the university's official loss-reporting and replacement instructions.

There is no universal 30-day checklist beyond the legal and university deadlines that apply to you. Track temporary-residence registration, student registration, any health verification, residence-permit application, insurance, housing, phone access, payments, and course enrollment against the dates in your own documents. See Money Setup for the banking checklist.