Establishing a Permanent Office and Dispatching Resident Journalists in China

Currently foreign media organizations base their permanent offices and resident journalists in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou of Guangdong province and Shenyang of Liaoning province.

i. Establishing a Permanent Office 

To dispatch a resident journalist to China, foreign media organizations shall establish a permanent office in China first. A foreign media organization that applies for the establishment of a permanent office in China shall submit the following documents to the Information Department of the Foreign Ministry (the Information Department for short) directly or through a Chinese diplomatic mission abroad: 

(1) a written application (including information about the name, place of intended residence and business scope of the office to be established) signed by a principal officer in charge of the headquarters of the media organization (such as chairman, president, vice president, editor-in-chief, deputy editor-in-chief, radio/TV station president, deputy radio/TV station president, etc. ) ; 

(2) a profile of the media organization; 

(3) profiles of the head of the permanent office to be established and the journalists and staff members to be dispatched (including photocopy of passport, photocopy of journalist certificate, and CV, position and contacts details); and 

(4) a copy of the document certifying that the media organization is established in its home country (for official media organizations, the document may be issued by the competent governmatal authorities).

ii. Dispatching Resident Journalists

A foreign media organization that applies for the dispatch of a resident journalist to China shall submit the following documents to the Foreign Ministry directly or through a Chinese diplomatic mission abroad:

1. a written application (including the position, job description and city of intended residence of the journalists to be dispatched) signed by an officer in charge of the headquarters of the media organization;

2. a profile of the journalist to be dispatched (including photocopy of passport, journalist certificate , CV, contacts details, and etc);

3. a photocopy of the document certifying the professional activities of the said journalist in the home country of the media organization.

Upon approval, foreign media organizations can dispatch resident journalists to China. 

Permanent offices of foreign media organizations wishing to employ citizens of their home country or a third country as staff members, shall apply for the approval of the Information Department, and go through the procedures according to relevant laws and regulations . 

If the resident foreign journalist or staff member to be dispatched by foreign media organizations is the spouse of an employee of foreign or international organization based in China who enjoys diplomatic or consular privilege or immunity, a note submitted by the government of the dispatching country or international organization declaring that the spouse of the employee gives up the privilege and immunity shall be presented to the Information Department when making the application. With approval, the spouse of the employee shall change his passport into the ordinary type. 

Resident foreign journalists in China, their accompanying spouses and children (under 18 years old) may apply to the overseas Chinese embassies and consulates or the visa agencies authorized by the Foreign Ministry for J-1 visa. Other staff , their accompanying spouses and children shall apply for Z visas. The kinship certificate for accompanying spouses and children is required.