If you have had a family visa/residence permit issued recently, how long before the deadline do you need to apply?

One month.

Shit!

My visa expires in May. The officer told us 1 month is recommended but not mandatory. If you got all your documents

and go to the PSB 2 weeks ahead of your visa expiry date, you should be fine.

The residence permit can be extended a few days before it expires, but to extend that permit the main application needs to have their work permit extended first.

If you are applying for family reasons, there is no work permit.

you can do it the day before but they dont like it when you do, but when I did mine just recently I picked it up 3 weeks later I imagine as long as you have at least the amount of time left as your pick up date will be you should have no issue

When you did it last time, was it the day before? Someone did bring theirs in 5 days before and was rejected, although that was 2-3 years ago, and it was in Kunming.
Two days before is still not a problem in Shanghai.