hello i live in kunming now for 1 year and i got married in december,because i am married i have a visa for 1 year,every month the nearby policestation calls my wife to tell her i have to come down to the office and fill in my signature,i have asked my loawai friends ive they have to do this but they havent.does anybody know why i have to do this

Im also married to a Chinese woman, and I've never had to do this. I've also never heard of any other foreign resident here who has, except you. Do you know what it is you are actually signing, and have you asked them why you are having to do this each month? And did it only start after you got married?

That's strange. What's the reason for you signing in every month. Did you ask? I only go once when I get my new visa to have them register it. Seems odd. Been married close to 4 years now.

I remember once the police came to ask us to sign,,they then at the same time asked us to sign for the last year for all the times they should have comeand checked,,but were too lazy to.

It sounds like your police station is not used to laowai and is following the rules,,most likely they will relax at some stage.

It might be something to do with your nationality. What nationality are you?

i am dutch and you are right i have to ask what i sign but as soon as i open my mouth they say ting bu dong.i think yuantongsi is right and i hope it will slowly fade out

Take your wife and have her talk nicely to the police man. Don't ask questions...just let them gossip. Helped in our case. If it does not help - just ignore them and don't show up again. They will eventually get bored. This will in no way affect your visa.

moondog,

have you ask your wife what is this your signing every month? if she isnt alarmed about it anyway it think its safe.

but it wouldnt hurt to know what your signing.

I'm wondering if it's confusion over your visa status - if we're semi-permanent residents - the police are required to check annually. If you're on a tourist or similar visa - they need to check monthly. If you're here on a marriage visa and don't have a verifiable job - the police are most probably wondering about your source of income - their fear is you're involved in illegal activities.

One way to get around this - is just go to the police station voluntarily at the beginning of each month and ask them to sign the document they always want you to sign (write the name of the document down). They'll have to look up your record, check if you've signed the most recent document, then tell you it's not ready yet and give you a date to come back. Do this enough - and you'll become a pest - they'll eventually ASK you to NOT come back. If they ask why you're there - just tell them someone called your wife and said you need to come down and sign that document (yes, lie).

The best way to deal with bureaucrats is to out-bureaucrat them - but always be polite - that's part of the game. You can also try the "ting budeng" trick a couple of times at appropriate times during your impromptu meetings, just to be mutually annoying.

They'll have to spend time retrieving your file, looking up the document. Depending on your chinese level, try engaging the clerks in conversation - from simple weather questions to more cool stuff, like how many foreigners are registered at this office, do they have problems with any foreigners, what kind of problems - have they met any cool foreigners, why are they cool, ask about their job, what kind of training do they need to get this job, how long have they worked here, are they married, do they have kids, what kinds of things do they do with their kids on holidays, where do they shop for toys, clothes, etc etc...

Maybe invite the head or supervisor out to dinner with your wife - get to know them better (but be careful with this). If your school or work has a public event - invite them to attend as your guest - introduce them to important people...but again be careful with this...make sure as much as possible, that they're normal people (not complicated).

Not sure about that. We are here on L class (tourist) visas with 6 month expiry. We only go in every 6 months to renew the visas and have never been asked to come in earlier.