Our office staff just came back with news from the PSB.

Residence Permit application/extensions took 5 working days before July,,then 8,,and now they promise to get them done in a speedy 15 ! (yes fifteen) working days, not including the day you hand in the application, of course.

You must come in yourself for renewals to have your photo taken.

They also told us that documents such as wedding certificates and birth certificates must be legalized by the foreign affairs country of the documents origin and stamped by the Chinese embassy in that country. Before a Chinese version officially translated was OK.

Criminal Free Records are still required for those on working permits (就业证),, but for those on Foreign Expert Permits (外国专家证) no need any more! Yeah!

So you can't work in a factory if you have a criminal record, but professions who deal with kids such as teachers its not a problem.

Way to go PSB!

Title of the thread is inaccurate. Those rules are already here!

Sorry, wasn't clear enough. The legalization requirements for birth certs and Wedding certs isn't in place yet, we were able to submit based on the current rules, but the new rules will come into force soon

They wanted me to have the marriage cert. certified in USA.

I was thinking that maybe our embassies can do the certification here in China. Not sure why the PSB wants us to go home for this.

Tried that too. They would not accept it after I had it done. Also, they want the certification from the CHINESE embassy in your home country (that's what they told me), which is not necessarily the same as the country where the marriage took place. We are Canadian, but married in Las Vegas, so before I have to go back and get anything certified I'm going to make damn sure which Chinese embassy they really mean or I'm going to be dealing with a multi-country trip.

Yup better check and hope they dont change their minds faster than you do the documents.

In theory....Its the foreign ministry of the country that issues the documents that chops, then the local Chinese embassy chops.

I have the impression that something strange is happening in the Visa section here in Yunnan that is causing these new requirements. Beijing for example has different rules.

Depending on what you are applying for.
If you need the document to be legalised (not just notorized) the official position on UK marriage and birth certificates is (an extract from an email I got from UK Embassy in China this month):

The marriage certificate [must be] notarised by the FCO Legalisation Office and the Chinese Embassy in London...
For information, this isn't a service we [the UK Embassy] provide in China. All legalisation of UK documents must takes place via the FCO Legalisation Office [in London].

This process is called authentication. In the USA it involves a regular notarization which can be done by your consulate in China or in your home country local area. Then a local county government notarization. Then a state government notorization. Then one from the Chinese consualte responsible for the state you come from. It can be quite costly and time consuming. If done singley by staff I budget about $800usd per document in the USA. I do four different ones per year. Again, the implementation of the new rules and regulations are decided locally by province generally guided by Beijing ways. Often what you say in your application and what supporting documents you present can make a difference in how the rules are applied to your case. This goes for what your Chinese staff does when applying. A really knowledgable person knows how to intrepret the on-line guides and forms for each agency. It not just fill in the blanks the same each year. It is important to note that your country often does simular things to foreigners (Chinese) in your country. In the UK the work visa situation changed in recent years.

We had to "authenticate" passport with an "Apostille" had copcertified and notarized - - then to California Secretary of State then to Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles. All, of course, had to be done in U.S.

Getting tougher!!