Already in Beijing and running out of days? The difference between a visa extension and a stay permit, the 7-day filing deadline, the documents, the Exit-Entry Bureau offices and hours, the fees, and what overstaying actually costs.
Almost all China travel advice stops the moment you land. This guide is for the opposite situation: you are already in Beijing, the days on your visa or your visa-free period are running out, and you would rather not fly to Seoul and back just to reset the clock. There are two separate legal routes, and turning up at the wrong counter costs you a morning. One is a visa extension (签证延期); the other is a stay permit (停留证件). Which one applies to you depends on how you entered, not on how much more time you want. Everything below is drawn from the National Immigration Administration published service guide and the Beijing municipal government English portal. Rules, offices and fees do move, so treat the bureau and the 12367 hotline as the final word.
If you entered on an actual visa — an L tourist visa, an M business visa, an F visit visa, whatever the letter — you apply to extend that visa's stay period. If you entered visa-free, on 15 days, 30 days, or the 240-hour transit scheme, there is no visa to extend; what you need is a stay permit, a separate document that can run for up to 180 days. Both are handled by the same exit-entry bureau, often at neighbouring counters, which is why people use the words interchangeably. The distinction matters because the paperwork differs: an extension asks you to prove your original reason for being here is still live, while a stay permit asks you to justify why you now need to remain. ⚠️ 待人工确认: whether the 240-hour transit scheme can be converted into a stay permit is not stated in the published rules — ask 12367 or the bureau directly, and do not assume yes.
The law is specific: an application to extend a visa's stay period must be filed at least 7 days before the stay period expires. Not 7 working days — 7 calendar days before the expiry date in your visa. In practice, start much earlier than that. The bureau accepts the application, issues a receipt, and has up to 7 working days to decide; you then collect in person with that receipt. Slip a weekend or a public holiday into either end and you are realistically looking at ten to twelve calendar days from walking in to walking out with a decision. If you file on the last permitted day and one document is missing, you have no slack left at all. Aim to walk in about two weeks before expiry.
This is where expectations need adjusting. An extension is capped twice over: once by visa category, and once by a rule most people miss. The law states that the cumulative total of extensions must not exceed the stay period your original visa granted. If your L visa gave you 60 days, the category cap of 30 days is not the binding number — the cumulative figure is. Published caps and supporting documents by category:
The base list is short: a valid passport or other international travel document; a completed Visa / Stay Permit / Residence Permit Application Form with one recent front-facing, bareheaded 2-inch colour photo against a white background; and documents supporting your reason for staying. Originals are required, not copies, and anything in a foreign language has to be translated into Chinese. The item that derails independent travellers is proof of accommodation registration (临时住宿登记). Hotels register you automatically and can print the record at reception. If you are in a serviced apartment, a friend's flat, or anything informal, you were legally required to register with the local police station within 24 hours of moving in — and if nobody did, that gap will stall your application. Fix it before you go to the bureau, not at the counter.
Beijing's official English portal is unusually direct about who can apply for a stay permit: foreigners who entered under a visa exemption and need to stay longer for non-diplomatic, non-official reasons; people who have just renounced Chinese nationality; people who need to remain for humanitarian reasons after their original purpose of residence has ended; and foreign newborn babies born in China. The documentation mirrors the extension list — passport, form with photo, a valid Beijing accommodation registration record, and documents supporting the reason you need to stay. A stay permit runs for a maximum of 180 days. Apply before your visa-free period runs out, not after: the day you tip past it, you are unlawfully present, and the entire calculation changes.
This is the main hall and the one most visitors end up at. The address is 2 Andingmen East Street, Dongcheng District, on the southeast side of Beixiaojie Bridge on the 2nd Ring Road. It handles visa extensions, stay permits and residence permit matters in one building. Arrive early in the morning — queue numbers run out and the afternoon is slower. Photo booths and print shops cluster near the entrance, so arriving without the right photo is a five-minute problem rather than a second trip.
Beijing runs a long list of district-level exit-entry and foreigner service centres, and you are not obliged to use the main hall. The ones most useful to visitors:
Fees follow a national schedule (公明发〔2011〕470号) for non-reciprocal countries: ¥160 for a zero-entry visa, ¥168 for a single-entry visa, ¥252 for a double-entry visa, ¥420 for a multiple-entry visa valid up to six months, ¥672 for a multiple-entry visa valid up to one year, and ¥160 to add or remove an accompanying person. Nationals of reciprocal countries are charged at rates set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instead, and those can be substantially different. Which line your extension falls into depends on what the bureau actually issues you, so budget in the low hundreds of yuan rather than a precise figure. ⚠️ 待人工确认: the exact fee for your specific case. There is no charge for calling the 12367 hotline.
Two things are worth internalising before you build plans on top of an extension. First, refusals are final. The law states plainly that a decision not to extend, renew or reissue an ordinary visa, or not to issue a stay or residence permit, or not to extend a period of stay, is the final decision — the regulation describes no appeal route. Second, the bureau may require an interview, by phone or in person, and failing to attend it without good reason is itself grounds for refusal. The substantive grounds include the Article 21 list: a previous deportation or removal order still inside its bar period, certain serious public-health grounds, activity considered harmful to national security or public order, false statements or an inability to cover your costs in China, and missing documents. Officers also hold a catch-all — other circumstances in which the visa authority considers issuance inappropriate. The practical response is unglamorous: bring more documentation than you think is necessary, and keep a real exit plan in your back pocket.
Overstaying is not a grey area, and the penalties escalate in published tiers. Ten days or less beyond your permitted stay: a warning. Between ten and sixty days: ¥500 for each day of unlawful stay, counted from the eleventh day, capped at ¥10,000 in total, or five days' detention. More than sixty days: a ¥10,000 fine, or five to fifteen days' detention. The thresholds are tighter if you entered visa-free and stayed past your visa-free period without obtaining a stay permit: up to twenty days brings the ¥500-a-day fine or five days' detention, and beyond twenty days it is ¥10,000 or five to fifteen days' detention. Deportation is an available response to unlawful stay, and a deported person is barred from re-entering for one to five years. If you are already past your date, go to the bureau rather than waiting for it to resolve itself — and expect knock-on problems at hotel check-in, on trains and at the airport while your status is unresolved.