(I am writing this mostly as a reminder to myself, in case I ever have to do this again.)

If you want to apply for a residence permit in China, you have to obtain a Foreigner Health Certificate to prove that you are healthy and free of all kinds of diseases. There are two ways to do so:

  1. Go to your local International Travel Healthcare Center and get checked for all kinds of diseases. Costs about 650 RMB.

  2. Go to your local general practitioner, get all the necessary checks done and documented on this form and later in China, go to the local International Travel Healthcare Center and hope that they will accept and verify your own GP’s examination results. Costs 60 RMB (plus whatever you had to pay your GP, of course).

I opted for option 2, even though I hear that option 1 is very convenient and takes at most half a morning to complete (at least in Beijing, where I am currently).

The Examination

You will have to get X-Ray images of your lungs to make sure you do not have tuberculosis, blood tests for HIV and other diseases as well as an electro cardiogram taken. Make sure that your doctor puts official looking stamps on all your documents and that he or she also attaches the original reports of all the examinations, preferably also stamped.

Don’t forget to also check which blood type you have! I nearly forgot and had to buy a do-it-yourself test in a pharmacy two days before departure, which didn’t help to lower my general level of stress before moving to China.

Getting There

Actually, getting to the Beijing International Travel Healthcare Center Haidian was one of the major challenges. I ended up taking a taxi there, but it is actually quite easy to take the bus, too, if you know where it departs.

Especially for SDC PhD students, the information you get is slightly confusing and taking the bus in China can be daunting if you don’t speak and read the language. The official SDC guide to the International Travel Healthcare Center tells you to take bus 333 and get off after 16 stops. I already had trouble figuring out which direction the bus was going in the first place.

However, I found it much more convenient to take Line 13 to Xi’erqi station, which is just a few stops north from Zichunlu station. When you arrive, take exit B2 and follow the crowds across the square. To your right you’ll see a huge car bridge and on the left, there’ll be a few shops and restaurants.

After about 150 meters, there’s a small pedestrian bridge. Instead of crossing it, take the stairs to your right down to the street where there are a number of bus stops. Right beneath the pedestrian bridge, there is a bus stop for bus line 963. This bus takes you right to the entrance of the International Travel Healthcare Center. Stay on it for eight stops. You can recognize the stop by a small convenience store that has a reversed McDonald’s M as its logo.

The Healthcare Center is on the other side of the street. Opposite where you got off is the stop for bus line 963 from where you can get back to Xi’erqi station.

When you arrive back at Xi’erqi station, remember to get some Jianbing from the street food kitchen on your right, they’re really good!

The Verification

  1. Fill in the form. If you don’t have all the necessary information, smile at the counter and tell them that you simply don’t have a mailing-address or phone number or whatever yet. Wasn’t a problem for me at least.

  2. Go to one of the counters and make sure they get right away that you have already been examined by your own GP.

  3. Go to the small reception on the left and pay the fee.

  4. Go to back to the main counter with a separate lane and hand in all the documents you just got five minutes earlier. You’ll get a pick-up slip which you’ll have to hand in to get your certificate.

Because I had been warned that the verification can be quite a gamble (some people had to re-do the entire verification, others, like me, just went through), and since examinations are only conducted in the morning between 9 and 11 am, I decided to go early to make sure that I’d only have to go there once. The downside is that pick-up hours are only in the afternoon from 2 to 4 pm, so you’ll have to choose whether you want to stay around and wait (it is otherwise pretty dead around that area) or if you want to go back to university or work or home and then take the tour again.

Bottom Line

No bottom line! I feel like a playing ball of bureaucracy, but it also feels great to be officially deemed healthy. Now I can finally apply for my residence permit!

tl; dr

Take line 13 to Xi’erqi station. Take B2 exit, keep going south until staircase. At the bottom of the staircase, take bus line 963 for eight stops.