Article 76 of China's Exit and Entry Administration Law — the Six Violations and Their Penalties

Article 76 at a glance: violation → penalty

One line per violation. The six items share the same penalty ceiling; the hotel paragraph at the end has its own.

• Refusing exit/entry document examination by police → warning + fine up to RMB 2,000 (item 1)
• Refusing to submit your residence permit for examination → warning + fine up to RMB 2,000 (item 2)
• Missing a foreigner's birth registration or death declaration formalities → warning + fine up to RMB 2,000 (item 3)
• Not altering registration when residence permit items change → warning + fine up to RMB 2,000 (item 4)
• Using another person's exit/entry documents → warning + fine up to RMB 2,000 (item 5)
• Skipping accommodation registration (the Article 39 paragraph 2 24-hour rule) → warning + fine up to RMB 2,000 (item 6)
• Hotel failing to process accommodation registration → punished under the public-security penalties law (hotel paragraph)
• Hotel failing to submit guests' registration information to police → warning; RMB 1,000–5,000 in serious cases (hotel paragraph)

The six violations, item by item

The article opens: "Under any of the following circumstances, a warning shall be given, and a fine of not more than RMB 2,000 yuan may also be imposed:" — then lists the six items below, quoted from the official English translation.

The hotel paragraph: a separate penalty line

Article 76 ends by turning to hotels — the other side of China's accommodation registration system:

• A hotel that fails to process accommodation registration for foreigners is punished under the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security — a different statute, not the RMB 2,000 cap above.
• A hotel that fails to submit foreigners' accommodation registration information to the public security organs is given a warning; where circumstances are serious, it is fined not less than RMB 1,000 yuan but not more than RMB 5,000 yuan.

This is hotel-side exposure, but it is why front desks in China insist on scanning every foreign guest's passport: reporting your stay to the police is their legal duty, with a fine range (RMB 1,000–5,000) that only bites when they skip it.

The everyday scenario: missing the 24-hour accommodation registration

For most foreign readers, the item that matters is item (6). Article 39 paragraph 2 of the same law requires that foreigners residing or staying anywhere other than a hotel — a rented apartment, their own home, a friend's place — register with the public security organ of the place of residence within 24 hours after arrival, either in person or through the persons who accommodate them. Skip that, and the violation lands in Article 76: a warning, plus a possible fine of up to RMB 2,000.

The duty itself — who registers, where, and how, including the online channels — is laid out in Article 39, the accommodation registration clause. For the step-by-step registration process, see the China accommodation registration guide or the Wuhan police registration city guide.

One boundary worth knowing: Article 76 only reaches these six lighter violations. Heavier conduct — overstaying into illegal residence, or working illegally — is punished under other articles with much steeper ranges (illegal residence, for example, brings a fine of RMB 500 per day capped at RMB 10,000, or 5–15 days' detention, in serious cases under Article 78). And decisions under a different clause entirely (granting extensions, changes and reissuances) are governed by Article 36, which makes refusal decisions final — Article 76 does not apply there.

What changed in 2026: State Council Decree No. 841

Article 76 continues to govern the six lighter violations above, but a new regulation now sits alongside it: the State Council Provisions on the Administration of Exit and Entry (Decree No. 841), adopted 2026-06-29, published 2026-07-31 and effective 2026-09-15. Its Article 5 adds a much heavier consequence for dishonesty — a separate league from Article 76's RMB 2,000 cap:

• A foreigner who provides false materials or makes false statements when applying for a Chinese visa abroad or seeking entry at a port may be barred from entry for 1 to 5 years (Decree 841, Article 5).
• Falsified stay or residence earned by fraud — visas, residence documents, passports obtained through false materials or statements — is punished under the Exit and Entry Administration Law and the Passport Law (Decree 841, Article 11).
• False invitation letters: an individual who issues a false invitation letter or other supporting material for someone's exit/entry or stay/residence application faces a fine of RMB 5,000–10,000; units face RMB 10,000–50,000 (Decree 841, Article 11).

The practical line between the two instruments: an honest mistake — a late registration, a missed alteration — lands in Article 76's warning-plus-fine band. Fabrication — fake documents, fake statements, fake invitations — is what the 2026 decree escalates to entry bars measured in years.

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