China's Real-Name System for Foreigners: Every Checkpoint and How to Pass It

Questions fréquentes

Does a foreigner need real-name registration in China?

Yes — for foreigners, real-name registration in China is unavoidable in five everyday scenarios: buying a SIM card, buying train tickets, staying overnight (hotel or private address), unlocking a payment wallet, and sending a courier package. All are legal obligations on the services, not app policies, and every one accepts a passport as the identity document. The why layer of the system is one mechanism; this page maps where you'll physically hit it.

How do I register on 12306 with a foreign passport?

Choose "passport" as your document type when registering on 12306.cn or in the app, with your name entered exactly as the passport prints it. New foreign-passenger accounts start in a "to be verified" state: 12306's official FAQ says you take the valid original passport used to buy the ticket to the ticket counter at the station for ID verification, after which booking works normally. One passport buys only one ticket for the same train on the same date. Last verified November 2026 against the official 12306 English FAQ; the per-step walkthrough is in our 12306 guide for foreigners.

Can I buy a Chinese SIM card with a foreign passport?

Yes — SIM registration requires your passport in person at a carrier store (20–30 minutes), and foreign passports are accepted at all three major carriers. Anti-fraud caps limit you to 5 SIMs per carrier, 10 total. Hong Kong is a separate system: its SIM real-name regime only took full effect in 2023, and visitors register through the operator's portal instead of a store counter.

Do I have to register my accommodation in China?

If you sleep in a hotel, no — the hotel registers every foreign guest and reports it to police within 24 hours. Anywhere else (rented flat, friend's place, your own home), you or your host must register with the local public security organ within 24 hours of arrival, per Article 39 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law. Skipping it risks a warning and a fine of up to RMB 2,000. Online registration via the NIA 12367 app, WeChat and Alipay mini programs, or s.nia.gov.cn has the same legal effect — full walkthrough in our accommodation registration guide.

Do I need to show ID to send a package in China?

Yes, when you send one. Under the Interim Regulations on Express Delivery (amended 2025), courier companies must check the sender's identity and register it, and must refuse the shipment if you won't show ID — your passport is the valid document for foreigners. Receiving a package at an address needs no ID check; the obligation sits on the sender side. Last verified November 2026.

Is real-name registration different in Hong Kong?

Yes — one country, two real-name systems. Hong Kong only required SIM card real-name registration from March 2022 (fully enforced by February 2023, per the city's Communications Authority), has no platform-level real-name obligation for apps or payments, and local MTR rides are anonymous. The exception that matters for travelers: Guangzhou–Shenzhen– Hong Kong High Speed Rail tickets are real-name on both ends, and at West Kowloon your passport is checked against your ticket under mainland border procedures inside the HK terminal.

Quick answer: your passport is the key to every checkpoint

Quick Summary: China’s real-name rules reach five everyday scenarios — buying a SIM card, booking train tickets, sleeping anywhere, paying with a wallet app, and sending a package. Every checkpoint accepts your passport as the identity document: show it at the carrier store, verify it once on 12306, let hotels register you automatically, register your own address within 24 hours if you don’t stay in a hotel, and hand it to the courier when you ship something. None of these require a Chinese ID card, and only the private-address registration has a hard deadline (24 hours).

This page is the scenario layer: what each checkpoint asks for and the passport path through it. The system-level “why” — which laws mandate this and how the three verification tiers work — lives in our Real-Name Verification guide.

The real-name scenario matrix

Scenario	What it wants	Your passport path	Deep dive
Buying a SIM card	Real-name registration, in person	Passport registered at the store; 20–30 min; caps: 5 SIMs per carrier, 10 total	SIM registration rules
Train tickets (12306 or station)	Real-name ticketing — one ID, one ticket per train per day	Register 12306 with your passport; “to be verified” accounts fix it at a station counter with the original passport	12306 passport verification
Hotel check-in	Physical passport, every guest, every night	Nothing to do — the hotel registers you and reports to police within 24 hours	Accommodation registration
Staying not in a hotel	You or your host register with police within 24 hours of arrival	Online via NIA 12367 app, WeChat/Alipay mini programs, or s.nia.gov.cn — same legal effect as in person	Accommodation registration
Alipay / WeChat Pay	In-app identity verification to unlock the full wallet	Passport verification inside the app (sometimes + face scan)	Alipay identity verification · WeChat Pay passport step
Sending a package	Sender identity check + registration; refusal = no pickup	Show your passport to the courier; receiving needs no ID	—

One pattern covers the whole table: wherever a Chinese local would hand over a 身份证 (ID card), you hand over your passport — services literally label the option “passport” in their flows.

SIM cards: registered to you, in person

China has required every SIM card to be registered to a named person since 2013, and there is no anonymous tier. The process for a foreigner is simple but physical: walk into a carrier store (China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom — all three accept passports), show your original passport, and the clerk registers it to your name in 20–30 minutes. Anti-fraud rules cap registration at 5 SIMs per carrier and 10 across all carriers per passport — far more than any visitor needs, but worth knowing if you juggle data SIMs and a long-term number.

The SIM card guide covers carrier choice, tourist plans, and the registration fine print; the phone number guide explains why that registered +86 number then becomes your identity anchor across Chinese apps. For the harder cases — services that reject foreign numbers entirely — see the OTP verification guide’s hard-cases section.

Train tickets: 12306 passport registration, step by step

China’s railway runs real-name ticketing: your identity document is your ticket, and the official 12306 FAQ states plainly that “foreign passengers can purchase real-name tickets with valid passports.” The mechanics for foreigners:

1. Register a 12306 account (website or app) with “passport” as the document type and your name exactly as the passport prints it.
2. Clear the verification state. New foreign-passenger accounts enter a “to be verified” status. The official fix, per 12306’s FAQ: bring the original passport to a station ticket counter for ID verification. Once verified, the account books normally. (Last verified November 2026.)
3. Book and board with the passport itself. One passport buys one ticket per train per date; at the station you pass gates with the physical passport, no paper ticket needed on e-ticket routes.

The full flow, including Trip.com as the no-verification shortcut and station-window fallbacks, is in the China train tickets guide.

Hotels and accommodation registration: hotels handle it, apartments don’t

Hotel check-in demands your physical passport — every guest, every night — because the hotel is legally doing your registration for you: it checks your ID, registers the stay, and submits the record to the local police within 24 hours. You do nothing beyond handing over the passport.

The obligation flips the moment you sleep anywhere else. Article 39 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law requires that a foreigner staying in a non-hotel residence — a rented apartment, a friend’s home, your own place — or the person hosting them registers with the local public security organ within 24 hours of arrival. Skipping it is enforceable: a warning and a fine of up to RMB 2,000. Since late September 2026 the registration can be done entirely online — the NIA 12367 app, WeChat and Alipay mini programs, or s.nia.gov.cn — with the same legal effect as walking into a police station. Materials, deadlines, and the update-after-new-visa rules are covered step by step in the accommodation registration guide.

Payment apps: wallet verification with your passport

Alipay and WeChat Pay both run a passport verification flow inside the app — it’s what moves you from “foreign card with limits” to a fully functional wallet, and it’s the payment-tier instance of the same real-name system. Expect a passport details step, sometimes a face scan, and occasional name-matching quirks if your card and passport spell your name differently. Walkthroughs: Alipay identity verification and WeChat Pay setup, step 3; the overall payment setup lives in the how-to-pay guide.

Sending packages: courier real-name rules

Handing a package to a courier triggers the checkpoint. The Interim Regulations on Express Delivery — amended by State Council decree in April 2025, so the rule is current — require courier companies to check the sender’s identity and register it, and to refuse shipment from anyone who won’t show ID or gives false details. For a foreigner that document is your passport; couriers accept it as the valid identity document under the real-name shipping measures. Letters and pre-approved corporate shippers are the only carve-outs. Receiving packages at an address involves no ID check — the obligation sits with the sender. (Last verified November 2026.)

Mainland vs Hong Kong: one idea, two systems

Cross the border and the architecture changes. Hong Kong has its own, younger and narrower real-name regime:

	Mainland China	Hong Kong
SIM cards	Real-name since 2013; registered in person at purchase	Real-name only since 2022 — the Telecommunications (Registration of SIM Cards) Regulation took effect 1 September 2021, with registration required from 1 March 2022 and full enforcement by 23 February 2023; visitors register via the operator’s portal with a travel document (per the OFCA)
Train tickets	Real-name on all trains, passport accepted	Local MTR rides are anonymous — no ID at the gate. High Speed Rail cross-boundary trains are the exception: real-name ticketing with your passport as the travel document (per MTR’s real-name policy)
Apps and payments	Platform-level real-name obligations; wallet verification for full features	No equivalent platform real-name regime; wallets verify for payment features only

West Kowloon: real-name tickets at the one-terminal border

The Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High Speed Rail is where the two systems meet, and it’s real-name at both ends: 12306’s official FAQ explicitly includes cross-boundary trains to and from Hong Kong West Kowloon in its real-name ticketing scope, and MTR’s policy states that identification documents must be presented and verified for all ticket purchases, with each document valid for one ticket per train per date — the same one-ID-one-ticket rule as the mainland. Practically: book with your passport (via 12306, MTR, or an agency), and at West Kowloon you clear both border crossings inside the single terminal under co-location arrangements, with the passport that bought the ticket in hand. (Last verified November 2026.)

Related Guides

• Real-Name Verification in China: How It Works for Foreigners — the why: laws, tiers, and privacy picture
• Chinese SIM Card for Foreigners — carrier choice and registration fine print
• Chinese Phone Number for Verification (OTP) — when a foreign number isn’t enough
• China Train Tickets Guide — 12306 setup, Trip.com, and boarding
• China Accommodation Registration in 24 Hours — materials, online channels, penalties
• How to Pay in China — wallet setup from scratch

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Part of the Chinese Internet Survival Guide. Scenario rules as of November 2026: 12306 flows per the official 12306 English FAQ, accommodation per the Exit and Entry Administration Law and NIA’s online-service rollout, courier per the Interim Regulations on Express Delivery (2025 amendment), Hong Kong per OFCA and MTR official pages — the in-app or at-counter flow is always the source of truth.