Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) has fully functioned and launched a package of services for immigration administration, including a variety of immigration services for foreign nationals such as certificate processing, customs clearance, information release, consultation and Q&A, and assistance in medical aid. As of February 7, NIA has provided services for over 1,600,000 people, which was applauded by foreign business associations, organizations and foreign nationals in China.

With an effort to resolve practical problems during the epidemic such as travel of foreign nationals and asymmetric information, NIA took immediate action to compile and publish the Public Prevention of Pneumonia Caused by Novel Coronavirus in six languages including English, Russian, French, German, Japanese and Korean, and an English version of Questions and Answers by National Immigration Administration Concerning Immigration and Exit-Entry Administration during the Period of Prevention and Control on Pneumonia caused by Novel Coronavirus. Thanks to NIA's proactive offering of the above information via its official website, Weibo and WeChat accounts, foreign nationals staying or permanently residing in China were able to have access to knowledge on epidemic prevention and entry-exit policies.

NIA also set up a 24-hour hotline and an email account for government service in a timely manner, and launched an online mini program for real-time entry and exit information to answer questions from Chinese and foreign nationals. Officials from the embassies of the United States and Germany in China sent letters to extend their gratitude. BOTHA, a foreign teacher from South Africa working in Dalian, Liaoning, said that for him, his family and friends, the information released by the Chinese immigration administration departments addressed their questions about recent entry and exit issues. After receiving the Public Prevention of Pneumonia Caused by Novel Coronavirus and getting well informed of information on self-protection, Michael, another foreign teacher from Ireland who works in Wuhan, gave up his chance to return to Ireland, deciding to stand by Wuhan in fighting against the epidemic and applauding the heart-warming gestures of the Chinese government in his article published in The Irish Times.

With regards to the special circumstances during the epidemic, according to the arrangement of the NIA, services were provided to facilitate visa extension as well as stay or residence permit processing for foreign nationals. For any foreign national who, due to the epidemic, fails to apply for stay or residence permit in time and overstays, lighter, mitigated or no punishment would be imposed in accordance with the law. The exit and entry authority also provides expedited services for emergency entry document processing, and online and delivery services for universities, scientific research institutions, enterprises and public organizations with a larger number of foreign nationals. Real-time port visa services are provided for foreign experts who come to China for epidemic response.

Statistics shows that, since January 23, the local entry and exit management departments have processed over 1,200 cases of expedited certificate applications and over 4,000 cases of expedited certificate production and issuance for foreign nationals, besides offering delivery service for over 300 foreign nationals. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister of Czech Republic spoke highly of NIA's efforts in expediting the entry and exit document processing and facilitating entry and exit for the Czech citizens, and, in their letters of thanks forwarded by the Chinese Embassy in Czech, applauded the high efficiency of Chinese immigration officers and NIA.

During the epidemic, NIA and the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China jointly released a notice on the ports' joint response to COVID-19, supporting health authorities in the delivery of exit and entry medical inspection for foreign nationals, and assisting with the safe departure of interim flights. Foreign nationals from many countries including Japan, India and South Korea extended their gratitude via WeChat for the spirit of international cooperation and humanitarian aid of the Chinese government during the special time.

Notice: The English version is only for reference. To learn more, please refer to the authoritative Chinese version.