Getting through the Exit-Entry Bureau: Explaining why you're here and showing your passport

🇨🇳 Say this as you hand something over, ideally with both hands, which comes across as respectful at an official counter.

💬 Question words like 什么 stay in the same spot the answer would go, so no reordering is needed. Answer by just replacing it: 来中国工作 "come to China to work".

🇨🇳 Officers ask this to check that your stated purpose matches your visa type. Keep your answer short and direct, e.g. work, study or visiting family.

💬 The place comes before the action: 在这儿 "here" goes before 工作 "work", not after it as in English. The same order gives 我在北京学习 "I study in Beijing".

💬 Putting 吗 at the end turns any statement into a yes/no question. The subject "you" is simply dropped because it's obvious.

🇨🇳 This usually means a letter from your employer with the company stamp. An unstamped document is often not accepted.

💬 Chinese has no single word for "yes". You answer by repeating the verb of the question, so 有吗? gets 有 and the "no" answer is 没有 (méi yǒu).

💬 这儿 (zhèr) ends in the northern "r" sound. In southern China you'll often hear 这里 (zhè lǐ) with the same meaning.

💬 什么时候 (shén me shí hou) sits right before the verb, not at the start of the sentence: 你什么时候来? "When are you coming?"

💬 到期 (dào qī) literally means "reach the date". It's used for anything that runs out on a deadline: visas, leases, contracts and memberships.

💬 In speech, dates use 号 (hào) after the number, while written forms use 日 (rì). For example, 五号 means "the fifth".

💬 Chinese dates go from big to small: month first, then day. For example, 三月十号 means "March 10th".

💬 下 means "next" and 上 means "last": 上个月 "last month", 下个星期 "next week". Note that 个 stays neutral and unstressed here (ge).

💬 齐 (qí) means "all present, complete", and 了 marks that this is now the case. The same pattern gives 人齐了 "everyone's here".

🇨🇳 This is the sentence you hope to hear. Missing paperwork usually means coming back another day, so bring copies of everything.

💬 材料 (cái liào) literally means "materials". In offices it means the whole stack of required paperwork, such as forms, photos and copies.

💬 A number needs a counting word before the noun, so it's 十个工作日 (shí gè gōng zuò rì), not 十工作日. Likewise, 三个人 means "three people".

🇨🇳 Working days skip weekends and public holidays. Over Golden Week or Spring Festival, this wait can stretch to a month.

💬 来 + verb means "come in order to do": 来取 means "come to collect". Another example is 来看你 "come to see you".

🇨🇳 Your passport stays with the bureau while it's processed, and you get a receipt to show instead. Keep that receipt safe; you'll need it for hotels and to collect your passport.

💬 不 stays (bù) here because 客 is a falling tone, so it's actually (bú kè qi).

🇨🇳 慢走 (màn zǒu) literally means "walk slowly". It's a polite send-off said by the person staying behind, often staff to a departing visitor; you don't say it back.