FAQ
We regularly update this list of questions with information drawn from Chinese law, official statements, and our interviews about NGOs’ on-the-ground experiences
This series of FAQs addresses the steps necessary for a foreign NGO to register a representative office in mainland China. Under the Foreign NGO Law, there are two ways a foreign NGO is permitted to operate in mainland China: by establishing a representative office, or by filing a temporary activity. (For the steps needed to file a temporary activity, please see details in “Temporary Activity FAQs: Filing and Beyond.”)Read more
This series of FAQs addresses the steps necessary for a foreign NGO to file a temporary activity in mainland China. Under the Foreign NGO Law, there are two ways a foreign NGO is permitted to operate in mainland China: by establishing a representative office, or by filing a temporary activity. (For the steps needed to register a representative office, please see details in “Representative Office FAQs: Registering and Beyond.”)Read more
A representative office allows for the establishment of a full-time presence in mainland China. For organizations that do not require such a constant in-country presence, filing to hold a single or multiple temporary activities is an alternative way to carry out projects in China. See our FAQ series on representative offices and temporary activities for more information on each.Read more
Foreign NGO registration occurs at the level of the province, which includes five autonomous regions (Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia, and Xinjiang) and four municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing). Each province has established a location where foreign NGOs should submit paperwork related to setting up a representative office or carrying out a temporary activity. In most if not all cases, this is co-located with the province’s Public Security Bureau (PSB) Entry and Exit Administration...Read more
In conversation with The China NGO project, multiple NGOs have expressed confusion about the exact documentation required to satisfy the requirement for “proof of funding” when filing for a temporary activity. We are unaware of detailed written guidance on this point, and different foreign NGOs have reported supplying different documentation.Read more