Police send expats reminder texts to renew visas

Over 900 expatriates got a reminder via text message to renew their visa and accommodation registration yesterday from the exit-entry administration.

"The 900 are those whose visa or residence registration will expire a month from today," Lin Song, media officer from the Beijing Exit-Entry Administration said yesterday.

The number of expats who failed to renew documents legally entitling them to stay in China in the past two years is "huge," said Lin, though he refused to reveal the exact figure.

"Most cases resulted from carelessness so we'd like to provide the service to prevent them from getting warnings or being fined," said Lin.

Feng Yong, an officer with the Haidian District Exit-Entry Administration Division said merely getting a warning message does not mean people are at risk of deportation.

It is not uncommon that foreigners fail to renew visas and registrations in Haidian, said Feng, and local police report these cases to the exit-entry administration. How the reminder system will work has not been fully decided yet, he said.

All expats who have registered for a visa extension are in the database and will receive the text, which states, in English: "Your visa (or temporary residence permit) will expire in a month, please remember to renew the documents promptly."

However, some expats are worried that the messages constitute an invasion of privacy.

"It's convenient to have a reminder via SMS, but meanwhile I'm concerned about my personal information being leaked. What if I stopped using the registered cell phone number and somebody else got the text?" said Oliver Steindler, from Czech Republic.

"And I'm definitely feeling uncomfortable about the reminder being shared without my knowledge, and would be scared to have a police officer ready to knock on my door at any time," said Steindler.