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PANDA CONCIERGEChina
PANDA CONCIERGEChina

Documents

Other administrative procedures

All these procedures share one thing: you in person, your passport and a numbered queue.

5 min readUpdated: 26 August 2026
photo: the electronic queue at an administrative centre

A bank account

Opened in person, with your passport and proof of address. Some banks also ask for a reason: a lease, a letter from an employer or a university.

The card is issued immediately; mobile banking follows once a Chinese number is linked.

A tax number and a driving licence

A tax number is needed for employment and for certain transactions; it is issued by the local tax office.

A foreign licence is not valid. The local one is obtained by sitting the theory test, with a translation and a medical certificate.

Worth knowing

Almost everywhere runs a numbered electronic queue, and the counters stop taking people before the building closes. Come in the morning.

Tip

Take more documents than the list asks for: the spare ones do no harm, a missing one means a second visit and another day.

Checked: 26 August 2026

Editor: The PANDA editorial team

What you can hand to PANDA

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