Health check at enrolment in China: Article 39 of Order No. 42

Yes. There is a health step after you arrive, and Order No. 42 attaches it to enrolment rather than to the visa. Article 39 of the Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students (Ministry of Education Order No. 42, issued jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security, in force from 1 July 2017) says that international students shall, at enrolment and in accordance with the rules of China's health administration department, go to the Chinese health and quarantine authority to have the Foreigner Physical Examination Record confirmed, or undergo a physical examination.

What Article 39 actually requires

Two things, and the wording gives you the choice between them: either the confirmation of the record you already carry, or an examination. The article states the requirement and nothing more — it does not list the tests, name clinics, or set a fee, and this page will not supply any of that from practice.

The article does state the consequence. If the examination confirms that the student has one of the conditions named in the Exit and Entry Administration Law, the public security authority handles the case according to law.

The English rendering of Order No. 42 and of the National Immigration Administration service guide used on this page is this site's translation of the Chinese text.

The conditions named in the Law

The Law lists them in Article 21(2), in the provisions on when a visa shall not be issued: serious mental disorders, infectious tuberculosis, or other infectious diseases that may severely jeopardize the public health. That is the list Article 39 of Order No. 42 points to.

Be careful with what the Law text does and does not cover. Article 21 is about visa issuance — the Law text published by the National Immigration Administration does not set out what happens to a person already inside China who is found to have one of these conditions. Order No. 42 says only that the public security authority handles the case according to law, and does not describe the handling.

The same three conditions appear in the residence permit guide

This is where the enrolment step meets your paperwork. The National Immigration Administration service guide for residence permits states that where a foreigner's visa notes that a residence permit is required after entry, the application must be made within 30 days of entry to the exit-entry administration of the public security organ at the intended place of residence. For a residence permit valid for more than one year, the applicant must submit a health certificate issued by the local health quarantine department or by a health or medical department at county level or above, confirming that the applicant does not have serious mental disorder, infectious tuberculosis, or other infectious diseases that may cause major harm to public health.

So the health certificate is not a general requirement in the guide: it is tied to permits with a validity of over one year. The 30-day period runs from the day of entry, not from enrolment. The guide does not say how long the certificate stays valid.

For the wider sequence of steps after landing, see the site's after-arrival page.

Questions people ask

Do I still have to do this if I had a physical examination before applying for the visa?

The official texts do not answer this. Order No. 42 sets the enrolment step as a requirement; the Law and the residence permit guide do not say whether an earlier examination replaces the confirmation of the Foreigner Physical Examination Record. Ask the school that admitted you.

Who issues the health certificate for the residence permit?

The local health quarantine department, or a health or medical department at county level or above, according to the service guide. The guide does not name individual facilities.

Does the enrolment check decide whether my residence permit is issued?

Neither text says that. Order No. 42 gives the consequence of a confirmed condition as handling by the public security authority according to law; the residence permit guide lists the health certificate among the documents for permits over one year. Neither document states a rule linking one to the other.

Sources

• Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students, Order No. 42, Ministry of Education
• Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, National Immigration Administration
• Service guide for issuing, extending, replacing and reissuing foreigners' residence permits, National Immigration Administration

Checked 11 October 2026. This page is an unofficial summary, not legal or immigration advice, and not published by the bodies named; where it differs from the official text or from the instructions of the visa office or exit-entry office handling your case, those prevail.