First 30 daysDriving licence conversion for foreign holders
Driving licence conversion for foreign holders
An International Driving Permit is not enough on its own. Convert if you will live here. Apply for a temporary permit if you need to drive in the first weeks.
- 01
Book through 12123. Foreign residents apply where they live or stay.
- 02
Passport and visa or residence permit, police registration, the original overseas licence, a certified translation if it is not in Chinese, a medical check, photographs.
- 03
Ordinary cars usually sit Subject 1 (theory). Window addresses: confirm on 12123 the morning you go.
- 04
A temporary permit is same-day at the listed windows, including airport desks whose hours are not a blog timetable.
- 05
Qingpu Eurocampus, Huacao SAS and villa belts need this in the same week as the lease. A walkable Former French Concession household can convert later.
Housing The full steps, official English pages and dates live on the driving page.
Official sources
First 30 days
- Furniture: buying, renting or shippingMost Shanghai leases are empty. For a two-to-three-year posting, renting the core pieces usually beats buying them and shipping them home.
- Hiring an ayiTwo working adults, a villa, a school-bus pickup — without an ayi the corridor is the wrong one. A live-in ayi takes a bedroom. Ask at the viewing.
- How to read a school calendarA housing year follows the school year, not the Chinese public-holiday table. Open the school’s own Calendar page.
Each guide gives the official process with source links and effective dates, plus the pitfalls we have recorded from real cases. Anything requiring a licence is referred to registered providers only.
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Tell us the school, the dates, and the corridor you are looking at.