China Health Check Certificate for a Work Permit
The health check certificate you need for a Chinese work permit is valid for six months from the date it is issued, and it must come from a customs International Travel Healthcare Centre (ITHC) — not from a hospital checkup. Published fees run roughly ¥430–2,100 ($60–295) depending on the city, the verification of an exam you had done abroad costs about ¥60, and in Beijing the examination is free if you already hold a Work Permit Notification Letter and a valid Z or R visa. If you are already in China on a valid residence permit, you very likely do not need one at all.
Three things decide whether this is a half-day errand or a three-week problem: which document you actually need, when the exam was done (six-month clock), and whether you are getting a fresh exam in China or having an overseas exam verified. Everything below is the detail behind those three.
Which document are we actually talking about?
“Health check certificate” is used loosely for at least four different pieces of paper, and asking for the wrong one is the most common way this goes wrong. They are not interchangeable.
| Document | Chinese name | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Verification certificate for overseas personnel | 境外人员体格检查记录验证证明 | Issued when a Chinese health centre checks and accepts an exam you had done abroad. This is the document most incoming hires end up holding. |
| International travel health examination certificate | 国际旅行健康检查证明书 | Issued when you take the exam in China at an ITHC. Informally called the “red book” (红皮书). |
| Physical Examination Record for Foreigner | 外国人体格检查记录（体检表） | The bilingual form the examining doctor fills in. It is an input, not the certificate. Downloadable from most Chinese embassy sites. |
| Food-handler / public health card | 健康证 | A different animal entirely — the annual card for catering, childcare and some teaching roles, issued by a local CDC or hospital. It does not satisfy the work-permit requirement, and the work-permit certificate does not satisfy it either. |
The work-permit rules themselves are agnostic about which of the first two you hold. The official document list describes the requirement as “a physical examination record verification certificate or health check certificate issued by the China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine authority for overseas personnel,” with a validity period of six months. Either route produces an acceptable certificate; what matters is that a Chinese customs health centre issued it.
Who needs one — and who is exempt
The examination requirement applies to foreigners aged 16 and over who apply for permanent residence, employment or study, or who intend to stay in China for one year or longer. It also applies to returning Chinese citizens who have lived abroad for more than three months. Under-16s can be examined at local health centres where a school or authority asks for it.
Three exemptions are worth knowing, because two of them save real money and the third catches people out:
- Renewing inside China. For work-permit applications filed domestically, holders of a valid residence permit are exempt from submitting a medical examination certificate. Most renewals therefore need no new exam.
- Applying from outside China. Where the certificate cannot be obtained before arrival, a medical examination commitment letter may be submitted instead, with the exam completed after entry.
- The under-90-day trap. The official guidance flags this explicitly: applicants obtaining a work-type residence permit of less than 90 days are still required to submit the medical examination certificate. A short assignment does not automatically mean no exam.
If you are arranging this for staff rather than for yourself, the employer-side view — who pays, what HR is entitled to see, and how this differs from a statutory occupational exam — is on our corporate health screening guide.
Two routes to the certificate
Route A — take the exam in China
You book an ITHC in the city where you will hold your permit, attend in the morning (Beijing runs examinations Monday to Friday, 08:00–11:00), and collect the certificate afterwards. Bring the appointment receipt, your passport with a photocopy of the photo page, the visa or visa-free entry page and any information-change page, and two 3.3 × 4.8 cm colour bareheaded photos taken within the past six months. For a work residence permit you also bring the employment certificate issued by the local foreign expert affairs administration; for a student permit, the admission notice or student card plus the JW201 or JW202 form.
The exam itself covers internal medicine, ENT, stomatology, an ECG, a chest X-ray, an abdominal ultrasound and laboratory work. Fast for about five hours; water is fine. Payment is normally accepted by cash, Alipay, WeChat or a Chinese bank card — a foreign credit card usually is not. Our city guides cover the actual buildings, booking channels and opening hours: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
Route B — have an overseas exam verified
If you had the exam done at home within the previous six months, following the items on the Physical Examination Record for Foreigner, you do not repeat it. You bring the originals to an ITHC and apply for verification instead — a counter process, not a medical one, with longer opening hours than the examination itself (Beijing: 08:00–11:30 and 13:30–17:00). Where items are missing, the centre adds only those items rather than starting over.
Route B is faster, cheaper and less disruptive, and it is under-used simply because most people do not know the option exists. It also fails more often, because the paperwork bar is specific.
The overseas-verification checklist
This is where applications get bounced. Every item below comes from the published requirements, and each one is a real rejection reason:
- The form. Completed in Chinese or English, with a clear issue date. Valid six months from that date.
- The photo. The examinee’s photo must be on the form and stamped with the hospital’s official seal — and it must be the same seal used elsewhere on the form.
- Signatures and seals. Examination results, the doctor’s signature and the hospital’s official seal all present.
- The original reports. An X-ray report or film, an ECG tracing or report, laboratory results covering at least HIV and syphilis, an ultrasound report, and any other original test results. A summary letter is not enough.
- Public hospital, or notarisation. The exam should be done at a local public hospital. If a private hospital or clinic did it, the report must be notarised locally first.
- Consular certification, if required. Where the report needs certification by a Chinese embassy or consulate, bring the certification proof or label with you.
- Photos again. Two identical 3.5 × 4.9 cm colour bareheaded photos taken within the past six months — note this is a different size from the examination route.
Miss any of it and the consulting physician will add examination items case by case until the file meets the verification standard, which quietly turns the cheap route into the expensive one. If your reports are not in Chinese or English, deal with that before you fly — see certified medical translation, and, if the file includes vaccination history, immunization record translation.
What it costs, city by city
There is no national price. Fees are set locally, and the spread across major cities is nearly fivefold for what is nominally the same examination — some centres also tier the fee by age. These are published figures for planning, not quotes:
| City | Examination | Verification of an overseas exam |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing | ~¥430 | ~¥60 (waived for an overseas-issued form) |
| Shenzhen | ~¥480 | Set locally — confirm at the counter |
| Guangzhou | ~¥1,100–1,700 | Set locally — confirm at the counter |
| Shanghai | ~¥1,446–2,096 (age-tiered) | Set locally — confirm at the counter |
| Suzhou (Jiangsu branch) | ~¥430 | ~¥60 certification |
Beijing’s published rules make the examination free for anyone entering to work and stay a year or more who presents the original and a photocopy of the Notification Letter of Foreigner’s Work Permit together with a valid Z or R visa page — and free for study of a year or more with an admission notice, a JW201/JW202 form and a valid X1 visa. The verification fee is likewise waived for a form issued by an overseas medical institution. This is a city-level policy rather than a national guarantee, but it costs nothing to bring the documents and ask.
Additional examination items and any vaccinations are charged on top in every city. If what you actually want is a real health assessment rather than a permit document, do not try to make this exam do both jobs — the pricing for a genuine screening is on our cost-by-hospital-type guide.
Where the certificate sits in the timeline
The sequence for a first-time hire from outside China runs roughly like this, and the health check is not at the start of it:
- 1. Work Permit Notification Letter. Applied for by the employer while you are still abroad. Either the certificate or a commitment letter is submitted at this stage.
- 2. Z visa. Issued by a Chinese embassy or consulate on the strength of the Notification Letter.
- 3. Entry. The clock starts here — official guidance asks you to complete health management procedures within 15 days of entry so that the later steps are not held up.
- 4. Health check or verification at the ITHC, if it was not completed abroad.
- 5. Foreigner’s Work Permit card, then 6. residence permit at the exit-entry administration, normally within 30 days of entry.
The practical scheduling lesson: the six-month validity window and the 15-day post-arrival deadline pull in opposite directions. An exam done far in advance to “get it out of the way” can expire mid-process; one left until after arrival collides with the fifteen-day clock and, in the bigger cities, with appointment scarcity. Two to eight weeks before departure is the comfortable window. For the exam-day mechanics as opposed to the paperwork, see our China visa medical exam guide.
If a result comes back abnormal
A finding does not automatically end the application. Where an abnormality is found and a re-examination is required, you return to the health centre with the notification of physical abnormalities, your passport and a recent photo, within the period the notification specifies. Where verification fails, the centre performs the statutory examinations needed to complete health management.
Two things are worth separating in your head. This exam is a fitness-to-reside screen — a narrow set of items, mostly infectious disease. It is not a health checkup and a clean certificate says very little about your health. Conversely, if it does flag something, that finding needs a proper clinical follow-up rather than an administrative one; what that costs and how to handle it is covered in abnormal checkup results in China.
Frequently asked questions
What is a China health check certificate?
It is the medical examination document a foreigner must submit for a Chinese work permit and residence permit. In the work-permit rules it is described as a physical examination record verification certificate or health check certificate issued by China’s entry-exit inspection and quarantine authority for overseas personnel, and it is valid for six months from issue. In practice it is issued by a customs International Travel Healthcare Centre, either after you take the exam in China or after the centre verifies an exam you had done abroad. A hospital checkup report, however thorough, is not this document.
How long is the China health check certificate valid?
Six months from the date of issue. The same six-month rule applies to a Physical Examination Record for Foreigner issued abroad: the form is valid for six months from its issue date, and the exam must have been carried out within the previous six months for a Chinese health centre to verify it. Plan the exam close to the permit application rather than early — an exam done eight months before you file has to be repeated.
Can I do the medical exam in my home country instead of in China?
Yes, and the exam is then verified rather than repeated. Bring the original Physical Examination Record for Foreigner form stamped by the examining hospital plus every original report to an International Travel Healthcare Centre. The verification fee is around ¥60 in Beijing, and Beijing’s published rules waive even that when the form was issued by an overseas medical institution. If items are missing, the centre adds only the missing items. Two conditions catch people out: a form completed by a private hospital or clinic must first be notarised locally, and if the report needs Chinese consular certification you must bring the certification proof or label.
How much does the China health check certificate cost?
Fees are set locally and the spread is wide — roughly ¥430 to ¥2,100 depending on the city and, in some cities, your age. Beijing publishes ¥430 for the examination and ¥60 for verification. Shenzhen’s Huanggang centre publishes around ¥480. Shanghai’s centre uses age-tiered fees of roughly ¥1,446–2,096, and Guangzhou sits around ¥1,100–1,700. Confirm with the specific centre before you go, because published schedules change and additional items and vaccinations are charged separately.
Is the exam free if I already have a Z visa?
In Beijing, yes. The published rules exempt the examination fee for anyone entering to work and stay a year or more who presents the original and a photocopy of the Notification Letter of Foreigner’s Work Permit together with a valid Z or R visa page. The same exemption exists for study of a year or more with an admission notice, a JW201 or JW202 form and a valid X1 visa. This is a city-level policy, not a national guarantee, so verify with your local centre — but it is worth asking about everywhere, because almost nobody does.
Do I need a new health check to renew my residence permit?
Usually not. For work-permit applications filed inside China, holders of a valid residence permit are exempt from submitting a medical examination certificate. One trap is documented explicitly in the official guidance: applicants obtaining a work-type residence permit of less than 90 days are still required to submit the certificate. Short assignments are the case to check rather than assume.
Which tests are included in the foreigner physical examination?
Beijing lists internal medicine, otorhinolaryngology, stomatology, an ECG, a chest X-ray, an abdominal ultrasound and laboratory work. For an overseas exam to be verified, the attached originals must include an X-ray report or film, an ECG tracing or report, laboratory results covering at least HIV and syphilis, and an ultrasound report. Fast for about five hours beforehand; water is fine. It is a fitness-to-reside screen, not a health checkup — it will not tell you much about your health.
Sort the certificate, then sort your actual health
The certificate is an administrative box. The useful thing to do with the same trip is the checkup the certificate is not: a real screening panel at a Grade IIIA hospital, with results you can take home. Our guide for foreigners covers how that works, and how to prepare covers the fasting and timing rules for both.