Before you start

Residence permit and work permit
An employment contract, which triggers social insurance enrolment
Employer private insurance details, if provided
A Chinese mobile number — hospital appointments are made through apps and mini-programs

Step-by-step

1
Confirm your employer has enrolled you in social insurance
The 2011 Interim Measures make enrolment compulsory nationally for foreign employees across pension, medical, work injury, unemployment and maternity funds. Enforcement varies by city; Beijing applies it. Check your payslip shows the deductions rather than assuming.
Via employerWho: Your employerMonth 1
2
Check whether a totalisation agreement applies to you
China has bilateral social security agreements with a number of countries including Germany, South Korea, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark and Finland. Posted workers may be exempted from specified contributions with a certificate of coverage from home. Scope differs by agreement — check yours specifically.
Via employerWho: You
3
Read the private policy before you need it
The material question is whether it admits you to hospital international wings and private hospitals, or merely reimburses public treatment. Also check maternity, dental and medical evacuation, which is where policies differ most.
Via employerWho: You
4
Learn how ordinary Chinese outpatient works
You register for a department, see a doctor briefly, then go for tests and pharmacy in the same building. It is fast and inexpensive but conducted in Mandarin. Knowing the process means you are not stranded when the international clinic is shut.
In personWho: You
5
Book through the hospital apps
Beijing's major hospitals take appointments through WeChat mini-programs and their own apps, often days ahead, and popular specialists fill quickly. Walking in usually means a long wait or no slot.
Mobile appWho: You
6
Manage the air rather than ignoring it
Buy a real HEPA purifier for the bedroom, replace the filters, and check the official AQI each morning through the winter. On bad days, close the windows and move exercise indoors. This is routine local behaviour rather than expat anxiety.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport and residence permit
Social insurance card, once issued
Private insurance card and policy number
Employment contract
Vaccination and medical history, translated where possible

Things most newcomers don’t know

Beijing's air is far better than its reputation and still worth managing.

Annual average PM2.5 fell from roughly 89.5 micrograms per cubic metre in 2013 to 27 in 2025, with good air on 95.3% of days that year and a single heavy-pollution day. The 'airpocalypse' framing is genuinely obsolete. It is also still several times the WHO guideline of 5, winter inversions still produce multi-day episodes, and spring sandstorms are a separate meteorological phenomenon. A bedroom purifier and a habit of checking the AQI is the proportionate response — not a mask on every commute, and not indifference.

Source: Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau

Social insurance for foreigners is mandatory nationally but enforced unevenly — Beijing enforces it.

The 2011 Interim Measures require enrolment of foreign employees across all five funds, but implementation was left to municipalities and the result is a genuine city-level difference. Shanghai ran a voluntary local regime until it lapsed in 2021; some smaller cities remain lax. Beijing applies the national position. If you are comparing offers across Chinese cities, the deduction on your payslip may differ for the same salary.

Source: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security

The international wing and the ordinary department are frequently the same physicians.

Peking Union, Beijing Hospital and the Peking University hospitals run international or VIP outpatient services with English support, appointments and short waits, staffed by the same senior doctors who see the ordinary queue at a fraction of the price. If you are self-funding rather than insured, the ordinary department with a Mandarin-speaking friend gets you to the same clinician. If your employer's policy covers the international wing, use it.

Source: community-reported

The individual portion of your pension is refundable on leaving, and the paperwork needs a local account.

Foreign employees leaving China permanently can generally apply to withdraw the individual portion of their pension account; the employer's contribution is not refunded. The application needs your contribution records, a bank account and evidence of departure, all of which are far easier to assemble while you still have a Chinese account and an HR team. Most people who leave without doing this never recover it.

Source: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming social insurance is optional for foreigners — in Beijing it is not.
Not checking whether your country's totalisation agreement exempts part of the contribution.
Finding out at the hospital desk that your policy does not cover the international wing.
Turning up at a major hospital without an app appointment.
Leaving China without starting the pension refund while you still have a local account.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.