Campaign 'about exchanges' in expats community

Getting involved

Wang and his three full-time assistants are responsible for an area of 0.9 square kilometers that includes 27 residential buildings, a kindergarten, and several stores, bars and cafes.

The service center, which is equipped with an advanced printer and passport scanner, can deal with more than 1,000 accommodation registrations a day at peak times, usually in the run-up to the new semester in August and September.

To better promote regulations on visas, freebies likes hand fans and eco-friendly bags on which the regulations are printed are also distributed among residents.

However, unlike in the Sanlitun exit-entry service center, where the official said he likes to achieve high visibility, Wang said he prefers to stay low-key and rarely patrols the community on foot.

"Our way to serve foreigners is to let them manage themselves," he said. "I prefer to get information regularly from volunteers instead."

Wang has appointed eight foreign residents in a kind of community watch system, with most of them managers of bars and restaurants in Huaqingjiayuan.

"I'll go to inspect only if they call," said the police officer. "It's weird and can affect (people's) business if I appear in a (bar or restaurant) in my uniform. The volunteers are more familiar with foreigners and can communicate with them more smoothly."

We went to visit one of these volunteers, Falah Alali, a businessman from Jordan who co-owns an Arabic restaurant near Wudaokou subway station.

"If there is a dispute in or around my restaurant, I'll call Wang to tip him off," the tall 39-year-old, who has lived in China for more than two decades, said in a mixture of English and Mandarin.

However, he said he would avoid calling in the police whenever possible.

"I prefer handling things in a private way," Alali said, adding as an example: "In 2005, a man riding a bicycle hit my car and asked me for compensation. If I'd called to the police, the case may have taken a long time to solve, because Chinese legal procedure is complicated."

Although he said he tells friends, employees and customers to carry their passports at all times, as required by law, he agrees with many expats in Beijing who say accommodation registration documents should be enough, because the loss of a passport can lead to trouble.

To prove his point almost, while Wang and I chatted in his office, the policeman was handed a yellow wallet that had been found in the street by a resident.

Inside was an accommodation registration document, which allowed him to identify the owner as an 18-year-old Mexican student. Wang contacted his landlord and the wallet was returned the next day.

"That's why it is essential for foreigners to update their accommodation information," Wang said. "It's good for us, but it's also helpful for foreigners if they have any difficulties in the city."

Wang's service center shares information with eight universities, including Tsinghua and Peking, and 13 companies on a secure website to prevent illegal employment, one of the targets of the 100-day crackdown launched by Beijing's public security bureau in May.

When foreign students graduate or work at a company, the college or employer should report that to the police officer to ensure that the information platform is up to date.

Wang also updates the employment information of the companies twice a year and carries out surprise inspections to check employees' visa information.

Foreign students who want to intern should go to the exit-entry administration to upgrade to a work visa if they want to stay in Beijing, he said.

"If students have a tourist or F visa, they can't legally be employed by a company, and if they were employed, both the foreign student and the employer would be fined up to 500 yuan ($79)," he said.

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