Local number
In short
A passport, and nothing else. One person may hold at most five mainland SIM cards, each with a different number, and Beijing publishes immediate issuance with no processing fee. Call the branch first, because the city's own guide warns that not every hall serves foreign passports. What the card cannot do is arrive as an eSIM: a mainland carrier profile will not install on a phone bought abroad.
Do you even need one?Applies to
Visitors who have decided to buy a mainland number: at an operator service hall, an airport counter, an online form collected on landing, a booked appointment, or a delivered card.
Check before you rely on it
The counter rules here are Beijing's and Shanghai's own pages. The five-card ceiling is published by Beijing, and the seven, 15 and 30-day plan lengths belong to a single China Telecom counter in Shanghai. No page we opened publishes plan prices.
Review date: 2026-07-25
This is a fifteen-minute errand with two failure modes: the branch that will not take a passport, and the phone that has no tray to put the card in.
At the service hall
The numbers on the page
Every one of these comes from the city's own SIM card service guide.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — A Guide for Purchasing SIM Cards in Beijing (read 2026-07-25)
Decision table
Five documented routes. The differences that matter are what each one asks you to prove, and when.
| Route | Published by | What it asks for | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator service hall, in person | Beijing and Shanghai municipal portals | Passport at the window. Beijing adds a ticket-machine queue; Shanghai adds choosing the SIM size (Normal, Micro or Nano). | Beijing publishes immediate processing and issuance, with no processing fee. |
| Airport service counter | Beijing municipal portal | Passport at a Beijing Service counter at Beijing Capital or Beijing Daxing. Both airports also have SIM vending machines. | Same day, in the terminal, before you leave for the hotel. |
| Online form, collected at the airport | Beijing municipal portal | China Unicom's form collects at Beijing Daxing; China Mobile's form collects at Beijing Capital. The passport is still shown at collection. | Fill the form before the flight, collect on landing. |
| Booked appointment at a service centre | Shanghai municipal portal | An online appointment, then a China Telecom counter at the Hongqiao One-Stop Service Center for Overseas Talents, with a foreign passport or a Foreigner's Permanent Residence Permit. | Short-term plans at this counter are published with validity periods of seven, 15 and 30 days. Those figures are this counter's, not national plan terms. |
| English-language SIM delivered to you | Shanghai municipal portal | The Nihao Mobile app, and activation photos of the passport photo page, the Chinese visa page and the entry stamp page, plus a video selfie. | Orders before 6pm on working days dispatch the same day with free home delivery within 48 hours. The entry stamp requirement means activation cannot be completed before you land. |
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — A Guide for Purchasing SIM Cards in Beijing (read 2026-07-25)
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — A guide to setting up mobile services (page dated 2025-08-22; read 2026-07-25)
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — Streamlined telecom services for overseas talent at Shanghai Hongqiao (page dated 2025-05-13; read 2026-07-25)
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — How to get a Nihao Mobile SIM card (page dated 2025-03-25; read 2026-07-25)
Can and cannot
Seven questions with a published answer, including the three that are a flat no.
| The question | Answer | What the source says |
|---|---|---|
| Hold more than one number on the same passport | Yes, up to five | Beijing publishes a ceiling of five SIM cards per individual with a valid passport, each with a different phone number. |
| Get the number the same day you ask for it | Yes | Beijing publishes immediate processing and issuance at the counter, and no processing fee beyond the operator's plan price. |
| Walk into any operator shop and be served | Not guaranteed | Beijing's own guide tells travellers to call the branch in advance to ask whether it accepts applications from foreign nationals, which is the city conceding that some do not. |
| Load the mainland plan as an eSIM on your own phone | No, if the phone was bought abroad | Apple states that iPhone models other than iPhone 17e (A3635) and iPhone Air (A3518), including any purchased outside China mainland, cannot install an eSIM profile from a mainland carrier. Beijing's arrivals guide says the same thing more bluntly: China uses physical SIM cards, which may not be compatible with your current phone. |
| Activate a mainland eSIM without visiting a shop | No | Apple states that activating an eSIM in China mainland requires visiting the carrier's store, where staff carry out a required ID check, and to bring a government ID or passport. |
| Buy and activate a delivered SIM before you fly | No | The activation checks published for the delivered English-language SIM include a photograph of the entry stamp page, which does not exist until you have entered the country. |
| Top up without a Chinese bank account | Yes, by published channels | Shanghai publishes top-up through Alipay or WeChat, through the operator's own app or WeChat mini-program, or in a shop or at a self-service payment terminal. |
Source: Apple — Using eSIM with your iPhone in China mainland (page dated 2026-03-02; read 2026-07-25)
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — Get Connected & Essential Apps (page dated 2024-08-30; read 2026-07-25)
The published facts
Two cities, one manufacturer, and the day we opened each page. Sources read 2026-07-25.
Any individual with a valid passport can apply for a maximum of five SIM cards, each with a different phone number. There are no processing fees; you pay only the operator's plan price.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — A Guide for Purchasing SIM Cards in Beijing (read 2026-07-25)
Applications are taken at service halls operated directly by China Mobile, China Unicom or China Telecom, and at the Beijing Service airport counters at Beijing Capital and Beijing Daxing. An online form can be submitted first and the card collected at the airport counter.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — A Guide for Purchasing SIM Cards in Beijing (read 2026-07-25)
Hall hours typically run 08:30 to 20:00, Monday to Sunday, and vary by hall. Take a numbered ticket from the machine, wait for your number, then present the passport at the window.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — A Guide for Purchasing SIM Cards in Beijing (read 2026-07-25)
The city advises calling the branch before visiting to ask whether it accepts applications from foreign nationals, and to choose a hall directly operated by an operator. The enquiry lines are China Mobile +86-10086, China Unicom +86-10010 and China Telecom +86-10000.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — A Guide for Purchasing SIM Cards in Beijing (read 2026-07-25)
The same municipal guide recommends downloading a translation app in advance, or bringing a Chinese-speaking friend, if you have difficulty communicating in the local language. That advice is on a government page about buying a SIM card, which is how routine the language gap is at this counter.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — A Guide for Purchasing SIM Cards in Beijing (read 2026-07-25)
The published sequence is: go to a major store, choose a package or point at the brochure, show your passport, show the SIM size you need — Normal, Micro or Nano — then purchase and register.
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — A guide to setting up mobile services (page dated 2025-08-22; read 2026-07-25)
Online through Alipay or WeChat, or through the operator's own app or WeChat mini-program. Offline at a shop or a self-service payment terminal. Shanghai's operator service numbers are 021-10086, 021-10010 and 021-10000.
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — A guide to setting up mobile services (page dated 2025-08-22; read 2026-07-25)
Shanghai publishes the order: call the phone, call the carrier on the numbers above to report the loss, call the police, call the bank to freeze banking services, change passwords, and warn friends about fraudulent messages from the lost phone.
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — A guide to setting up mobile services (page dated 2025-08-22; read 2026-07-25)
The Shanghai Hongqiao One-Stop Service Center for Overseas Talents runs a China Telecom SIM service on an online appointment, accepting a foreign passport or a Foreigner's Permanent Residence Permit, at 2nd Floor, T5 Building, EBA Center Hongqiao, No 377 Songhong Road, Changning district, phone 021-6212-6377.
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — Streamlined telecom services for overseas talent at Shanghai Hongqiao (page dated 2025-05-13; read 2026-07-25)
Short-term plans at the Hongqiao centre carry validity periods of seven days, 15 days and 30 days, alongside long-term plans. No page we opened states these as national plan terms, so treat them as one counter's offer.
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — Streamlined telecom services for overseas talent at Shanghai Hongqiao (page dated 2025-05-13; read 2026-07-25)
Activation of the English-language delivered SIM asks for photographs of the passport photo page, the Chinese visa page and the entry stamp page, plus a video selfie, with the original document to hand. Orders before 6pm on a working day dispatch the same day, with free home delivery within 48 hours.
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — How to get a Nihao Mobile SIM card (page dated 2025-03-25; read 2026-07-25)
Apple states that iPhone models other than iPhone 17e (A3635) and iPhone Air (A3518), including any bought outside China mainland, cannot install an eSIM profile from a carrier in China mainland, and that activation requires a carrier store visit with an ID check.
Source: Apple — Using eSIM with your iPhone in China mainland (page dated 2026-03-02; read 2026-07-25)
Beijing's arrivals guide states that China uses physical SIM cards, which may not be compatible with your current phone. If your handset has no SIM tray, the counter has nothing to sell you.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — Get Connected & Essential Apps (page dated 2024-08-30; read 2026-07-25)
In short
Short answers on the document, the ceiling, the eSIM dead end, and ordering ahead.
A valid passport, and nothing else. Beijing's official guide states that any individual with a valid passport can apply for a maximum of five SIM cards, each with a different phone number, that processing and issuance are immediate, and that there are no processing fees beyond the operator's plan price. Shanghai publishes the same passport requirement at operator stores.
Not on a phone bought outside China mainland. Apple's page states that iPhone models other than iPhone 17e (A3635) and iPhone Air (A3518), including any purchased outside China mainland, are unable to install an eSIM profile from carriers in China mainland, and that activating a mainland eSIM requires visiting the carrier's store for an ID check. Beijing's arrivals guide puts it plainly: China uses physical SIM cards, which may not be compatible with your current phone.
It is anticipated by the city's own guide, which tells travellers to call the branch in advance and ask whether it accepts applications from foreign nationals, and to prefer a hall operated directly by China Mobile, China Unicom or China Telecom rather than a reseller. The enquiry lines published are +86-10086, +86-10010 and +86-10000.
Partly. Beijing publishes an online form with collection at an airport counter, so the paperwork can start early but the passport is still presented on arrival. A delivered English-language SIM documented by Shanghai goes further, but its activation asks for a photograph of your entry stamp page, which does not exist until you have landed.
The only opened official page that puts numbers on it is Shanghai's, describing a China Telecom counter at the Hongqiao service centre with short-term plans of seven days, 15 days and 30 days, plus long-term plans. That is one counter and one operator. No page we opened states plan lengths as a national rule.
Shanghai publishes both routes. Online through Alipay or WeChat, or through the operator's own app or WeChat mini-program. Offline at a shop or a self-service payment terminal. The operator service lines are 021-10086 for China Mobile, 021-10010 for China Unicom and 021-10000 for China Telecom.
Not for the case that matters most. Our separate page on Chinese phone numbers carries the operator's written answer on wallet setup and the prompts that stay unresolved. This page is for the traveller who has already decided to buy one and wants to know what the counter will ask for.
Not published
Prices and national rules circulate widely. The pages we opened publish neither, so neither does this page.
The operator's written answer on wallet setup, and the prompts that stay unresolved.
Check firstThe passport route onto airport Wi-Fi, and the four settings to check in order.
Open pageThe city tells you to bring a translation app to this counter. Here is how to make one work offline.
Open pageNext move
Read enough to make the decision smaller, then open the checklist, search a specific question, choose a setup tool, or share the page with the person planning with you.
Use the checklist when the question has shifted from research to preparation.
Search by the actual problem: Alipay, eSIM, transit visa, first transfer, vegetarian food, or a city name.
Open recommendations when the task is clear enough for a short list to be useful.