Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Solving the Household Registration Issues of Individuals Without Household Registration

People's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, and various ministries and commissions of the State Council:

Legally registering a household is a basic right granted to citizens by law, which concerns social fairness and justice, as well as social harmony and stability. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council attach great importance to household registration management. In recent years, they have repeatedly made clear requirements to strengthen household registration management and address the issue of unregistered individuals. In accordance with the decisions and deployments of the Central Committee and the State Council, public security organs across the country, in conjunction with relevant departments, have made significant efforts to resolve the issue of unregistered individuals, achieving notable results. However, due to some localities and departments still facing policy barriers and other factors, the issue of some citizens being unregistered remains prominent, which is not conducive to protecting citizens' legitimate rights and interests and directly affects the establishment and improvement of the new household registration system in the country. To address the issue of unregistered individuals, the following opinions are proposed with the consent of the State Council.

I. Overall Requirements

(1) Guiding Ideology. Deeply implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee, in accordance with the requirements of the "Framework Opinions on Several Major Issues in Deepening Public Security Reform" approved by the Central Committee and the State Council, adhere to a problem-oriented approach, driven by reform, and focus on solving the issue of unregistered individuals to lay a solid foundation for advancing public security reform, innovating population service management, and constructing a new household registration system, better serving and safeguarding people's livelihoods, promoting social fairness and justice, and advancing the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.

(2) Basic Principles. Adhere to lawful handling, effectively safeguarding the legal rights of every citizen to register their household; adhere to differentiated situations, implementing household registration policies for unregistered individuals in a classified manner; adhere to comprehensive coordination, considering the resolution of unregistered individuals' household registration issues in conjunction with improving policies in related areas such as family planning, adoption registration, assistance for vagrants and beggars, and nationality management.

(3) Task Objectives. Further improve household registration policies, prohibiting the establishment of any preconditions that do not comply with household registration regulations; strengthen household registration management, comprehensively resolve the issue of unregistered individuals, and effectively ensure that every citizen can legally register a permanent household, striving to achieve the goals of accuracy, uniqueness, and authority of national household registration and citizen identity numbers.

II. Legally Registering Permanent Households for Unregistered Individuals

(1) Unregistered individuals who do not comply with family planning policies. Unregistered individuals born outside of policy or born out of wedlock, themselves or their guardians can apply for permanent household registration based on the "Birth Medical Certificate" and one parent's household registration book, marriage certificate, or explanation of non-marital birth, according to the policy of voluntary registration following either parent. For unregistered individuals born out of wedlock applying to register under their father, a paternity test certificate issued by a qualified identification agency must also be provided.

(2) Unregistered individuals who have not obtained a "Birth Medical Certificate." Unregistered individuals born in maternity institutions can apply for a "Birth Medical Certificate" from the institution; those born outside of maternity institutions must provide a paternity test certificate issued by a qualified identification agency and apply for a "Birth Medical Certificate" from the entrusted agency of the county-level health and family planning administrative department in the intended registration location. Unregistered individuals or their guardians can apply for permanent household registration based on the "Birth Medical Certificate" and one parent's household registration book, marriage certificate, or explanation of non-marital birth.

(3) Unregistered individuals who are factually adopted without formal adoption procedures. Individuals who are factually adopted but have not completed adoption registration can apply to the civil affairs department for adoption registration according to regulations, and with the obtained "Adoption Registration Certificate" and the adopter's household registration book, apply for permanent household registration. Before the implementation of the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on April 1, 1999, regarding the amendment of the "Adoption Law of the People's Republic of China," individuals who privately adopted children without formal registration can apply for notarization of factual adoption from a notary agency according to regulations. If the public security organ verifies that they have not registered their household, they can apply for permanent household registration with the notarized factual adoption certificate and the adopter's household registration book.

(4) Individuals whose household registration was canceled after being declared missing or dead. Individuals who reappear after being declared missing or dead by a people's court can apply for the restoration of their permanent household registration with the effective judgment that revokes the declaration of missing (death) issued by the people's court.

(5) Individuals in rural areas whose original household registration was canceled due to marriage. Individuals in rural areas whose original household registration was canceled due to marriage can apply for the restoration of permanent household registration in the location where their household registration was canceled, provided that public security organs verify that they have not registered elsewhere. After restoring permanent household registration, those who meet the conditions for registration in their current residence can apply for household transfer registration.

(6) Individuals without household registration due to lost or expired household transfer documents. Individuals without household registration due to lost or expired household transfer documents can apply to the public security organ that issued the documents for reissuance or replacement of household transfer documents, and with the reissued or replaced documents, apply for household transfer registration. Graduates from colleges and universities who do not meet the current household transfer policies in the destination can apply for permanent household registration in their original household registration location, while other individuals can apply for permanent household registration in the location where they transferred their household.

(7) Unregistered individuals born out of wedlock between Chinese citizens and foreigners or stateless persons. Unregistered individuals born out of wedlock between Chinese citizens and foreigners or stateless persons in China, who have not obtained nationality from another country, can apply for permanent household registration with the "Birth Medical Certificate," parents' explanation of non-marital birth, and the household registration book of the Chinese citizen parent. Those who have not obtained a "Birth Medical Certificate" must provide a paternity test certificate issued by a qualified identification agency.

(8) Other unregistered individuals. Individuals who are unregistered for other reasons can apply, and after verification by public security organs in conjunction with relevant departments, permanent household registration can be processed.

III. Effectively Implementing Organizational Measures

(1) Strengthening organizational leadership. All regions and relevant departments should fully recognize the importance and urgency of addressing the household registration of unregistered individuals from a global and strategic perspective, effectively unify thoughts and actions with the spirit of these opinions, strengthen organizational leadership, carefully study and deploy, refine policy measures, clarify work requirements, ensure that all policies are implemented, and effectively resolve the issue of household registration for unregistered individuals. The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government should formulate specific implementation measures based on local realities and make them public.

(2) Diligently verifying and processing. All regions should conduct in-depth surveys, carefully sort out key household registration issues in their areas, and ascertain the number and relevant situations of unregistered individuals within their administrative regions. They should standardize acceptance and approval procedures, strictly enforce work requirements, and promptly process household registration for unregistered individuals. They should upgrade and improve the population information system, strengthen the filing and verification of images and fingerprint information of unregistered individuals, ensuring the accuracy of registered identity information and the uniqueness of household registration. They should manage household registration archives meticulously, establishing files for the registration materials of unregistered individuals to ensure that the archive materials are complete and valid. Public security organs should promptly report the situation of processing household registration for unregistered individuals to relevant departments.

(3) Improve supporting policies. Relevant departments should conduct a centralized cleanup of policies and measures that are inconsistent with the spirit of this opinion. Those that need to be amended should be amended seriously, and those that need to be abolished should be firmly abolished. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and other departments should, according to their functional divisions, promptly revise laws, regulations, and policies related to household registration, assistance for vagrants and beggars, family planning, etc., and improve relevant rules and systems.

(4) Actively promote publicity and guidance. The policy regarding the registration of individuals without household registration is highly policy-driven and attracts significant social attention. It is necessary to strengthen positive publicity and guidance to create a good public opinion atmosphere. Increase publicity efforts, widely promote the various policies and measures for the registration of individuals without household registration, as well as the rights and obligations of citizens in registering their household, and go deep into the grassroots, rural areas, and the masses, striving to gain the support and cooperation of the general public, and actively mobilize individuals without household registration to proactively apply to public security organs for permanent household registration.

(5) Strengthen the implementation of responsibilities. Relevant departments should further decompose and refine tasks, implement responsibility divisions, and ensure the implementation of various policies and measures. The Ministry of Public Security should work with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and other departments to strengthen supervision and guidance for various regions. For those who do not implement responsibilities or work ineffectively, serious accountability should be pursued in accordance with laws and regulations.

Any previous documents that are inconsistent with the provisions of this opinion shall be executed according to the provisions of this opinion.

General Office of the State Council

December 31, 2015