Shenzhen landing package

Arrive with a plan.

Shenzhen rewards people who are set up. The first two weeks decide whether you spend the next six months building, sourcing, and shipping, or solving the same five problems on rotation. The Landing Package is a fixed-scope, fixed-price engagement that gets you from the airport to fully operational in 14 days.

Who it is for

• Founders coming for a Shenzhen build, sourcing sprint, or hardware push of one to twelve months.
• Operators relocating for a new role and walking into a city they have never lived in.
• Executives and investors who are billing at a rate where solving SIM cards personally is the wrong use of time.
• Returning overseas Chinese who grew up abroad and want a structured re-entry rather than a family-favour scramble.

What you get

A fixed-scope onboarding with named deliverables and a single point of contact.

• Pre-arrival brief: district recommendation, arrival sequence, packing notes, and a written 30-day plan.
• Airport pickup in a sedan or SUV, with a bilingual operator who has your itinerary in hand.
• SIM activation and real-name registration at a China Mobile or China Telecom flagship store on day one.
• WeChat Pay and Alipay setup with a foreign card, plus walkthrough of the verified-merchant flow.
• Bank introduction (typically ICBC, Bank of China, or HSBC) with paperwork pre-reviewed and an appointment booked.
• DiDi, Meituan, Dianping, Amap, and Alipay mini-program walkthroughs with your accounts logged in and verified.
• District orientation half-day on foot, covering your compound, the nearest metro, the grocery options, two clinics, the post office, and three good restaurants.
• Police registration support: booking, translation, and accompaniment to the local station. The legal act of registering is yours; we make sure it happens within the 24-hour window.
• A printed and digital 30-day checklist covering everything that has to happen in your first month.
• Direct WhatsApp or WeChat line to your operator for the full 14 days.

How it works

A four-phase process, with a written milestone at the end of each phase.

1. Scoping call (Day –14 to –7, 30 minutes). We confirm your arrival date, length of stay, visa status, work pattern, district preference, and any constraints. You receive a written quote within 24 hours.
2. Pre-arrival brief (Day –7 to –1). We send a PDF brief covering your serviced apartment booking, arrival routing, packing notes, day-by-day plan, and the documents you must bring (passport, visa, photos, employer letter if applicable). You confirm in writing.
3. Active onboarding (Day 0 to Day 14). Airport pickup, then a rolling schedule of appointments and walkthroughs. We work 4–6 hours per day with you in person for the first 5 days, then taper to on-call support and scheduled errands for days 6–14.
4. Handover (Day 14). A written handover document covering everything that was set up, every account that exists in your name, every supplier or fixer we used, and your 30-day forward checklist. Optional roll-into Concierge for month two onwards.

Pricing

Fixed price, agreed before kickoff. All prices in USD.

Pass-through costs (SIM top-up, transport, serviced apartment, government fees) are billed at cost with receipts. Typical pass-through for a 14-day package runs US$200–600 excluding accommodation.

Sample timeline

Case studies

European hardware founder, 3-month sprint

A French founder flew in for a 90-day robotics sprint with two suppliers already lined up. He had been to Shenzhen twice before on week-long trips and had no working accounts in his own name. Every payment had been on a colleague’s WeChat.

We booked him into a serviced apartment in Nanshan within walking distance of one supplier and a 25-minute DiDi from the other. Day one was SIM, payments, and a grocery run. Day two was a Bank of China appointment, where the foreign-client desk processed his account in 90 minutes because we had the paperwork pre-reviewed. By day four he had his own DiDi, his own Meituan, his own WeChat Pay tied to his own bank card, and a printed map of three clinics within 2 km.

The unlock was day eight: he sent his first domestic RMB payment to a supplier from his own account, in his own name, without asking anyone for a favour. That is the entire point of the package. He rolled into Concierge for the remaining 80 days and shipped his prototype on schedule.

US fund principal, exploratory 6-week stay

A New York-based investor came in for a six-week exploration: meet founders, see factories, decide whether to open a Shenzhen office. He needed to look credible to local counterparties from day one and did not want to spend his mornings on logistics.

We pre-booked a serviced apartment in Futian near the bank district, set up a Chinese number that he could put on a business card, and ran his bank intro on day two with a senior relationship manager. District orientation focused on Futian and Shekou rather than the residential angle. Police registration was handled inside 18 hours of arrival.

By the end of week one he was running his own meeting calendar in DiDi and sending Alipay transfers for restaurant deposits without thinking about it. He extended Concierge for his remaining five weeks and used it primarily for translation on factory calls and last-minute travel coordination.

What is NOT included

Scope is explicit so there are no surprises.

• Visa, work permit, or residence permit filings. Referrals only.
• Apartment search and lease negotiation. Separate service, see Apartment Search and Setup.
• Furniture purchases or interior setup. Separate service or add-on.
• Police registration in person, signing on your behalf. Registration is a legal act you must perform; we coordinate, translate, and accompany.
• Tax, accounting, or company formation. Referrals only.
• Schools admissions filings. We provide shortlist and intro; the application is between you and the school.
• Medical treatment, insurance claims, or prescriptions. We provide clinic intros only.

Refund policy

• Before kickoff: full refund, no questions.
• Within 48 hours of kickoff: 80% refund. The 20% retained covers scoping work already delivered.
• After the first deliverable (pre-arrival brief): prorated refund against milestones not yet delivered.
• Completed milestones: no refund.
• All refunds processed within 10 business days in the original currency of payment.

Add-ons

Next step

Book a 30-minute scoping call. Within 24 hours of that call you will have a written quote, a proposed kickoff date, and a draft 14-day plan. If you are arriving in less than two weeks, say so on the form. We triage urgent landings ahead of the queue.