Part of the Together and Stronger family
Two journeys, one family.
TAS stands for Together and Stronger: a membership organisation for people whose lives cross borders. This is its house for Chinese families around the world, and a free place of orientation for people from other countries who live in China.
Wherever you have settled, you belong to something larger.
Students and professionals, business owners, parents who have joined their children overseas, the generations born abroad: one membership, benefits we negotiate for all of you, and a community that stands with you.
Become a memberMembership is free. It is for people living outside mainland China.
A clear first map of everyday life in China.
For professionals, teachers, students and spouses from other countries: plain-language guides to registration, permits, phone numbers, payments, housing and healthcare. Free to read, no card needed.
Open the free guidesInternational residents in China join through the house of their home region. Find your house.
Sources: United Nations (UN DESA), 2024; World Bank, 2024 estimate; National Bureau of Statistics of China, Seventh National Population Census. These figures describe the communities we serve, not our membership.
01Who it is for
TAS China serves two groups of people whose lives run in opposite directions across the same border. What we offer each of them is different, and we say so plainly.
Members. Membership is free.
Free guides and orientation. No card needed.
Find your house: Americas Europe Africa East Asia West Asia India Canada
Open the free guides02Benefits
One household has little bargaining power. Hundreds of thousands of households, speaking with one voice, have a great deal. TAS Member Services negotiates on behalf of every member, and your membership covers twelve areas of everyday life. Eight of them are shown here.
Members travel home on fares we negotiate for the routes families actually take: Spring Festival, the summer holidays, the visits that cannot wait. The same care extends to parents travelling to you.
With your member card
We arrange transfers to family that arrive safely and on time, through regulated providers. Tuition, rent and bills in two currencies become one simple task.
With your member card
We secure plans that keep one family in one conversation across time zones. Your roaming and your home number go on working wherever you travel.
With your member card
Your card opens health, dental and vision programmes where you live. When parents come to stay, travel medical cover is arranged for them through licensed providers.
With your member card
Life, final-expense, travel, home and motor cover, arranged for members by licensed insurers. Membership itself is not insurance.
With your member card
We guide you to a first bank account, a credit history built from zero and a place to save. When tax season arrives in two countries at once, we refer you to qualified professionals.
With your member card
Chinese-language classes, tutoring and university guidance for children growing up abroad. A child at home in two worlds should be able to read and write in both.
With your member card
When a family must bring a loved one home, or lay them to rest with dignity where they lived, we guide them and arrange the services. No family faces it alone.
With your member card
03The journey home
At Spring Festival whole cities empty and every train is full. For a family spread across continents the journey takes planning, money and nerve. Membership is built around it.
We secure flights and onward connections for the holiday rush, while there are still seats to be had.
Money and presents reach the people who are waiting, sent ahead through regulated transfer providers.
We arrange travel medical cover for parents’ visits abroad, through licensed providers, so that a long stay is a calm one.
We refer you to elder care for parents at home, so that help is close at hand even when you are not.
Four moments in the family year
04Two systems
Moving in either direction, capable people stall on the same practical gaps. Each of these guides sets out what one system expects of a newcomer, in the order you will meet it.
For Chinese families settling in another country
For international residents. Orientation only.
These guides are general information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice. Rules differ from place to place and change over time; always confirm with the public authority concerned.
05The route scroll
Unroll the scroll. The brush line runs from the communities abroad, across the bridge at Hong Kong, to the gateway cities where international residents arrive. Choose a city to see what the house does there.
Your membership in this city
Where the two journeys meet
Our free guides for this city
Flights home across the Pacific on fares we negotiate, cover for parents who visit, and Chinese-language classes for children.
Care for elders, a first bank account and credit history for new arrivals, and a community that stands with families in bereavement.
Guidance on having qualifications recognised, a credit history built from zero, and travel cover for visiting parents.
Health cover, referrals for legal and document questions, and money sent home safely.
What a student needs first: a place to live, a phone plan, a flight home. And tax-time referrals for professionals.
Help with documents in a second foreign language, and banking and insurance arranged for family businesses.
Banking for business owners, travel in every direction, and health cover for families on the move.
Insurance through licensed providers, safe transfers home, and a network that stands with traders and their families.
Health cover, banking for family businesses, and travel between two homes.
Education pathways for children, family travel, and banking across borders.
Guidance on schooling, elder care across two homes, and travel throughout the region.
Guidance on student housing, phone plans that reach home, and flights at Spring Festival.
Services for students, cover for parents who visit, and heritage-language schools.
Guidance on renting and phone contracts, and help with paperwork in a third language.
Banking in two systems, onward travel, and guidance on documents in both directions.
Mobile payments with a foreign card, housing, and getting around Shenzhen and its neighbouring cities.
Residence registration, housing, and orientation for traders and their families.
Arrival steps, healthcare, and everyday life for teachers and students.
Payments, housing, and schooling for professionals and their families.
Residence registration, international schooling, and healthcare choices.
Work and residence permit basics, housing, and getting a phone number.
Hometown associations (同乡会), alumni and student unions and chambers of commerce join the network at no cost in every city on this line. For community leaders
Hong Kong is the bridge of the scroll: the city where the two journeys meet, and where travellers in both directions find their guides. Open the free guides
Free guides and orientation. International residents in China join through the house of their home region. Open the free guides
06Community leaders
Long before there were websites there were hometown associations, clan and alumni associations, and chambers of commerce. They found work for the newly arrived, settled disputes, and saw to it that no one was buried without ceremony. TAS China exists to strengthen them, not to replace them.
07Membership
Membership is free. One membership per adult; children under 18 are included on a parent’s membership. Membership is for people living outside mainland China.
Your name here
China house0000 0000
MemberYour digital member card lives on your phone, and every house of the family recognises it.
For one adult.
For families
For the adults of one home, with every child under 18 included.
For associations
For hometown, clan, alumni, student, cultural, faith and professional associations, and chambers of commerce.
08Free to everyone
Some help should never depend on membership. These four services are open to anyone, in either direction of travel.
Plain-language guides to both systems of everyday life, for Chinese families abroad and for international residents in China.
The frauds that find people far from home: callers posing as officials, parcel and visa scams, investment circles. How to recognise them, and what to do.
How to reach your consulate, renew documents and book appointments. Information only: we are independent of every government.
Referrals to free local services and, through TAS Foundation, first help for anyone in difficulty.
09What we believe
Stronger communities.
A household alone bargains from weakness. A community that negotiates together does not.
Always stronger together.
The student, the grandmother and the shopkeeper want different things, and win them by standing in the same line.
Together we stay strong.
Distance wears at a family slowly. We are here to keep the threads from fraying.
Together we stand.
When a member falls ill, loses work or dies far from home, they are not left to strangers.
Together, we get things done — beautifully.
Carefully, on time, and with respect for the people we serve.
The family
TAS China is one house of Together and Stronger. A card issued by any house is recognised by all of them.
Sister organisations
The seven regional houses
Membership is free. One membership per adult; children under 18 are included on a parent’s membership.
Become a memberMembers who wish to give their time serve as ambassadors, interpreters, guide writers and welcomers in the cities where they live.
Serve with usMembership is for people living outside mainland China. International residents in China join through the house of their home region.
10Questions
Together and Stronger. TAS China is the house of the Together and Stronger family for Chinese communities worldwide, with free orientation for international residents in China.
Chinese people living abroad and families of Chinese heritage anywhere outside mainland China, together with their relatives and friends. International residents in China join through the house of their home region, and the guides here are free to them.
Membership is free. There is one membership per adult, and children under 18 are included on a parent’s membership. Associations join at no cost.
Never. We do not collect immigration or residence status, on the membership form or on the member card. Your information is stored outside mainland China and is never sold.
No. Membership is not insurance. Insurance and repatriation programmes are offered through licensed providers, and the Mutual Aid Compact is a commitment between associations: it is not insurance and creates no right to payment.
Associations join at no cost and keep their name and their independence. Register on the page for community leaders, and your association takes its seat in the regional network and the Mutual Aid Compact.
Your card is your membership. It lives on your phone, opens every benefit across the twelve areas, and is recognised by every house of the family, so it moves with you when you move.
Membership of TAS China is for people living outside mainland China. International residents in China join through the house of their home region, and the guides, Scam Watch and the Consular Desk on this site are free for everyone to use.
Together and Stronger is one family. The member organisation serves the Americas; seven regional houses serve Europe, Canada, India, China, Africa, East Asia and West Asia; TAS Member Services negotiates the benefits; TAS Foundation gives free first help. One card is recognised by all of them.
No. Our guides are general information. Where you need advice we refer you to qualified professionals, and to the public authority that decides the matter.
Members who wish to give their time serve as community ambassadors, association liaisons, interpreters, guide writers and welcomers. Serve with us.
Join
Membership is free. It is for people living outside mainland China; international residents in China join through the house of their home region.