Restricted departure means that the court restricts a foreigner from leaving the country for a certain period of time. Article 28 of the Entry and Exit Administration law stipulates that if a foreigner is involved in an unsettled civil case, the court may enforce the decision to restrict the foreigner’s departure from China.
In general, a ruling will be made by the court that orders the detainment of the foreigner’s identity documents, making it impermissible to leave the country. The court is required to indicate the reasons why the foreigner isn’t allowed to leave in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations. Entry and exit ports must be notified in writing with an attached civil ruling made by the court that will be handed over to Border Protection and Control. In the case of an emergency, additional temporary control measures can be taken at the border checkpoints in accordance with the given provisions. The foreigner’s name should be written in both English and Chinese and the control period is normally 30 days. If the deadline is surpassed, the order can be re-processed for an extension. The court may also send notification to border checkpoints to directly seize documents from the foreign party.
These orders are not exercised freely and the courts must determine the necessity of restricting departures based on certain factors including probability of winning the case, urgency, and if the foreign party has enough property to appropriately execute the order.
