4 questions before you choose the route.
This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.
Detention notice and unit?
Who holds them.
NoticePRC criminal counsel retained?
Meeting rights.
CounselConsular path started?
Resolve the consular path started question separately before choosing the route.
ConsularEmployer role scoped?
Help vs interference.
EmployerWorking rule: When a foreign national is criminally detained, the core file is still detention → counsel → evidence → arrest-approval clock.
The signal ledger.
These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.
Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.
Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.
Questions people ask before they build.
Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.
Does the embassy get them out?
Consular assistance is not a get-out-of-jail card. PRC procedure still runs.
Where is the deep foreigner investigation guide?
Use the linked specialist resource when Foreign Nationals Detained in China turns on detailed evidence, procedure or risk assessment.
Primary authorities
Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.