Chinese lawyer's guide to the California Bar Exam: documents, translations, pitfalls and a 2027 timeline

Short answer. If you are a Chinese lawyer holding a current PRC practising certificate (律师执业证) and you are in good standing, you can take the California Bar Exam without an LL.M. ("Practising certificate" is the standard English rendering of 律师执业证, so we keep that spelling as a defined term.) The State Bar says a person "fully admitted to the practice of law in any U.S. or foreign jurisdiction" is qualified "without additional legal education" (Foreign Education page). You register as an attorney applicant ($310), mail an original Certificate of Good Standing with a certified English translation, and take the two-day General Bar Exam ($1,650), not the one-day Attorneys' Exam (Registration; Appendix A; Rule 4.3(C); February 2026 statistics). The next sitting is February 23–24, 2027. Applications open October 1, 2026 and the timely deadline is November 2, 2026 (Dates and Deadlines).

Applies to: the February 2027, July 2027 and February 2028 sittings of the current two-day exam. Fees are the current (2026) Appendix A schedule, which applies unless the Board adopts new 2027 fees; check Appendix A before paying. Every date, fee and rule below was checked on September 24, 2026 against the official page linked in the same sentence. July 2027 and February 2028 dates are projections until the State Bar posts them. Where we describe PRC-side practice (which office issues a document, how translations are usually done) or travel practice, that is practical guidance, not a State Bar rule, and is marked as such.

This guide is written for lawyers licensed in the People's Republic of China. It builds on our general guide, California Bar Exam for foreign lawyers, and on the foreign lawyers overview. A summary in Chinese (中文摘要) is at the end.

Step 0: are you "fully admitted"? What the rule means for a PRC lawyer

The State Bar's knowledge-base article for foreign admitted attorneys states the test as being "fully admitted to the practice of law (without any restrictions) in a country outside of the U.S." (Foreign Admitted Attorneys). Rule 4.3(B) of the Rules of the State Bar defines an attorney applicant as someone "who is or has been admitted as an attorney to the practice of law in any jurisdiction" (Title 4 PDF).

The PRC path to practice has three stages, and only the last one is an admission. The table below is our reading of the State Bar's wording applied to each stage. The State Bar decides each case itself and publishes no China-specific ruling, so confirm your own situation with [email protected] or 800-843-9053 before you pay anything (Foreign Education page).

Route A is the subject of this guide. If you are on Route B, read LL.M. to California Bar: the 20-unit requirements; the Guidelines for foreign-educated general applicants require an LL.M. of at least 20 semester units including one professional responsibility course on the ABA Model Rules, completed within 36 consecutive months (Guidelines PDF). Route A applicants do not take the First-Year Law Students' Examination, and neither do Route B applicants; only Rule 4.30(B), foreign law study without a first degree in law, requires it (Title 4 PDF).

Which exam you take: the two-day General Bar Exam

A PRC lawyer takes the full General Bar Exam. The one-day Attorneys' Exam is limited by Rule 4.3(C) to applicants "admitted to the active practice of law in a United States jurisdiction at least four years immediately prior to the first day of administration of the examination" (Title 4 PDF). Years of practice in Beijing, Shanghai or Shenzhen do not count. The State Bar's statistics reports state the same point: "attorneys admitted in foreign jurisdictions must take the General Bar Exam" (July 2025 statistics). Only a PRC lawyer who also holds a license in a U.S. jurisdiction that has been active for four or more years can elect the Attorneys' Exam.

As administered in July 2026, the General Bar Exam has five one-hour essays and one 90-minute Performance Test on day 1 (typed in ExamSoft's Examplify on your own laptop, or handwritten) and the NCBE Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), 200 multiple-choice questions, on day 2. The two days count 50/50 on a 2,000-point scale, and the pass mark is 1390 (July 2026 exam page; Grading). The State Bar has not yet posted the February 2027 vendor details (the MBE is the working assumption), and a new administration vendor for 2027 was being procured, so confirm the written-day software when the exam page for your sitting is posted (Board and CBE, January 2026). Essays are answered under general principles "unless a question expressly asks you to use California law" (Scope). For subjects and scoring in detail, see California Bar Exam subjects and scoring and our subject pages.

California accepts no transferred MBE or UBE score and has no admission on motion: the State Bar "does not offer reciprocity or accept bar exam scores from another jurisdiction" (Attorney Applicants). A New York score does not shorten the California path. For the application steps, see the exam overview.

Documents a PRC lawyer needs

Route A needs fewer documents than most PRC applicants expect. Transcripts are not required for foreign attorney applicants (When are transcripts required), and no credential evaluation is needed: there is "no need to provide your foreign credentials or complete any additional U.S. law study" (Foreign Admitted Attorneys). What the State Bar does need is set out below.

Mailing address for originals and fingerprint cards: State Bar of California, ATTN: Office of Admissions, 845 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017 (Proof of Admission and Good Standing). Registration is deemed abandoned, with no refund, if the documents and fees are not received within 60 days of submitting the registration (Rule 4.16(B)) (Title 4 PDF). Courier time from China counts against that window, so have the CGS and translation in hand before you submit the registration form.

Certified translations: the rule, and how PRC applicants usually meet it

The State Bar's rule is short. The Registration page says: "All foreign-language documents must be accompanied by an English translation by a certified translator; the original foreign-language documents must also be submitted" (Registration). The moral character instructions repeat it: "All foreign-language documents must be submitted with a certified English translation" (Application Instructions PDF).

The pages linked above do not require a notary, do not name an approved translator list and do not prescribe a certification format. The term "notarized translation" that PRC applicants often use reflects PRC practice, not a State Bar requirement. Two ways PRC applicants commonly meet the rule:

1. Notarial translation certificate from a PRC notary public office (公证处). The notary office issues a notarial certificate (公证书) that binds a copy of the Chinese original, an English translation and the notary's seal and signature. This is the same product PRC applicants use for overseas study and immigration files.
2. A translation company's certified translation. The English text is attached to a signed statement that the translation is complete and accurate, with the translator's or company's name, seal and contact details.

Whichever you use, follow these rules. They are practical guidance drawn from the State Bar's document requirements, not extra State Bar rules.

• Send the Chinese original with the translation. The State Bar wants both (Registration). A translation alone does not meet the rule.
• Translate the whole document, including every seal, stamp, header and handwritten date. A seal should appear in the translation as bracketed text, for example "[Seal: Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Justice]".
• Match your passport. Your name must appear in the same pinyin spelling and the same surname/given-name order on the CGS translation, the Applicant Portal account and the passport you will show on exam day (Admittance Ticket Bulletin).
• Ask for a full admission date. The CGS must "indicate the date you were admitted to practice law in that jurisdiction" (Proof of Admission and Good Standing). The State Bar sets no date format. Asking the issuing office for the full year, month and day is our advice, not a State Bar rule.
• Watch the six-month window. The CGS must be issued within six months of the application it supports, and one certificate within that window can serve more than one application (Proof of Admission and Good Standing). When you file the exam application you must upload a CGS dated within six months if the one on file is older (Dates and Deadlines). A CGS issued in April 2026 for registration is too old for an exam application filed in November 2026. Time the request so one certificate covers registration, the exam application and the moral character application, or budget for a second one.
• Do the translation immediately after issue, so that translation time does not eat into the six months or the 60-day registration window.

Fees for a PRC lawyer: the attorney-applicant tier

Because a PRC lawyer is an attorney applicant under Rule 4.3(B), every State Bar application fee (registration, moral character, exam) is the higher tier, even though the exam taken is the General Bar Exam. The laptop fee, the late fees and the MPRE fee are the same for both tiers. The amounts below are the current Appendix A schedule, adopted for 2026 after the Board's November 20–21, 2025 fee action (Appendix A; Board, November 2025). They apply unless the Board adopts new 2027 fees. The State Bar has not posted 2027 fees, and its 2025 Annual Report projects an admissions shortfall of about $2.8 million that could lead to a fee change (2025 Annual Report). Check Appendix A before each payment, including filings made in January 2027. For the full fee picture, see California Bar Exam cost and fees 2027.

Prep-course pages that still quote $850 for the exam or $1,500 for attorney applicants are out of date. The CGS, notarial translation, fingerprint cards, courier, visa, flights and accommodation in the United States are on top of the table, and so is your preparation course.

Dates and deadlines: February 2027 (posted), July 2027 (projected), February 2028 (last of this format)

The February 2027 dates are posted by the State Bar. July 2027 and February 2028 are not yet posted; the dates below follow Rule 4.61(A) (applications available March 1 and October 1; timely deadlines April 1 and November 1; final deadlines June 1 and January 1; a deadline on a non-business day moves to the next business day) and the Supreme Court's order fixing the exam on the last Tuesday of February and July (Title 4 PDF; Order S296951).

Some secondary pages print "November 1" and "January 1" for February 2027; the State Bar's own page says November 2, 2026 and January 4, 2027, and those dates control (Dates and Deadlines). Testing-accommodation requests for the February exam are due January 1, moved to the next business day, so January 4, 2027 (Testing Accommodations).

Results: February 2026 results were released on May 1, 2026, about nine and a half weeks after the exam (February 2026 results). July 2026 results are due November 6, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. Pacific, the new release time set by the Board on July 16, 2026 (Board, July 16, 2026). The February 2027 results date has not been announced. For a fuller calendar, see California Bar Exam dates and deadlines 2027.

Moral character: start early, and plan the fingerprints from China

The moral character determination is a separate application with its own fee ($1,054 for an attorney applicant) and its own clock. The State Bar says applications "are processed in a minimum of 180 days, or 6 months, from the date they are deemed complete", and a minimum of one year if an informal conference is needed; it recommends filing "at least 8 to 10 months prior to" the date you want to be admitted (Application Process). A positive determination is valid for 36 months under Rule 4.51, as amended June 23, 2025 (Title 4 PDF).

For a February 2027 candidate who wants to be admitted soon after results in about May 2027, the State Bar's 8-to-10-month advice meant filing between July and September 2026. So file as soon as your registration is approved; do not wait for the exam deadline. If you file in November 2026, the 180-day minimum means admission cannot come before about May 2027, and it may come later. Three points matter most for a PRC applicant:

• Fingerprints within 60 days. Prints must be submitted within 60 days of filing or the application may be deemed abandoned without refund (Rule 4.43). Outside California you must use two FBI FD-258 cards, taken by a law enforcement agency or DOJ/FBI-certified technicians, and mail the originals to Los Angeles; out-of-state Live Scan is not permitted (Fingerprint Instructions PDF). Order the cards through a General Request in the Applicant Portal before you file, and ask the State Bar in writing how it will accept cards taken in China. If you will be in the United States for any reason before the exam, that is often the simplest place to have them taken.
• The driving record. You must disclose every driver's license you have ever been issued. For each jurisdiction other than California in which you held a license in the last 10 years, you must also supply an original certified driving record, issued within six months, "containing at least five years of your driving history or the longest timeframe provided by the jurisdiction, whichever is shorter", with a certified English translation (Application Instructions PDF). If you have held a PRC license in the last 10 years, request the record from the vehicle administration office that issued it and translate it like the CGS.
• Employment and references. List all law-related employment since age 18 and all other employment lasting more than six months, with a reference for each, plus five personal references, at least one of whom is admitted to practice law. The State Bar sends confidential questionnaires to references and employers (Application Instructions PDF). Choose references who read English and will answer promptly.

The MPRE: a second test, taken in the United States

Every applicant must pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) with a scaled score of at least 86 (State Bar MPRE page). NCBE's California sheet says there are no time limits within which the score must be earned (NCBE California sheet). Rule 4.59 says: "The Committee must receive official notice of an MPRE passing score before an applicant is deemed to have passed the examination" (Title 4 PDF). So you may sit the bar exam first, but you are not deemed to have passed until the State Bar receives your MPRE passing score.

The fee is $185 for all 2026 and 2027 administrations. Registration for the November 12 or 13, 2026 MPRE closed on September 17, 2026. The 2027 dates are March 23 or 24 (register by January 21, 2027), August 18 or 19 (by June 17, 2027) and November 4 or 5 (by September 21, 2027); you test on one of the two listed days (NCBE MPRE registration). Register with the State Bar first, designate California when you register for the MPRE, and add your NCBE number in the Applicant Portal so the score is reported (State Bar MPRE page).

Where you take it. NCBE says Pearson gives the MPRE "at testing centers in locations across the US, including locations in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands", and lists no test centers outside the U.S. and its territories (NCBE MPRE registration). Plan the MPRE as part of a U.S. trip. For a February 2027 candidate, the options are to stay in the United States from the February 23–24 bar exam until the March 23 or 24, 2027 MPRE, or to take the MPRE on a later trip (for example August 18 or 19, 2027). A July 2027 candidate can stay about three weeks after the July 27–28 exam for the August 18 or 19 MPRE.

Travel, visa and exam day

The exam is "administered entirely in person at designated testing sites in California"; there is no remote option and no overseas site (July 2026 exam page). July 2026 used the Ontario, Pasadena and Oakland convention centers, USC Galen Center, @the Grounds in Roseville and the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center; the February 2027 sites are not yet posted. You test only at the center printed on your Admittance Ticket, which is released in the Applicant Portal about four weeks before the exam (June 30 for July 2026) (Admittance Ticket Bulletin).

Practical points for a PRC passport holder (immigration guidance is ours, not the State Bar's):

• Visa. China is not a Visa Waiver Program country, so unless you are already in the United States in another status, you need a visitor visa. We found no visa-support letter procedure on calbar.ca.gov; the closest official document is a $17 Letter of Verification of registration or fees, requested through the Applicant Portal (Appendix A PDF). Some applicants show the exam application confirmation or a Letter of Verification to explain the purpose of the trip; this is unverified house guidance, not a State Bar or consular rule. Apply for the visa as soon as your exam application is accepted, and cover the MPRE date in your travel plan.
• EVUS. If you travel on a PRC passport with a 10-year B1/B2 visa, you must enroll in the Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS) before you travel (EVUS).
• Identification. Bring your physical passport and the printed Admittance Ticket; digital IDs are not permitted (Admittance Ticket Bulletin).
• Laptop. You type the written day in Examplify on your own Windows or Mac laptop with a screen of at most 17.3 inches; desktops, iPads and detachable-keyboard tablets are not allowed. You must upload a mandatory mock exam by the published deadline (July 24 for July 2026) or you will be required to handwrite, and answer files are due by noon Pacific the day after the exam or ten scaled points are deducted (Laptops page; Admittance Ticket Bulletin). Install and test Examplify on the laptop you will carry to California well before the mock deadline.
• After you pass, you need not return for admission. The attorney's oath may be taken outside the United States before a U.S. ambassador, consul, vice-consul or consular agent, or a foreign judge with a court seal, with signatures certified under Code of Civil Procedure section 2014 (Attorney's Oath). All requirements, including the oath, must be completed within five years of the exam you pass (Rule 4.17) (Title 4 PDF).

Ten pitfalls that cost PRC applicants a sitting

1. Treating the qualification certificate as an admission. The State Bar's test is "fully admitted ... without any restrictions" (Foreign Admitted Attorneys). Without a practising certificate you are on the LL.M. route.
2. A CGS that misses an item. A standard 执业证明 often omits the admission date or the disciplinary history, or has no signature, stamp, or seal. Give the issuing office the State Bar's list and check each item before you leave (Proof of Admission and Good Standing).
3. A CGS older than six months at exam-application time. One certificate can serve more than one application only inside its six-month window (Proof of Admission and Good Standing).
4. A translation without the original, or a partial translation. The State Bar wants the certified translation and the original (Registration).
5. A name that does not match the passport. The exam-day ID check is against a physical passport (Admittance Ticket Bulletin).
6. Buying an Attorneys' Exam course. The Attorneys' Exam is only the written day (Attorney Applicants). A PRC lawyer also sits the 200-question MBE. The February 2026 statistics describe foreign attorneys as "Applicants admitted in foreign jurisdictions. This group of attorney applicants must take the General Bar Exam" (February 2026 statistics).
7. Missing the 60-day registration window. Documents and fees not received within 60 days of submitting the registration mean an abandoned registration and no refund (Rule 4.16(B)) (Title 4 PDF). Courier delays from China are not an excuse.
8. Filing moral character late, or missing the 60-day fingerprint window. The minimum processing time is 180 days from a complete application (Application Process); fingerprints not submitted within 60 days can abandon the application (Fingerprint Instructions PDF).
9. Forgetting that the MPRE is a U.S. trip. NCBE lists MPRE test centers only in the U.S. and its territories (NCBE MPRE registration). Book the MPRE date when you book the bar exam trip, or you may need a second visa-and-flight cycle.
10. Studying the wrong exam or the wrong law. Anyone sitting in 2027 or February 2028 takes the current exam, not NextGen (State Bar notice, July 15, 2026). Professional Responsibility, which is answered under California and ABA authorities, appeared on all 12 of the most recent exams; Community Property, tested only under California law, appeared on six of the 12 (Past exams; Scope). PRC law has counterparts (legal ethics, marital common property), but the California rules tested differ, so study the California rules rather than relying on PRC ones. Also check third-party pages against the State Bar: several still list $850 and $1,500 fees or a "November 1 / January 1" deadline (Appendix A; Dates and Deadlines).

Timeline for the February 2027 sitting

This plan assumes you hold a practising certificate now and want to sit in February 2027. Every deadline is from the State Bar's or NCBE's page for that sitting (Dates and Deadlines; NCBE MPRE registration); the ordering is ours.

If February 2027 is too soon, the same sequence shifts to the July 2027 sitting: registration and CGS in early 2027, exam application by April 1, 2027, final deadline June 1, 2027, exam July 27–28, 2027 (projected), and the MPRE on August 18 or 19, 2027 if you stay in the United States after the exam (Title 4 PDF, Rule 4.61; NCBE MPRE registration). AntCABar builds a day-by-day study plan from your sitting date and available hours; see pricing.

Pass rates for foreign attorneys

The State Bar publishes pass rates for "foreign attorneys" but no breakdown by nationality. Foreign-admitted attorneys passed at 18.2% in July 2025 (1,003 sat; first-timers 24.5%, repeaters 10.6%) and 22.2% in February 2026 (926 sat; first-timers 23.8%) (July 2025 statistics; February 2026 statistics). The written day is half the score, and several essay-only subjects matter here: PRC law has counterparts (company law, marital common property, succession, legal ethics), but the California rules tested differ, and Community Property, Wills and Professional Responsibility are answered under California authorities (Scope). For the full tables and comparisons, see California Bar Exam pass rates for foreign-educated candidates.

Why 2027 matters: the July 2028 change

On July 15, 2026 the Supreme Court of California ordered the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam from the July 2028 administration (Order S296951). The State Bar's notice says the exam "will not include a California component for the July 2028 and February 2029 administrations" (State Bar notice, July 15, 2026). It follows from the July 2028 start date, though no State Bar page says it in one sentence, that February 2028 is the last sitting of the exam described in this guide. A candidate who sits in February or July 2027 keeps one or two further attempts at the same exam; foreign-admitted attorneys remain eligible under the new exam. See California Bar Exam 2027, 2028 and 2029 for the full timeline.

中文摘要：中国律师报考加州律师考试要点

以下内容与上文英文一致，每一项都附有官方页面链接。

• 资格。 持有效《律师执业证》且执业不受限制的中国律师，可以不读 LL.M. 直接报考加州律师考试（Foreign Education；Foreign Admitted Attorneys）。仅持有《法律职业资格证书》或处于实习律师阶段，按 State Bar 的措辞不属于"fully admitted"，需走 Rule 4.30(A) 的 LL.M. 路线（Guidelines）。具体情况请先发邮件至 [email protected] 确认。
• 考试类型。 必须参加两天的 General Bar Exam（第一天五篇 essay 加一篇 90 分钟 Performance Test，第二天 200 题 MBE），不能参加一天的 Attorneys' Exam；后者要求在美国司法管辖区执业满四年（Rule 4.3(C)，Title 4；Attorney Applicants）。及格线 1390/2000（Grading）。
• 材料。 在 Applicant Portal 以 attorney applicant 身份注册（$310），邮寄六个月内出具的 Certificate of Good Standing 原件，须载明执业证号、取得执业资格的日期、当前执业状态、惩戒记录，并有签字、印章或钢印（signature, stamp, or seal）；中文文件须附经认证的英文翻译及中文原件（Proof of Admission and Good Standing；Registration）。中国不在 State Bar 接受电子证明的外国司法管辖区名单上，因此须邮寄原件（Electronic Certificates Accepted）。State Bar 页面未要求公证，也未指定翻译机构；实务中常用公证处出具的翻译公证书，或翻译公司的认证翻译件。邮寄地址：State Bar of California, ATTN: Office of Admissions, 845 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017。注册后 60 天内材料和费用未到即视为放弃且不退费（Rule 4.16(B)）。无 SSN 者在注册时申请豁免，填写护照号。
• 费用（现行 2026 年收费表，attorney applicant 档；如理事会通过 2027 年新收费标准，以新表为准）。 注册 $310，品行审查（moral character）$1,054，考试报名 $1,650，电脑答题 $153，MPRE $185（付给 NCBE），合计 $3,352；迟交加收 $50 或 $250（Appendix A；NCBE MPRE）。
• 2027 年 2 月考试。 考试日期 2027 年 2 月 23–24 日；2026 年 10 月 1 日开放报名，11 月 2 日为正常截止日，11 月 3–30 日加收 $50，12 月 1 日至 2027 年 1 月 4 日加收 $250，之后不再受理（Dates and Deadlines）。2027 年 7 月（预计 7 月 27–28 日，截止 4 月 1 日 / 6 月 1 日）尚未正式公布。
• 品行审查与指纹。 最少 180 天，建议在期望获准执业日期前 8 到 10 个月提交，因此应在注册获批后尽快提交（Application Process）。人在加州以外须用两张 FBI FD-258 指纹卡，由执法机关或 DOJ/FBI 认证人员采集，提交申请后 60 天内寄到洛杉矶（Fingerprint Instructions）。
• MPRE。 须达到 86 分；可以先考律师考试，但 State Bar 收到 MPRE 及格成绩前不视为通过（Rule 4.59）。NCBE 只列出美国本土及其属地的 Pearson 考点，须安排在赴美行程中，例如 2027 年 2 月考后留到 3 月 23 或 24 日参加 MPRE（NCBE MPRE registration）。
• 到场与签证。 律师考试只在加州线下举行，没有远程或境外考点，考试当天须出示实体护照（July 2026 exam page；Admittance Ticket Bulletin）。中国不在免签计划内，需自行办理访问签证；持十年 B1/B2 签证者出行前须办理 EVUS 登记（EVUS）。我们在 State Bar 网站上未找到签证支持信的办理程序，最接近的官方文件是 $17 的 Letter of Verification（Appendix A PDF）。通过后无需为执业许可再赴美，可在美国领事馆或持有法院印章的外国法官面前宣誓（Attorney's Oath）。
• 改革时间表。 2028 年 2 月是现行考试的最后一次；2028 年 7 月起改为 NextGen UBE，2028 年 7 月和 2029 年 2 月没有加州部分（Supreme Court order；State Bar notice）。建议在 2027 年应考，保留在同一考试形式下重考的机会。
• 通过率。 外国律师 2025 年 7 月 18.2%（1,003 人应考），2026 年 2 月 22.2%（926 人应考）（July 2025；Feb 2026）。中国法律中有公司法、夫妻共同财产、继承和律师职业伦理等对应内容，但加州考查的是加州规则，Community Property、Wills 和 Professional Responsibility 须按加州法律作答。

相关页面：考试概览、外国律师专页、报名步骤、科目、课程价格。