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Sidney Leng

China has started rolling out its new fast-track, long-stay visas for “high-end talent”, documents meant to encourage specialists such as top scientists and businesspeople to live and work in China.
The roll-out began on Tuesday with the Beijing bureau of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs issuing the country’s first Certificate for Foreign High-end Talent, state-run Xinhua reported on Thursday without identifying the recipient.
The certificate is necessary to apply for one of the new five- or 10-year multiple-entry visas.
The report said the visas took as little as one day to process, were free and were valid for stays of 180 days.
Win a science Nobel and be in the running for a Chinese ‘green card’
The visas would also be granted to the spouses and children of the “high-end” recipients.
China implements a strict immigration system and tightly controls the issuing of work visas.
Most foreigners working in China must renew their visas every one or two years.
The new visas are meant to expand the pool of foreign specialists working in China, particularly in the areas such as science and technology, which Beijing sees as key to driving economic growth.
According to government guidelines, high-end foreigners also refer to, among others, Nobel Prize winners, chief or deputy editors in Chinese state media, foreign coaches and players in national and provincial sports teams, postdoctoral students from world-class universities outside China, and foreigners who earn at least six times the average annual wage in China.
Five things you should know about China’s ‘green cards’
The average annual income in Beijing in 2016 was 92,477 yuan (US$14,220), according to official statistics.
The visas are part of a top-down drive to make China a more attractive place to work and stay.
In February 2016, the central government relaxed the country’s green card rules, extending eligibility for permanent residency to foreigners working in broader fields than just government departments or laboratories involved in “key national projects”.
Transiting in Beijing? You can now stay visa-free for six days
Of all the provincial-level areas in China, Shanghai has the highest number of foreign workers, with about 215,000 of the city’s 24 million people coming from overseas.
A third of those overseas workers are employed in the business service sector, according to local authorities.
In 2016, Japan was the biggest source of foreign workers in Shanghai, followed by the United States and South Korea.


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Could you be a ‘high-end’ foreigner? China offers 10-year free visa to top talent

China is offering fast-track, long-stay visas to lure top foreign expertise to the country. Photo: AFP

Win a science Nobel and be in the running for a Chinese ‘green card’

East China University of Science and Technology president Qu Jingping (left) congratulates chemist Bernard Feringa on his appointment as an honorary professor of the university earlier this month. Photo: East China University of Science and Technology

Media interview session with 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient Kurt Wuthrich. 18MAR11 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

This handout photo released by the University of Groningen on October 5, 2016 shows professor Bernard Feringa of the Netherlands posing on November 28, 2013 in Groningen. A trio of French, British and Dutch scientists won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on October 5, 2016 for developing molecular machines, the world's smallest machines that may one day act as artificial muscles to power tiny robots or even prosthetic limbs. Jean-Pierre Sauvage of France, J Fraser Stoddart of Britain and Bernard Feringa of the Netherlands "have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added," the jury said. Feringa, a 65-year-old professor at the University of Groningen, told reporters at the Nobel press conference that the prizewinning research offered great opportunities for the future. / AFP PHOTO / University o f Groningen / Jeroen Van Kooten / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN/JEROEN VAN KOOTEN" - NO MARKETI

Five things you should know about China’s ‘green cards’

A file picture of foreigners in Beijing watching TV coverage of the US presidential election last year. Photo: Simon Song

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Nobel Prize winners, sports coaches and scientists are some of the people the country hopes to lure with easier entry requirements


Foreigners in China

Could you be a ‘high-end’ foreigner? China offers 10-year free visa to top talent

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Nobel Prize winners, sports coaches and scientists are some of the people the country hopes to lure with easier entry requirements

Nobel Prize winners, sports coaches and scientists are some of the people the country hopes to lure with easier entry requirements