Chinese cities step up efforts to lure domestic migrants as government plans to relax local restrictions
- Hangzhou, Shijiazhuang and Xian have already announced moves to attract more migrants as competition for shrinking pool graduate talent heats up
- According to a plan published in 2016, China plans to grant urban permanent residency to 100 million people by 2020
Chinese cities will be ordered to partially or in some cases completely lift restrictions on new domestic migrants as the competition to attract a shrinking pool of graduate talent intensifies in the world’s second largest economy.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission published its 2019 urbanisation plan on Monday, specifically stating cities with a population under three million should lift all restrictions on new domestic migrants, while cities with populations between three to five million should “comprehensively relax permanent residency requirements”.
Other larges cities including Beijing and Shanghai can maintain some of their current population control measures, which set a slightly higher threshold for migrants, but under the plan, should allow more people to settle within their jurisdictions.
The scramble for domestic migrants by provincial capital cities highlights an increased focus on urbanisation as municipal authorities realise that they need a consistent inflow of people to sustain local property markets and to prompt economic growth.
Hangzhou, the provincial capital city of affluent Zhejiang province, last week announced that it will grant permanent residency to migrants with college education and above, a relaxation from the previous regulation that stated a person with a college education degree can only apply for permanent residency if they are under 35 years old.
Shijiazhuang, the capital city of the province of Hebei, announced last month a “zero threshold” policy for domestic migrants, a significant change from the previous policy that required “stable employment and residency” for a certain period of time as a precondition for granting permanent residency.