China eases entry visa and hukou rules in all-out push to save the economy

Name: Premier Li Qiang plays up China’s economic prospects at World Economic Forum’s ‘Summer Davos’
Uploaded: 2023-08-03T22:00:15.000Z
Duration: 1 min 49 s
Description: Premier Li Qiang plays up China’s economic prospects at World Economic Forum’s ‘Summer Davos’

More businesspeople will be able to get visas on landing and more rural residents should qualify for urban residency

The changes unveiled by the Ministry of Public Security are meant to foster freer movement of people and data

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The Ministry of Public Security says the changes are meant to encourage the free movement of people and information. Photo: EPA-EFE

Orange Wang

Published: 6:00am, 4 Aug 2023Updated: 10:23am, 4 Aug 2023

China will relax a wide range of social controls, including visas on arrival for more overseas businesspeople, as it tries to revive its sputtering post-pandemic economy.

The guidelines released by the Ministry of Public Security on Thursday are the latest in a series of far-reaching policy adjustments in recent weeks signalling Beijing’s all-out efforts to put the world’s No 2 economy on a surer footing.

In the 26-point package, the ministry said it would also loosen the household registration system to help secure supply chains and encourage job creation.

In addition, the guidelines commit authorities to making a range of government services more accessible across jurisdictions, particularly in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

He Wenlin, the ministry’s deputy head of research, said the changes were designed to promote the “free movement” of people, vehicles, information and data, and officials would strive to turn into guidelines into action by the end of this month.

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Premier Li Qiang plays up China’s economic prospects at World Economic Forum’s ‘Summer Davos’

A central plant of the package is for authorities to lower the bar for individuals to obtain an urban hukou, or household registration, to enable more skilled rural residents to live and work in cities.