China will update its “green card” policy this year to make life easier for foreign residents, a source at the Ministry of Public Security confirmed. With improved security features, the permanent resident permit is expected to guarantee more rights equal to those of Chinese citizens, such as for buying railway tickets, checking in at hotels and purchasing property. A meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, presided over by President Xi Jinping, decided to further reform the permanent residency policy. “The current green card is designed for entry and exit at the borders,” said a Ministry of Public Security Division Chief who requested anonymity. “However, the new card will be more commonly accepted in daily life. A foreign permanent resident could, for example, apply for a driver’s license using only his or her green card.” China began issuing permanent resident permits in 2004. The green card is among the most difficult to obtain in the world due to the high requirements. From 2004 to 2013, only 7,356 foreigners were granted the card. China has been easing its residence and entry policies for foreigners since September 2015. Last year, 1,576 foreigners became permanent Chinese residents, an increase of 163% over 2015, the China Daily reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s determination to expand employment by discouraging U.S. companies from investing overseas has been welcomed by some, but might affect professionals from China and other countries hoping to secure a job in the U.S. Reports said the H1-B work visa program that allows U.S. employers, particularly in Silicon Valley, to hire top foreign professionals also faces changes as part of a larger immigration effort, said Wang Dong, Associate Professor of International Studies at Peking University and Secretary General of the Beijing-based think tank Pangoal Institution. Trump’s administration might lower the number of work visa applications from the annual quota of 65,000 set aside for “specialty positions”, Wang said. “A renegotiation is also likely, but the pain will soon be felt by U.S. companies and work-visa applicants, a lot of whom are Chinese. How far Trump will push the envelope on immigration and what he might do to bypass institutional barriers remains unpredictable,” Wang added.

The number of foreigners who became permanent Chinese residents in 2016 jumped 163% from the previous year to 1,576, according to the Ministry of Public Security. Foreigners with permanent residence enjoy the same rights as Chinese citizens in areas such as investment, housing purchases and schooling. Shanghai saw six times more green card applications from foreigners and their families. The number of such applications in Beijing last year soared 426% from that of 2015. Foreigners made over 56.5 million trips to China last year, up 8.9% from 2015. At present, 15 Chinese cities allow a 72-hour visa-free entry for nationals of certain countries. Shanghai, as well as Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, offer 144-hour visa-free stay for transit passengers from certain countries, the Shanghai Daily reports.

China’s problems with air pollution are undermining government efforts to make the country more attractive to overseas talents. 55% of 2,000 foreign employees that Spring Professional polled last year – who had each lived in China for at least five years – said they had concerns about air quality, up from 23% in 2012. Air pollution has hurt recruitment for the past two years, said Ma Erman, head of overseas recruitment for language training company EF English in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. “Hebei doesn’t have many advantages to compete with coastal provinces, which have better economies and offer higher salaries, and air pollution is making recruitment even more difficult,” she said. The average daily concentration of PM2.5 in the country’s 31 provincial level regions was 47 micrograms per cubic meter last year, down by 6% from 2015 levels. He Kebin, Dean of Tsinghua University’s School of Environment, predicted it could take 10 to 15 years for most of the heavily polluted Chinese cities to meet the national air quality standard.

Premier Li Keqiang attended a gathering in Beijing of foreign experts working in China one week ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Li expressed China’s strong hope to “fully tap into the wisdom and creativity of every individual” to nurture new dynamism to propel economic growth, upgrade traditional industries and boost the transformation and upgrading of China’s economy. Sir James Fraser Stoddart, the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry for 2016, who now works at Tianjin University, suggested that China establish a long-term program to support creative young researchers and their teams. Foreign experts make more than 600,000 visits to China each year, according to Zhang Jianguo, Director of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. Denis Depoux, Asia Vice President of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, said China has become an innovation powerhouse, as a growing domestic market and middle class are fueling “incredible creativity and business model ingenuity”.