Foreigners who come to China to work will soon get a unified work permit, as the country tries to streamline the process and improve efficiency to attract more skilled foreign talent. The reform will combine China’s two current foreigner work permits into one. A trial will get underway in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin municipalities as well as in Hebei, Anhui, Shandong, Guangdong and Sichuan provinces and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region beginning in October, according to the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA), which is leading the reform. The reform will be implemented nationwide in April 2017. Under the current system, foreigners can apply for either of two types of work permit – an employment license for foreigners issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, or a foreign expert work permit provided by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. “Legally, it is pretty hard to tell which category an applicant belongs to,” said Liu Guofu, Professor of Immigration Law at the Beijing Institute of Technology. “For example, if a foreign specialist from Microsoft applies for a work permit in China, is he an expert or not?”, Liu said, adding that the current rule can be confusing for foreigners. A manual will be issued to guide foreigners in obtaining the permit, explaining such things as applicant requirements, basic procedures and the review time. After the work permit is issued, an expatriate will obtain a work permit card with an identification number. The card will include the worker’s name and photo, the period for which the permit is valid and the employer’s name. “The new work permit card will be the legal credential for foreigners to work in China,” said Gao Xiang, Director of SAFEA’s Department of Policies and Regulations. According to the Ministry of Public Security, nearly 600,000 foreigners had lived in China for more than six months by 2011, with about 220,000 expats working in China, mostly in joint ventures or as teachers or representatives of foreign institutions, the China Daily reports.

Expatriates are worried that authorities in Shanghai may remove road direction signs in English. Foreigners say this would cause problems, especially for drivers from overseas, as most of them cannot read Chinese characters. The Shanghai Road Administration Bureau is considering the removal of road signs bearing English-language interpretations, pinyin in most cases. These signs are usually hung above the center of major roads or close to exits on ring roads and elevated highways. English or pinyin signs will remain in and around scenic spots, in central business districts, and in transportation hubs, as will street signs in pinyin at all junctions.

The immigration inspection station at Shanghai Pudong International Airport expanded its self-service entry inspection channels to foreigners holding electronic passports who have residence permits for six months or longer. Previously, only registered flight crew members and expats holding permanent Chinese residence permits could enjoy the service, which takes about 10 seconds for each passenger. But first-time users must have their passports registered and their fingerprints and facial image entered into the computer system when entering China by air. This can be done at the immigration inspection station at the airport. They can then go to any one of the 27 electronic channels, each of which has two gates. They will first have their passports scanned, which will open the first gate, and the second gate will open when their fingerprints and faces are electronically recognized. The self-service system is much quicker than the traditional inspection procedures, which involves queuing for a face-to-face with an immigration official. More than one million non-foreign passengers have used the e-channels in the first half of this year. A total of 28.5 million travelers have entered or departed from Shanghai in the first half of this year, up 15% over last year, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Beijing police have set up an inter-departmental health information system for foreigners, a move to make it easier to apply for long-term residence in the capital. Under the new system, foreigners applying for the first time to live in Beijing for more than one year will need to submit just one health check certificate, instead of the multiple certificates required previously, the Beijing Public Security Bureau said. Three departments in the city – the Public Security Bureau, the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau – will now share information on the health status of foreigners in Beijing. The new policy already took effect. Previously, foreigners first applying for longtime residence in Beijing had to submit a health check certificate to several government agencies. They were not required to submit such a certificate when they renewed their residence permit. Efforts to cut red tape for foreigners living in China have been stepped up in other government departments as well.

A national government department for issuing work permits for foreigners may open next year. Currently, a foreign expert certificate is issued by the State Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) for those working at cultural, education, healthcare and research institutions, most of which are run by the government. An alien employment certificate is issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security for those working in commercial sectors, the China Daily reports.

China is planning to set up its first immigration office under the Ministry of Public Security before the end of the year. It would be created by merging and expanding the Ministry’s border control and entry-exit administration bureaus. Further details are still sketchy, but the move points to the importance of foreign talent recruitment in China. The central government released a document on foreigners’ permanent residency in February that said it “will further improve the organizational setting and the delegation of responsibility of immigration affairs, and place the functions of drafting permanent residency policies, review, approval and daily service under a single agency”. Wang Huiyao, President of the Center for China and Globalization, said that “Foreign talent is important to help promote innovation and the setting up of new businesses. In the United States, one-third of patent holders, nearly half the founders or co-founders of its top 50 listed corporations and nearly half its doctoral degree holders in science and engineering are immigrants.” About 600,000 foreigners work in China, a tiny proportion compared to the country’s 1.3 billion people. By contrast, in major international cities, immigrants account for 20% to 80% of the population, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Wang said an immigration bureau should integrate responsibilities that are now scattered throughout many government departments, the China Daily reports.