Shanghai relaxes residency rules for talents

By Cao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-16 07:38

SHANGHAI: The city is drafting a comprehensive new residency plan designed to attract and keep highly skilled workers who can help Shanghai stay competitive, mayor Han Zheng revealed yesterday.

"A series of policies will be promulgated in February, stipulating on granting qualified talents housing, residency permit, children schooling," Han said in a speech delivered at the annual session of Shanghai municipal people's congress.

Some foreigners will also enjoy benefits from the new rules expected to be detailed next month.

"Some talents will be able to obtain permanent residency right away and some will be admitted with a temporary residency first and then a permanent one in a few years," Han said.

The mayor said that in order to maintain steady growth in these difficult times, Shanghai must create major new projects, build an international financial and shipping center and emphasize innovation.

"Quality talents are key in all of them," Han said.

Another initiative, which is expected to be unveiled next month, is a plan to give more incentives to encourage skilled people to come here and take part in science and technology research, he said.

For certain qualified projects, some project leaders would be able to keep 20 to 50 percent of the total investment, as a reward.

In addition, projects listed in the national plan and which are limited to research only, the Shanghai government will pay the workers an amount equivalent to 10 percent of the investment.

Other projects will also qualify for such rewards based on merit.

Shi Baozhen, a member of the CPPCC Shanghai Committee, said she is looking forward to the new policy as it would also cover some foreign workers.

"The current ones do not include foreign employees in local pension and medical systems, which make them feel insecure," she said.

"Because of that, some of them will think of leaving Shanghai when they reach a certain age."

Chen Ling, a dean with Tongji University and a member as well, said it takes at least six months to process paperwork at government departments when recruiting an overseas worker.

"Because of that, the talents are not be able to get the preferential treatments we promise in a long time and their family also have difficulty in finding a job or schooling," she explained.

In December, Shanghai organized three job fairs in London, Chicago and New York to recruit top financial talents. More than 2,100 individuals attended the fairs and 840 of them have reached an initial agreement with Shanghai businesses.

(China Daily 01/16/2009 page5)