More Beijingers Receive Residency Permits in 2012, But Will The Trend Continue?

 

With all the latest regulations and addded hassle acquiring a visa in Beijing, it's easy to think that the Washington Post may have been on to something when their map suggested China was unwelcoming to foreigners. However, a 2012 report shows China issued just over 1,200 residency permits that year, an 83 percent increase from 2011, according to a Xinhua article.

Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou issued the majority of the residency permits to foreigners who were mostly from the US, Germany, Canada, Australia and Japan.

"The principle of China's 'green card' regulation is to attract foreign talent to promote economic and social development and enhance international communication," Zheng said in Xinhua.

Time will tell if 2013 will see a continued increase in the number of residency permits issued, or if the latest rules will hinder the upward trend. In the meantime, our Visa Issues forum can help field questions you may still have about visas following the updated regulations.

Photo: my1073fm.com

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Note: the story is referring to Permanent Residency permits (aka a Chinese "green card'), not the normal residency permits that are issued to most ... and the grand total last year was 1,202 permanent residence permits issued (still a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated 200,000 or more estimated foreign residents of Beijing (though the article states that the number of foreign residents is 118,000 -- seems low to me).

But I'd be curious to know who among the foreign population would like to become Permanent Resident anyhow?

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