Shanghai govt announces new plan for resident registrations
- Source: Global Times
- [07:33 June 18 2009]
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By Deng Jingyin
The Shanghai municipal government yesterday announced a detailed residence registration plan aimed at attracting talented professionals.
Some locals complained that the list of qualifications would exclude many people who have been living in the city for years.
The residence registration, known as hukou, will give people official Shanghai citizen status, which will entitle them to benefits like free schooling, better job opportunities, easier access to housing and business loans.
After it disclosed a trial scheme in February, Shanghai has finalized the optimized requirements for the applicants, such as an accumulated period of seven-year residence instead of a general term of seven years that might suggest continuous years, and a State-issued “mid-level professional title.”
It also requires people to have at least seven years of social insurance coverage in Shanghai, and they should be clear of any criminal record.
Many people who moved to Shanghai are worried it will not be easy or even possible for them to get a hukou, as some qualification requirements are hard to obtain.
To get a mid-level professional title, for example, a person must have a bachelor’s degree, five years’ professional experience, and go through complicated procedures and tests to apply for the title. Many working people do not have any professional title at all.
“I’ve been working for a foreign company in Shanghai for more than 10 years, but foreign companies will not assess professional titles for the staff,” an unnamed woman told the Shanghai Morning Post.
Since Shanghai introduced a temporary residence permit system in 2002, approximately 270,000 people have applied for and got the “talent” type of permit. But only about 3,000 of them may qualify to apply for permanent resident status, the government said.
“Even if we have met the requirements and submitted the documents, we still have to go on a waiting list. Nobody knows how long it will be,” Yu Chongwu, a person with a residence permit in Shanghai, told the Global Times.
Yu said he is worried about “backdoor deals” and “queue-jumping problems,” so he will apply for registered residence as soon as possible after meeting the requirements.
“I advise the government to publicize the progress of applications,” he said.