Change in residence permits won't solve all problems
- Source: Global Times
- [04:31 January 08 2010]
- Comments
A migrant worker, with luggages on his shoulder, walks out of Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 30, 2009. As the Spring Festival holiday is about to finish, passenger transportation of the Spring Festival started to reach the peak of return passengers. (Xinhua/Hu Guanhua)
By Huang Jingjing
A nationwide push to let the migrant population enjoy the same benefits given to permanent residents by reforming hukou, or household registration system, is gaining support in many cities. But some experts warned that the migrant population could remain on the sidelines despite changes in the rules.
In Guangdong Province, home to 26 million migrants who work in cities such as Dongguan, Foshan, Zhuhai and Guangzhou, authorities started replacing the longtime temporary permits with residence permits on January 1.
Beijing's city comprehensive management office vice director Miao Lin announced last month that the capital is also expected to scrap the temporary permits this year.
Shenzhen in Guangdong and Changchun in Jilin Province launched such moves in the past two years. In Dalian, Liaoning Province, a similar effort was announced last month.
Migrants are supposed to apply for the temporary permit if they live in a city in which they do not have a hukou. The benefits they enjoy are less favorable than those with hukou.
Holders of the residence permits are entitled to get a hukou if they have resided in the city for a specific number of years, which vary among cities.
Some migrants are eagerly waiting for the reform in order to get more benefits.
In Dalian, the new holders of the residence permits will not need to pay extra school fees for their children.
In some cities, a residence permit also opens the door to more benefits including medical care and pension.
"It's good news. If Beijing carries out the policy, I would be at ease to think about giving birth to a baby now," Zeng Hong, 28, from Heilongjiang Province who worked in Beijing after graduating in 2006, told the Global Times.
"I and my husband have been trying to get hukou here before giving birth to a baby. Because we are worried that a child without a hukou could never enjoy the same education rights and interests as other children here," she said.
However, Zhou Hanhua, an administrative law professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the benefits differ in each city, and some cities may not have sufficient resources to give out as welfare.
"The new policy means greater challenges for the city on its finance expenditure, medical and education facility, and security capability," Zhou told the Global Times. "The city has to consider a lot of factors and then decide benefit items for the residential permit holders," he said.
Wang Taiyuan, a public law professor from the Chinese People's Public Security University, told the Legal Daily that officials must ensure that they have sufficient resources before they change the hukou system.
"If the cake is not big enough, what is the use of holding a residence permit?" Wang said.
Wang Haiye, a worker in Beijing from Hebei Province, worried that they may need to pay more taxes for more benefits.
