China to relax visa regulations to attract foreign talent

China is said to be easing its visa rules for foreigners in order to attract international talent to bolster its growth. As Chinese business leaders like Robin Li, Baidu chief, and others pushed their government to make it simpler for them to recruit crème-de-la-crème of talent from all over the world who might not be enthused by new immigration policies that the new US administration has adopted. Straits Times quotes Caixin, a financial magazine, as saying this in a report on its website. On 9 March, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security launched a new pilot programme to allow anyone who has been recruited by the world’s second largest economy for a minimum of two years to apply for a work permit of five-years, Caixin is said to have reported on 13 March. According to the report, earlier, most foreign workers, including those recruited on multi-year contracts, needed to apply for a new work permit every year. It added that the scheme could be launched in the next few months in about nine cities and provinces such as Beijing, Hebei and Wuhan, apart from 11 free-trade zones, which include the ones in Chongqing, Henan and Tianjin. China has been intending to relax visa rules for foreign workers in the past few years with a view to draw the best talent to aid in boosting its economy. In 2004, even as China started granting permanent residency, out of the approximate 600,000 foreign employees in the first decade of the scheme, only 7,356 overseas workers were issued permanent residency. Li of Baidu, China's answer to Google, had reportedly said in the second week of February that Donald Trump’s anti-immigration stance was offering China a great opportunity to draw talented workers to its shores who could power its tech sector to compete with Silicon Valley. If you are looking to migrate to China, contact Y-Axis, a preeminent immigration consultancy company of the world, to apply for a visa from one of its several offices.