Beijing lures international skilled workers with incentives

The municipal government of Beijing is relaxing visa policies and offering cash incentives of up to $158,000 (1 million yuan) to attract International Skilled Workers to the Chinese capital, as the world’s second-largest economy vies with the US and other Western nations in the fields of artificial intelligence and life sciences.

 

It is said that the local government will expedite multiple entry visas of qualified individuals, with a validity of up to 10 years, offer permanent residency, aka green card, which lets its holders buy property, cars and gain access to local schools, said a statement on the Beijing government website on 22 March.

 

People Beijing wants to attract include entrepreneurs, senior management and professionals at multinationals and top companies based in Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan and partners at venture capital and private equity firms.

 

In July 2017, goals were laid out by China’s State Council to develop a domestic AI industry worth $150 billion in the next few years, with an intention to make by 2030 China an ‘innovation centre for AI’.

 

Beijing is competing with other big cities of China such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen for local as well as foreign talent.

 

Beijing and Shenzhen are working together to come up with a joint innovation park to entice more talent to the region. A “Greater Bay Area” blueprint is aiming to develop a mega business and economic hub by incorporating Hong Kong and Macau with nine cities in Guangdong province.

 

Simon Baptist, The Economist Intelligence Unit Asia’s global chief economist and managing director, was quoted by South China Morning Post as saying that America had become one of the sought-after destinations for foreign direct investment from China in the last five years. He said that it implied that US companies had things that Chinese enterprises want, including things like market access, intellectual property and skilled workers, and the upcoming restrictions on FDI could hurt China.

 

If you are looking to relocate to China, talk to Y-Axis, the world’s No.1 Immigration and Visa Consultancy, to apply for a visa.