SOURCE FROM：Beijing Bureau of Exit&Entry Administration

DATE:30th July 2025

1. Facilitate the processing of talent visas for foreign high-level talents in educational and research institutions

Foreign talents urgently needed to come to China for business, visits or work can apply for port visas for visits, business or work at the port based on invitation letters and supporting documents. Foreign high-end talents can apply for talent visas at the port based on the "Confirmation Letter for Foreign High-End Talents".

2. Facilitate Work and Residence for Foreign Talents

For foreigners entering the country with talent visas, as well as foreign talents who have obtained professional qualifications abroad and been recognized by the competent authorities in charge of talent, human resources and social security, and science and technology, work residence and long-term residence convenience will be provided.

3. Facilitate foreign talents in educational and research institutions to receive continuing education.

Foreign management and professional technical personnel working in educational and research institutions do not need to change the type of their residence permit when pursuing a degree or receiving continuing education at domestic universities.

4. Facilitate part-time entrepreneurship by foreign talents in educational and research institutions.

Foreign talents working in educational and research institutions who adjust their job positions within the institution across regions or foreign high-level talents who take part-time jobs for innovation and entrepreneurship, after filing with the local public security exit and entry administration department, are exempted from going through residence procedures.

5. Facilitate the long-term residence of foreign postdoctoral researchers in China

Foreign doctoral graduates are encouraged to conduct research at postdoctoral research stations and workstations in Beijing. Foreign postdoctoral researchers who enter the stations can apply for a private affairs residence permit or a work residence permit.

6. Support foreign students studying in Beijing to start businesses.

Foreign students studying at universities in Beijing can apply for an extension of their study residence permit with the annotation "entrepreneurship" after obtaining the consent of their university and a recommendation letter, and then carry out entrepreneurial activities in the "two zones" and the Zhongguancun Demonstration Zone. Outstanding foreign graduates with a bachelor's degree or above from key majors of domestic "Double First-Class" universities and internationally renowned universities can apply for a private affairs residence permit for innovation and entrepreneurship in Beijing.

7. Support foreign students studying in Beijing to engage in part-time work-study programs.

Foreign students studying at universities in Beijing who meet the requirements can apply for a study-type residence permit (with the annotation "part-time work") by presenting relevant materials such as letters from their schools or employers, to engage in part-time work for financial aid.

8. Foreign doctoral students can apply for permanent residence in China.

Foreigners with a doctoral degree or above and holding a work-related residence permit who are working in Beijing can apply for permanent residence in China.

9. Facilitate permanent residence in China for high-level foreign talents.

Foreign high-level talents can apply for permanent residence to our bureau with recommendation letters from talent management departments, the "Two Zones" Office, the Municipal Science and Technology Commission, the Zhongguancun Administrative Committee, etc. Their foreign spouses and children can apply along with them.

10. Apply for permanent residence in China through points assessment

Foreign members of start-up teams in Zhongguancun, foreign technical talents selected and employed by Zhongguancun enterprises, and foreign innovative and entrepreneurial talents working in enterprises in the "two zones" can apply for permanent residence in China through a points-based assessment.

11. Facilitating the Application of Foreigners' Permanent Residence Identity Cards

Holders of the Foreigner's Permanent Residence Identity Card (Five-star Card) can use it alone when handling financial, educational, medical, transportation, accommodation, communication, employment, taxation and social insurance, property registration, litigation and other affairs.

12. Facilitate the application of six types of Chinese nationals working in Beijing for talent visas to Hong Kong and Macao.

Outstanding talents, scientific research talents, cultural and educational talents, health and medical talents, legal talents and management talents working in Beijing can apply for multiple-entry talent visas to Hong Kong and Macao with a validity period of 1 to 5 years based on relevant talent certificates. They can stay in Hong Kong or Macao for no more than 30 days each time.

From Department of International Cooperation and Exchange, Ministry of Education

1. To enhance the improvement of teaching for undergraduate education

The fundamental task of higher education institutions (HELs) is o train talents therefore the core of HEIs is teaching. The quality of undergraduate education is the key and priority of the quality of higher education because it is the main component and basis for higher education.

During the recent years, the reform and development of higher education has achieved remarkable progress, especially in terms of the rapid expansion of the scale of undergraduate education. The “Several Opinions on the Improvement of Teaching Quality and Enhancement of Teaching for Undergraduate Education in Higher Education Institutions" has been promulgated by the Ministry of Education of China. This document sets the guidance for increasing input into teaching, encouraging professors to give lectures to undergraduate students, enhancing the teaching of basic courses, introducing and using original teaching material from other countries, and promoting teaching in English. It also clarifies that head of the HEIs, the person directly responsible for teaching qualify, should establish the philosophy that quality is the lifeline of HELs and continuous innovation should be made in systems and daily work. The international competitiveness of HEIs as well as the education quality will be further improved.

2. To promote the adjustment of discipline structure of undergraduate education

The new catalogue of disciplines for undergraduate education in HEIs was issued in1998 and the total number of disciplines has been reduced from the original 504 to294. However, with the development of economic globalisation, rapid expansion of access to higher education and the breakthrough progress in systematic reform in higher education, it has been an emergent task to adjust the structure of disciplines in HEIs. For this purpose, the Ministry of Education issued “Several Opinions on the Adjustment of Disciplines in Higher Education Institutions", which then expands the authority of disciplines establishment for HEIs. At the same time, it also requires HEIs to establish a disciplinary management system of self-development and self-adjustment to meet the social reform and needs, to stop the trend of neglecting internal development and only paying attention to external development. It encourages development such as IT, life science, new material science, those which meet the needs of local economic development and those new cutting- edge disciplines. Some disciplines, attach importance to the development of Humanities and take measures to enhance the reform of traditional disciplines. Moreover, this document also emphasizes the disciplines development in HEIs in the west. Endeavours are to be made to perfect the system of discipline structure in this area so that an even development of higher education in the whole nation could be turned into reality. In March 2002, seven universities including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University, Wuhan University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiaotong University and the University of Political Science and Law, are authorised by MoE to have their freedom in discipline establishing.

3. To implement the Programme of Teaching Reform in the new century

Based on the achievements of “Reform Plan of Teaching Content and Curriculum System of the Higher Education facing 21 Century” which was launched in 1994, the MoE decided to implement the Programme of Teaching Reform in the New Century in January2000.This Programme aims at training high qualified talents with innovation, creativity and application capacity to meet the needs in the new century. Comprehensive research and practices will be carried out in areas of training module, teaching content, curriculum system and pedagogy to promote deeper teaching reform in higher education.

The main content of this Programme includes the strategic plan and research for talents training, reform and practice of undergraduate education and higher vocational education, resource establishment of modern distance education, teacher training among young and mid-aged key teachers. In August 2000, MoE issued the Notice of Projects on teaching reform for Undergraduate Education and rectified 670 projects which will be carried out by 265 HEIs. The total input for them reaches 25.3 million RMB.A number of excellent achievements in reaching reform has been turned out by this initiative.

4. The initial success of talents training bases for basic disciplines and the teaching bases of basic courses

since the later year of 1980’s, the basic disciplines in HEIs has been facing serious difficulties such as severe inadequate expenditure, very unstable teaching team, obvious decline of students’ quality. As a result, the long term development of our science and technology and the training quality of talents in higher education were threatened. Under that circumstance, the former SEdC decided to establish the training bases for talents in basic disciplines and the teaching bases of basic courses. By the end of 1998,84 national training bases of talents from basic disciplines of science, 51 for basic disciplines of Arts, 45 for engineering disciplines and 13 for economics have been set up in succession. The bases attracted lots of outstanding high school graduates, thus the quality of students was improved obviously and the initiative of the teachers increased unprecedentedly. The establishment and reform of bases gained common approval and appreciation from higher education sector.

5. The enhancement of cultural education of university students and the exploration of new talents training models

In 1995, the former SEdC envisaged to enhance the cultural education of university students. With the tangency of enhancing the cultural quality of university students, moral and ideological quality, cultural quality, professional quality and physical and psychological quality were combined organically together. Passing on knowledge, training capacities and improving quality were be mixed and quality education was realistic strengthened.52HEIs participated in the pilot work. The concerning HEIs took various measures, such as identifying the compulsory reading list, strengthening classroom teaching, offering lectures, and organizing all kinds of cultural activities, to promote the programme development. Some pilot HEIs identified the goal, basic requirement and assessment standard of the programme while some others began to adjust talents training and teaching plans in the light of new requirements. After 3-year of pilot, MoE promulgated the “Opinoins in the Enhancement of Cultural Education of University Students", set up directory committee for cultural education and ratified 32“Bases for the Enhancement of Cultural Education of University Students", which symbolizd that the enhancement of cultural education of university students was carried out full and over the country.

6. The increase of vitality of higher vocational education and sherr 2-3 years higher education

Since 1998, great efforts have been put into the basic development and reform of higher vocational education and short 2-3 years higher education. The schooling condition has been remarkably improved, the establishment of basic infrastructure for teaching accelerated, teaching capacity significantly improved and the important progress has been witnessed in reaching reform. Altogether more than 300 teaching materials have been complied and published. Teacher training bases have been set up in Beijing, Tianjin, Henan province and Zhejiang Province. 346 disciplines have been identified as the national teaching reform pilots and 103 reform topics have been confirmed by MoE. The feature of higher vocational education institutions are being demonstrated more clearly and higher vocational education is showing its great vitality in this reform.

7. The establishment of macro management system on quality of higher education made stable progress

In 1993, the Department of Higher education of former SEdC began to research the assessment plan and the practice of teaching assessment.

Aimed at helping the HEIs consistently identify their schooling directive ideology, improving the schooling conditions, enhancing the basic construction of teaching, deepening teaching reform, increasing management level and gradually setting up and perfecting the system of self-development and self-restrain so as to continuously improve education quality and increase schooling efficiency, the assessment of undergraduate teaching adheres to the principle of “promoting reform and establishment through assessment, combining assessment and establishment together with the emphasis laying on establishment". There are three forms of assessment: the first is the pass level teaching assessment to the universities with comparatively weak basis and short history of undergraduate education; the second is the excellent level assessment to the universities with good basis, high teaching level and a comparatively long history of undergraduate education; and the last one is the random level assessment to the universities between pass level and excellent level. since 1994, 178 HEIs with weak basis and short history of undergraduate education have undertook the pass level assessment step by step and16 key universities have under taken the excellent level assessment. The development of teaching assessment evoked intense repercussions among educational administrative departments and HEIs and played an important role in promoting the improvement of higher education quality. In early 1993, the Department of Higher Education of MoE(former SEdC) and other four departments jointly organized a research group of"Theoretical Research on the Construction of Higher Education with Chinese Socialist Characteristics”, of which the key focused on two issues that what was and how to construct the higher education with Chinese Socialist Characteristics. With 4-year endeavor of education administrates at all levels, a series of significant research outcomes including “Key Points on Higher Education with Chinese Characteristics” have taken shape, which evoked great effects within the whole higher education circle. Consequently, in accordance with both the national development and new achievement of higher education reform as well as the moment of new century, MoE again recruited a research group of “ Higher Education in 21" Century ” to continue the theoretical research on higher education with Chinese Socialist Characteristics.

In early 1993, with other three departments, the Department of Higher Education of former SEdC jointly sponsored and organized research team for the task of “On the research of theory for socialistic higher education with Chinese characteristics". With the Keys on what is the socialistic higher education with Chinese characteristics and how to establish such higher education, the team carried out their theoretical research. Supported by educational administrative departments at various levels, after four years' endeavour, a number of important research achievements like“the Theory keys of Higher Education with ChineseCharacteristics” have been made and aroused great influence in the higher education circle. After this research, in the light of development of our socialistic modernization construction and higher education reform and the historic opportunity of entering a new millenium for our human beings, MoE organized the research team for the task of “Chinese Higher Education in 21st Centruy" to continue the theoretical research on socialistic higher education with Chinese characteristics.

8. The track of managing higher education through laws

On 29 august, 1998, the 4th conference of the 9th standing committee of National Congress passed the“Higher Education Law of People's Republic of China” which is implemented from 1 Jan, 1999. Higher Education Law is the first complete higher education legal document in term of legislature. It is a law which standardizes the internal and external complicated social relationship of higher education and its own activities. It is a basic law promulgated with the direction of the Constitute and Education Law which laying the important foundation for the establishment of a systematic and perfect higher education legal system led by the Higher Education Law.

9. The assurance of further deepened reform through further improvement of schooling conditions

With the deepening of teaching reform, inadequate input in it has been an obstacle, In order to solve the problem, educational administrative departments at various levels and HEIs have actively explored the measures and ways to increase educational expenditure and improve schooling conditions. At present, the World Band Loan Project, which is being carried out, will all together input $70 million to improve the experiment conditions for the basic courses in HEIs. Local governments at various levels have also take a serious of measures to expand the input to local HEIs to enhance the construction of disciplines, bases, curriculum, laboratory and library for HEIs, greatly improving the material conditions of these HEIs.

From Department of International Cooperation and Exchange, Ministry of Education

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, governments and the Communist Party of China at various levels have attached more and more importance to the development of high education. Particularly after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the reform and development of higher education have made significant achievements. A higher education system with various forms, which encompasses basically all branches of learing, combines both degree-education and non-degree education and integrates college education, undergraduate education and graduate education, has taken shape.

I  THE SCALE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

In 2001, there were all together 1911 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), among which 1225 were Regular HEIs and the other 686 were higher education institutions for adults. In 2001, the total number of new entrant admitted by and the total enrollment of the regular HEIs were respectively 2,682,800 and 7,190,700. The total number of new entrant admitted by and the total enrollment of new recruitment and total enrollment of adult higher education institutions were 1,959,300 and 4,559,800. The total number of graduate students newly admitted by HEIs and research institutions was 16,520, among which 32,100 were for PH. D and 133,000 for master's degree. The total enrollment for graduate students was 393,200 in 2001. From the year 1990 to 2001, the number of college students and university students has increased by 215.11%, from 393,200 to 11,750,500 and that for graduate students has increased by 322.8% from 93,000 to 393,200 by the end of 2001, the gross enrollment rate of HEIs has reached 13.3%,the ratio of students vs teachers is 18.22:1. Self-study examinations for higher education, non-degree higher education of various forms and further education of various forms and further education also have made big strides.

II  THE REFORM OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Chinese economic system used to be very highly centralized. To adapt to that, the former higher education system was also centralized, with education provided by the central and local governments respectively and directly under their administration. The disadvantages of this system were that the state undertook too much responsibilities and the schools lacked the flexibility and autonomy to provide education according to the needs of the society. With central departments and local governments providing education separately, the structure of education was irrational and segmented. There were too many single disciplinary HEIs and professional HEIs. With the establishment of disciplines over-lapped, the efficiency of some HEIs fell very low which in return hampered the improvement of education quality. Therefore, the structural reform of higher education has become a key for other higher education reforms. The reforms of higher education consists of five parts: reforms of education provision, management, investment, recruitment and job-placement, and the inner-institute management, among which management reform is of most importance and difficulty. The overall objectives of higher education reform are to smooth the relationship among government, society and HEIs, setting up and perfecting a new system in which the state is responsible for the overall planning and macro management while the HEIs follow the laws and enjoy the autonomy to provide education according to needs of the society.

After several years' endeavour, the structural reform of higher education has gained heartening achievements:

In the field of education provision reform, the old system in which the state undertook the establishment of all HEIs has been broken, and a new system in which the government take main responsibility with the active participation of society and individuals have been taking shape. The development of HEIs run by social forces are fully encouraged and supported.

Regarding management system reform, the relationship among universities, government and society has been gradually smoothed out by various ways such as joint establishment, adjustment, cooperation and merger. A two-level education provision system has taken shape in which the central and local government will take different responsibilities to provide education with the former responsible for the overall planning and management. As a result, the overlapping of education was overcome. At the same time, the government streamline their administration and delegate more power to the HEIs, expanding their autonomy of providing education for the HEIs, expanding their autonomy of providing education for the society according to the laws. By the end of the year 2000, altogether 566 HEIs had been merged into 232; and 509 HEIs had been adjusted in terms of management system, among which 360 HEIs affiliated to the MoE were transferred to the jurisdiction of local government; 99 HEIs were adjusted between professional departments; 32 HEIs remained unchanged and 18 HEIs which used to be under the provincial professional bureaus were transferred to the administration of provincial education commission (bureaus).

With regard to the financing system, the old system in which the funding of higher education depended on the governments only has been changed and a new system capable of pooling resources from diverse channels with the main responsibilities on government has been gradually established and perfected.

With regard to the reform of system of recruitment, fees charging and graduates jobplacing, on the basis that all citizens should enjoy the legally equal right of receiving higher education, which should be consistently stick to, in the light of local economic development, a new system in which all students should pay reasonable contribution to their own higher education has taken shape. Simultaneously, a scholarship system for excellent student both academically and morally and a loan, stipend and taking part-time jobs system for students with family economic difficulties has been brought into common practice, ensuring that none students will drop out of school because of economic reasons. After their graduation, the students will mainly select their own jobs under the guidance of the state policy. In addition, the MoE is undertaking the reform of examination and recruitment of HEIs which will help HEIs to select talents and expand the autonomy of schooling, thus laying the foundation of training creative talents, and also help the secondary schools to implement comprehensive quality oriented education.

With regard to the reform of internal administration mechanism, the key lies in the personnel system and the allotment system reforms. On the basis of reasonable organization structure delimitation, all the teaching staff carry out the post responsibility system and appointment system and working achievements are emphasized concerning the personal income allotment, which strengthens the encouragement mechanism in allotment and mobilized the enthusiasm of the teaching staff.

From Department of International Cooperation and Exchange, Ministry of Education

1. The Rapid Expansion of the Scale of Vocational education

During the 21 years between 1980 and 2001the proportion of regular senior high school students among all the students in senior secondary education has decreased from 81% to 54.7%, while the proportion of secondary vocational school students has increased from 19% to 45.3%. The enrollment of sceondary vocational schools covers41.58% of the total while the number of students to covers 45.3% of the whole. From1980 to 2001, secondary vocational education institutions produced 50 million graduates, fostering millions of secondary - level and primary - level technical workers, managers, skill workers and other labors with good vocational and technical education.

2. The Big Stride Made in the Construction of Vocational Education Teachers

Teachers for vocational education are mostly graduates from regular higher education institutions. Since 1989, over 160 HEIs have established departments, specialities or classes devoted to the training of vocational education teachers with the total enrollment of 21,000 students. At the same time, the government began the establishment of teacher training bases for vocational education. Nowadays, there are 52 training bases set by vocational technical colleges and over 200 bases set by local governments. As a result, a training bases network has basically taken shape, meeting the needs of teacher training for vocational education of various forms and at various levels.

3. The Increase of the Quality and Level of Vocational Education

During the past over 50 years, especially the 20 years after reform and opening to the outside world, much attention has been paid to the quality and level of vocation education as well as the schooling efficiency. Meanwhile its scale has been extraordinary expanded. By the end of 2001, more than 3000 key and pilot vocational schools have been established, promoting the overall development of vocational education.

4. The Primary Fruits of the Teaching Reform of Vocational Education

Learning the foreign modern vocational education thought and teaching patterns to improve the level of teaching is an important component of the reform of vocational education. For example, the “dual - track system” of Germany, the educational and training pattern based on the ability in Australia and Canada, the Employment Education Structure (MES) advocated by the World Labor Organization, the “Skill Courses for Starting Small Enterprises”initiated by the UNESCO and the “Business and Trade Simulated Company” springing up widely all over the world, all became the models for the reform of Chinese vocational education and promoted the improvement of vocational education in China.

5. Rapid Development of Vocational Education in Rural Areas

Since the 1980’s, significant progress has been made in vocational education in rural areas of China with its quantity greatly enlarged and quality greatly improved. Rural vocation education is mainly conducted by the specialized secondary schools on agriculture and forestry, rural vocational high schools and the cultural and technical schools for peasants. Since 1984, these schools have produced over 9 million secondary vocational school graduates and nearly 2 million junior vocational school graduates for the whole society. Most of these graduates have taken the lead in “Making a Fortune by Science and Technology" in the countryside, contributing immensely to the economic development in rural areas. The main tasks of the reform of rural vocational education are the implementation of the “Blaze Programme", - a programme carried out in the countryside which emphasizes the connection between economic development and reform of education and teaching, the integration of agriculture, science, technology and education and the “Overall Planning of Three Educations”(basic education, vocational education and adult education).

6. More and More Important Role Played by Research on Vocational Education

With the development of vocational education, research on vocational education has been enhanced and a number of vocational education research institutions have been established, organizing the full - time and part - time research teams composed jointly by administrative departments responsible for vocational education, research institutions, vocation schools and academic organizations, carrying out various forms of vocational education research at different levels. Since the 1980's, about 90 research topics have been included in the state education research plans with some of the research fruits playing an important role of reference for the government to make vocational education policies.

From Department of International Cooperation and Exchange, Ministry of Education

The system of vocational education consists of education in vocational schools and vocational training. Vocational education in China is provided at three levels: junior secondary, senior secondary and tertiary.

Conducted mainly in junior vocational schools and aimed at training workers, peasants and employees in other sectors with basic professional knowledge and certain professional skills, junior vocational education refers to the vocational and technical education after primary school education and is a part of the 9-year compulsory education. The students in secondary vocational school should be primary school graduates or the youth with equivalent cultural knowledge and its schooling lasts 3 to4 years. To meet the needs of labor forces for the development of rural economy, junior vocational schools are mainly located in rural areas where the economy is less developed. At present, there are 1065 such schools with the enrollment of 833,300 students.

Data of Junior Secondary Vocational School Development

in the ’90s (in 10 thousand people)

The secondary level mainly refers to the vocational education in senior high school stage. Composed of specialized secondary schools, skill workers schools, vocational high schools, and as the mainstay and adult secondary schools vocational education in China, at current stage secondary vocational education plays a guiding role in training manpower with practical skills at primary and secondary levels of various types.

Consisting of secondary technical schools and normal schools, specialized secondary schools enroll junior high school graduates with a schooling of usually 4 years and sometimes 3 years. A few specialities are open only to senior high school graduates with the schooling lasting 2years. The basic tasks of these schools are to train secondary - level specialized and technical talents for the forefront of production, and all the students should master the basic knowledge, theory and skills of their speciality in addition to the cultural knowledge required for higher school students.

Aiming at training secondary - level skill workers, skill worker schools enroll junior high school graduates and their schooling lasts 3 years. Quite capable of practic ing and operating, their graduates will directly be engaged in production activities.

Developing on the basis of the structural reform of secondary education after China adopted the policy of reform and opening to the outside world and directly coming from the reorganization of regular high schools, vocational high school enrolls junior high school graduates and its schooling lasts 3 years. Its main task is to train secondary - level practice - oriented talents with comprehensive professional abilities and all - round qualities directly engaged in the forefront of production, service, technology and management. Accordingly, the specialities offered in vocational high schools are mainly related to the third industry.

Specialised secondary schools for adults is developed after the adoption of reform and opening to the outside world policy. The initial objective for this type of school is to provide training to those adults who have already finished their junior secondary education and develop them into the technical talents at secondary level. Due to the changes of situations, the target group for enrollment of these schools has been shifted to the graduates from junior secondary schools with the schooling year expanded from the original 2 years to the current 3years.

In 2001, there were altogether 17,770 secondary vocational schools (including vocational high school, specialized secondary schools and skill workers schools and specialised secondary schools for adults), with the enrollment of 642,300 students and the recruitment of 3,976,300 students.

With the schooling lasting 2 to 3 years, tertiary vocational education mainly enrolls graduates from regular high schools and secondary vocational schools. In recent years, the proportion of graduates form secondary vocational schools has been increased, establishing the link between secondary and tertiary vocational education gradually. Aiming at training secondary and high - level specialized technical and management talents needed in the economic construction, tertiary vocational education emphasizes the training of practice - oriented and craft - oriented talents. At present, institutions providing tertiary vocational education are divided into four categories. The first is the indepedent higher vocational technology institutions; the second is the 5-year higher vocational classes provided in the regular specialized secondary schools; the third is the tertiary vocational education provided in some regular higher education institutions and adult higher education institutions, which has been experimented in over 130 specialites among 180 institutions;the fourth is the reformed regular institutions offering2 to 3-year higher education with the emphasis on training practice-oriented talents, namely high-level professional technical talents for the forefront of production.

Vocational training of various forms has been playing a more and more important role in vocational education. At present, vocational training is mainly conducted and managed by the departments of education and labor, but enterprises are encouraged to provide vocational training for its own employees. In 200short-term training are proved for100 million person-time.

Source from: Hangzhoufeel

The China's National Immigration Administration announced today that it will fully relax and optimize the visa-free transit policy, which is effective immediately. The stay duration for foreign nationals eligible for visa-free transit has been extended from the previous 72 hours and 144 hours to 240 hours (10 days). Additionally, 21 ports of entry and exit have been added for visa-free transit individuals, further expanding the allowed areas for visa-free transit travelers. Individuals from 54 eligible countries, including Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Canada, traveling from China to a third country (region), can enter visa-free through any of the 60 open ports in 24 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), and stay within the allowed areas for visa-free transit travelers for no more than 240 hours.

The 21 newly added ports for the visa-free transit policy are Taiyuan Wusu International Airport in Shanxi Province, Su'nan Shuofang International Airport and Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport in Jiangsu Province, Wenzhou Longwan International Airport and Yiwu Airport in Zhejiang Province, Hefei Xinqiao International Airport and Huangshan Tunxi International Airport in Anhui Province, Fuzhou Changle International Airport, Quanzhou Jinjiang International Airport, and Wuyishan Airport in Fujian Province, Nanchang Changbei International Airport in Jiangxi Province, Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport, Yantai Penglai International Airport, and Weihai Dashuipo International Airport in Shandong Province, Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport in Hunan Province, Nanning Wuxu International Airport and Beihai Fucheng Airport in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Haikou Meilan International Airport and Sanya Phoenix International Airport in Hainan Province, Chengdu Tianfu International Airport in Sichuan Province, and Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport in Guizhou Province. The number of opened ports has increased from the original 39 to 60.

The fully relaxed and optimized 240-hour visa-free transit policy has further expanded the allowed areas for visa-free transit travelers. The number of provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) that can be visited under this policy has increased from the original 19 (Beijing Municipality, Tianjin Municipality, Hebei Province, Liaoning Province, Heilongjiang Province, Shanghai Municipality, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province, Fujian Province, Shandong Province, Henan Province, Hubei Province, Hunan Province, Guangdong Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province, and Shaanxi Province) to 24 (with Shanxi Province, Anhui Province, Jiangxi Province, Hainan Province, and Guizhou Province added to the list).

In the newly added five provinces, the allowed areas for visa-free transit travelers in Anhui Province, Hainan Province, and Guizhou Province include the entire province. In Shanxi Province, the areas are limited to Taiyuan and Datong, and in Jiangxi Province, the areas cover Nanchang and Jingdezhen. The areas in Fujian Province, Hubei Province, and Shaanxi Province are expanded to the entire respective provinces, and in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the area expands to the administrative regions of Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Guigang, Yulin, Hezhou, Hechi, and Laibin. Foreign nationals entering China through the visa-free transit policy can make cross-province travels within the allowed areas for visa-free transit travelers in these 24 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities).

According to an NIA official, the recent relaxation and optimization of the visa-free transit policy is a significant step taken by NIA in line with its commitment to thoroughly learning and implementing the instructions from the Central Economic Work Conference, aiming to proactively serve and promote a high-standard opening up while facilitating the exchanges between Chinese and foreign nationals. This initiative is beneficial for accelerating cross-border flows of people, promoting international communication and cooperation, and injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of the economy and society. Going forward, the NIA will continue to deepen the institutional openness of immigration management, continually optimize and improve the policies facilitating entry and exit for immigrants, and enhance the convenience for foreign nationals to study, work, and live in China. NIA invites more foreign friends to come to China and experience the beauty of the country in this new era firsthand.

According to the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on  Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners and the Decree of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, and adhering to the State Council’s  requirements for streamlining and optimizing services, some relevant clauses in  the Provisions on the Employment Administration of Foreigners in China (Issued  by the Ministry of Labor [1996] No 29) are hereby amended.

1. The “Employment Visas” in Article 8 and Article 10 is amended to “Z  Visas”.

2. Article 14 is deleted.

3. Article 15 is amended as “Foreigners with permission to work in China  should apply for a Z Visa at the Chinese embassies and consulates, bringing with  them the Employment License issued by the Ministry of Labor, and a valid  passport or documents capable of replacing a passport.

Personnel referred to in Article 9 (2) should apply for a Z Visa by presenting their letter or fax of visa notification issued by the China National  Offshore Oil Corporation; personnel referred to in Article 9 (3) should apply  for a Z Visa by presenting the relevant documents of approval of the Ministry of  Culture.

Personnel referred to in Article 10 (1) of these rules should apply for a Z Visa by presenting their documentation on projects of cooperation and exchange;  personnel referred to in Article 10 (2) should apply for a Z Visa by presenting  their registration certification issued by the administrative authorities of  industry and commerce.”

This decision shall come into force on the day of its promulgation.

Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China

(Promulgated jointly by the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Public Security,  Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic  Cooperation of the People’s Republic of China on Jan 22, 1996)

Adopted at the 13th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People’s Congress on February 12, 1980. Amended at the 11th Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress on August 28, 2004

Article 1 These Regulations are formulated for the purpose of promoting the growth of specialized personnel, helping to raise the academic level of various branches of learning and promoting the development of education and science in our country, in order to meet the needs of the socialist modernization.

Article 2 Any citizen who supports the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system and has attained certain academic standards may apply for an appropriate academic degree in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations.

Article 3 Academic degrees shall be of three grades: the bachelor’s degree, the master’s degree and the doctor’s degree.

Article 4 The bachelor’s degree shall be conferred on graduates from institutions of higher learning who have good academic records and have attained the following academic standards:

(1) having a relatively good grasp of basic theories, specialized knowledge and basic skills in the discipline concerned; and

(2) having acquired the initial ability to undertake scientific research or to engage in a special technical work.

Article 5 The master’s degree shall be conferred on postgraduates in institutions of higher learning or scientific research institutes or persons with qualifications equivalent to postgraduates on graduation, who have passed examinations in the required courses for the master’s degree and successfully defended their dissertations and have attained the following academic standards:

(1) having a firm grasp of basic theories and systematic, specialized knowledge in the discipline concerned; and

(2) having the ability to undertake scientific research or independently to engage in a special technical work.

Article 6 The doctor’s degree shall be conferred on postgraduates in institutions of higher learning or scientific research institutes or persons with qualifications equivalent to postgraduates on graduation, who have passed examinations in the required courses for the doctor’s degree and successfully defended their dissertations and have attained the following academic standards:

(1) having a firm and comprehensive grasp of basic theories and profound and systematic specialized knowledge in the discipline concerned;

(2) having the ability to undertake independent scientific research; and

(3) having made creative achievements in science or in a special technology.

Article 7 The State Council shall establish an Academic Degrees Committee to direct the work of conferring academic degrees throughout the country. The Academic Degrees Committee shall consist of a chairman, vice-chairmen and other members. The chairman, vice-chairmen and other members shall be appointed and removed by the State Council.

Article 8 The bachelor’s degree shall be conferred by those institutions of higher learning authorized by the State Council. The master’s and doctor’s degrees shall be conferred by those institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes authorized by the State Council.

A list of institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes that may confer academic degrees (hereinafter referred to as “degree-conferring entities”) and the disciplines in which academic degrees may be conferred shall be submitted to the State Council by its Academic Degrees Committee for approval and promulgation.

Article 9 Each degree-conferring entity shall establish an academic degree evaluation committee and form dissertation defence committees for the disciplines concerned.

A dissertation defence committee must include relevant specialists from other entities, and the committee members shall be selected and determined by the degree-conferring entity concerned. The name list of the members of the academic degree evaluation committee shall be determined by the degree-conferring entity, and shall be reported to and put on records at the relevant departments of the State Council and the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council.

Article 10 The dissertation defence committee shall be responsible for examining the dissertations for master’s or doctor’s degrees, organizing their oral defence and adopting resolutions whether or not to confer the master’s or doctor’s degrees. Each resolution shall be adopted by secret ballot and with a two-thirds majority of the committee members supporting and then submitted to the academic degree evaluation committee.

The academic degree evaluation committee shall be responsible for examining and approving the list of holders of the bachelor’s degree and for making a decision whether or not to approve each resolution on the conferment of a master’s or doctor’s degree submitted by the dissertation defence committee. Each decision shall be adopted by secret ballot and with a simple majority of the committee members supporting. The list of persons to be conferred a master’s or doctor’s degree shall be submitted to the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council for the record.

Article 11 After a resolution to confer an academic degree has been adopted by the academic degree evaluation committee, the degree-conferring entity shall issue an appropriate diploma to the holder of the academic degree.

Article 12 Postgraduates who have completed their studies in entities that are not authorized to confer academic degrees may, upon the recommendation of their respective entities, apply to nearby degree-conferring entities for academic degrees. They shall be conferred appropriate degrees after their applications have been examined and approved by the degree-conferring entities and they have successfully defended their dissertations and attained the academic standards stipulated in these Regulations.

Article 13 Upon the recommendation of relevant specialists and with the approval of the degree-conferring entities, those who have written important works or made important inventions, discoveries or other contributions to the development of science or special technologies may be exempt from examinations in the required courses for the doctor’s degree and may directly take the oral examinations on their doctoral dissertations. Those who have successfully defended their dissertations shall be conferred the doctor’s degree.

Article 14 Distinguished scholars and well-known public figures, both Chinese and foreign, may be conferred an honorary doctor’s degree, upon the nomination of a degree-conferring entity and with the approval of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council.

Article 15 Foreign students studying in China and foreign scholars engaged in research work in China may apply to a degree-conferring entity for academic degrees. Those who have attained the academic standards stipulated in these Regulations shall be conferred appropriate degrees.

Article 16 If an academic body or an entity not authorized to confer academic degrees does not concur with a resolution or decision on the conferment of an academic degree, it may address its objection to the degree-conferring entity or the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, which shall study and deal with the objection thus addressed.

Article 17 If irregularities, fraudulent practices or other situations in gross violation of the provisions of these Regulations are discovered, the degree-conferring entity concerned may revoke the degrees already conferred, after reconsideration by its academic degree evaluation committee.

Article 18 If it is definitely established that an entity authorized to confer academic degrees has not been able to maintain the academic standards of the academic degrees conferred, the State Council may suspend or revoke its status as a degree-conferring entity.

Article 19 Measures for the implementation of these Regulations shall be formulated by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and submitted to the State Council for approval.

Article 20 These Regulations shall go into effect as of January 1, 1981.