Migrants to Shanghai hoping to qualify for a pilot scheme offering permanent residency have complained that the rules are opaque and criteria too difficult to meet, the city’s official media reported yesterday.
Will Clem and Lilian Zhang in Shanghai 23 June 2009
Migrants to Shanghai hoping to qualify for a pilot scheme offering permanent residency have complained that the rules are opaque and criteria too difficult to meet, the city’s official media reported yesterday.
The new mechanism - full details of which were announced last week as a three-year trial - is expected to lead to the first major shake-up of the much-criticised hukou (home registration) system in a city where more than a quarter of the inhabitants lack permanent residency status.
The municipal government’s aim is to move away from a quota-based system to an “open, fair and transparent” one founded on entitlement - but even official media admit it has run into teething troubles already.
The Xinmin Evening News and the municipal government’s official news outlet, Eastday.com, carried identical reports detailing frustrations faced by potential applicants who were “running their legs off” to put their claims together.
The rules mean applicants need to provide a confusing list of documentary evidence to support their claim - reports from authorities in their place of birth, local police in Shanghai, tax records and even approval from their “work units”.
They need official reports to show they have paid local taxes and social security for the required period of time - simple receipts are not enough.
Applicants also have to demonstrate that their birth, and that of any children, had not contravened the mainland’s family planning laws.
Certificates are needed to prove they have not broken major laws either in Shanghai or in their hometowns, and also to substantiate a favourable credit rating.
According to the apparently officially sanctioned Xinmin report, this means applicants have to return to their hometowns to battle with bureaucracy at both county and neighbourhood levels, then “sprint east and west” to deal with various Shanghai government departments.
“I think they could simplify a lot of the procedures,” one of the first wave of applicants, identified as Mr. Zhao, said in the report.
Most migrant hopefuls need to have held a temporary resident’s permit for seven years to qualify for a hukou under the pilot scheme, but the city is also giving priority to desirable immigrants to fast-track their applications.
Highly qualified professionals, particularly those with top nationally recognised technical qualifications, are exempt from the seven-year criterion.
Investors in Shanghai and owners of businesses with at least 100 employees can qualify within three years, while those working in education or public hygiene in the city’s rural periphery get to apply after just five years.
Although the city had 270,000 temporary residency permit holders by the end of last year, officials have said they expected applications would only increase gradually over the three-year trial period.
The temporary resident’s permit was introduced only in 2002 and initially limited to highly-qualified applicants.
It was extended to all migrants to the city in 2004.
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Shanghai migrants denounce complex residency scheme
Will Clem and Lilian Zhang in Shanghai
23 June 2009
Migrants to Shanghai hoping to qualify for a pilot scheme offering permanent residency have complained that the rules are opaque and criteria too difficult to meet, the city’s official media reported yesterday.
The new mechanism - full details of which were announced last week as a three-year trial - is expected to lead to the first major shake-up of the much-criticised hukou (home registration) system in a city where more than a quarter of the inhabitants lack permanent residency status.
The municipal government’s aim is to move away from a quota-based system to an “open, fair and transparent” one founded on entitlement - but even official media admit it has run into teething troubles already.
The Xinmin Evening News and the municipal government’s official news outlet, Eastday.com, carried identical reports detailing frustrations faced by potential applicants who were “running their legs off” to put their claims together.
The rules mean applicants need to provide a confusing list of documentary evidence to support their claim - reports from authorities in their place of birth, local police in Shanghai, tax records and even approval from their “work units”.
They need official reports to show they have paid local taxes and social security for the required period of time - simple receipts are not enough.
Applicants also have to demonstrate that their birth, and that of any children, had not contravened the mainland’s family planning laws.
Certificates are needed to prove they have not broken major laws either in Shanghai or in their hometowns, and also to substantiate a favourable credit rating.
According to the apparently officially sanctioned Xinmin report, this means applicants have to return to their hometowns to battle with bureaucracy at both county and neighbourhood levels, then “sprint east and west” to deal with various Shanghai government departments.
“I think they could simplify a lot of the procedures,” one of the first wave of applicants, identified as Mr. Zhao, said in the report.
Most migrant hopefuls need to have held a temporary resident’s permit for seven years to qualify for a hukou under the pilot scheme, but the city is also giving priority to desirable immigrants to fast-track their applications.
Highly qualified professionals, particularly those with top nationally recognised technical qualifications, are exempt from the seven-year criterion.
Investors in Shanghai and owners of businesses with at least 100 employees can qualify within three years, while those working in education or public hygiene in the city’s rural periphery get to apply after just five years.
Although the city had 270,000 temporary residency permit holders by the end of last year, officials have said they expected applications would only increase gradually over the three-year trial period.
The temporary resident’s permit was introduced only in 2002 and initially limited to highly-qualified applicants.
It was extended to all migrants to the city in 2004.
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