Faciliation Measures for Foreigner's Work Permit during the Epidemic Period

Last week, we were pleased to watch the live broadcast of "Facilitation Measures for Foreigner's Work Permit during the Epidemic Period" held by Shanghai Association of Foreign Investment. This live broadcast mainly talked about foreigner's work permit application in China during the epidemic situation. Deputy director of Shanghai Foreign Experts Bureau, Ms. Huang Hong and Ms. Wang Haiyan introduced the current situation and the latest policies for the enterprises. 

General Introduction of the Foreigners' Work Permit in Shanghai

At present, around 215,000 foreigners work in Shanghai, around 23.7% of all in China and ranking first in the country. As the new system implemented since 2017, as of March 2020, Shanghai has issued about 204,000 work permits for foreigners, including more than 36,000 foreign high-end talents (Class A), around 18% of all applicants, ranking first in terms of quantity and quality in China. 

At present, the right to approve foreigner's work permit has been delegated to Pudong, Huangpu, Xuhui, Yangpu, Minhang, Songjiang, Qingpu, Hongkou and other districts. Meanwhile, Shanghai Foreign Experts Bureau and Exit-Entry Administration Bureau are working together to explore a more efficient mode of "One window, parallel examination & approval, and simultaneous access" for work permit application, so as to facilitate employers to "Fill in one form, come to one place but able to finish two things".

About "Do not meet" approval policy for foreigner's work permit in China during the epidemic period

"Do not meet" approval policy (version 1.0)

On February 1st, Shanghai Foreign Experts Bureau issued the notice to implement the "do not meet" approval policy, which means, for those who need to apply for work permit notification (type B and C), and for those who need to do work permit extension or cancellation (type B and C), the employer can use the "commitment system" to complete the whole process through online, instead of submitting paper materials to the counter. Foreign high-end talents' work permit application process shall still remain as the previous process and do not need to submit paper materials to counter.

"Do not meet" approval policy (version 2.0)

On March 10th, based on previous "do not meet" approval policy (version 1.0), Shanghai Foreign Experts Bureau issued "Eight New Articles" , which further improved the model of "do not meet" approval policy for foreigners coming to China during the epidemic. The details are as follows:

1. Reduction or exemption application documents for foreign high-end talents
2. Shorten the approval time to cancel foreigners' work permits in China, the approval time for the cancellation is shortened from 10 working days to maximum 3 working days.
3. Proving employment termination by uploading E-documents
4. E-Tax records are acceptable
5. Flexible salary commitment requirements
6. Temporarily cancel the time limit of applying for the work permit extension
7. To approve the materials of "automatic extension of the period of validity of stay in China"
8. Provide service guarantee to support foreign experts to resume work and production

J & K will continue to pay attention to the relevant news & information about foreigner's work permit and residence permit in China and share it with customers as soon as any update.