Adana Louise Peramar, a teacher from the United States at Cangzhou Vocational Technical Institutereceives her work permit in card format on May 9. [Photo/hebeinews.com.cn]
Hebei province issued its first single unified work permit in card format to a citizen of the United States on May 9, as the province initiated a pilot program to simplify applications by highly-skilled foreigners who plan to work in Hebei.
The new policy replaces the previous Alien Employment Permit and Foreign Expert Certificate –– which were issued by two different government agencies and for which an expat sometimes had to wait months to obtain –– with one single Alien Work Permit.
The work permit contains the recipient's photo, name, nationality, duration of work permit, work permit number and other related information. The number of new work permits needed will not change if foreigners move to other jobs or places within China.
There is also a QR code on the card, which allows people to check the detailed information of the owner's work permit by scanning the code.
Adana Louise Peramar, a teacher from the United States at Cangzhou Vocational Technical Institute, was the first recipient of the new format of work permit.
"I am surprised to receive the first work permit in just two days after the reform," she said.
Hebei province was among the first group of China's provinces and cities to pilot the simplified scheme.
Under the new policy, the work permit application process will require significantly less formalities than the old process.
Meanwhile, highly-skilled foreign workers are able to enjoy a "green path" which exempts them from certain formalities, such as a criminal record check, and education requirements. They also only have to wait two to five days to get a permit, compared with an average of 10 days for others.
In addition, to attract more foreigners and better serve talented workers, the Hebei Provincial Bureau of Foreign Expert Affairs authorized13work permit agents in cities within the province on April 21, 2017.
This measure is expected to bring greater convenience to skilled foreign workers, as they can apply for a work permit from the nearest agent without having to travel to Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital.