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China announced a package of 26 measures to support economic development, including visas on arrival for more foreign business travellers and relaxing rules for urban Hukou, as it tries to revive its sputtering post-pandemic economy.
Foreign businesspeople coming to China for business negotiations, trade exchanges, equipment installation and maintenance, participation in exhibitions and conventions, and investment and business start-ups can apply for a visa-on-arrival with an invitation letter and supporting documents, according to the measures announced by the Ministry of Public Security.
Those who need to make multiple round trips for business and trade purposes can exchange their visa-on-arrival for a multiple-entry visa after entering China, with a maximum validity of three years, it said.
In addition, the ministry said it would also loosen the household registration system to help secure supply chains and encourage job creation.
The guidelines commit authorities to making a range of government services more accessible across jurisdictions, particularly in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.
He Wenlin, the ministry’s deputy head of research, said the changes were designed to promote the “free movement” of people, vehicles, information and data, and officials would strive to turn into guidelines into action by the end of this month.
A central plant of the package is for authorities to lower the bar for individuals to obtain an urban hukou, or household registration, to enable more skilled rural residents to live and work in cities.
The ministry said cities that had the capacity to do so should adopt the same standards for all hukou applications.
At present, the much-criticised decades-old rigid distinction between urban and rural dwellers limits the movement of the population.