Source: The State Council – The People’s Republic of China
I.High-end Foreign Talents (Category A)
Category A foreign talents, subject of the “green channel” and “admissible absence for procedure” services, include scientists, science and technology leading talents, international entrepreneurs, special talents and other foreign high-end talents urgently needed in the economic and social development of China who fall in line with the national priority list for foreign talents and any of the following conditions:
(A)Selected for the Domestic Talents Program
(B)Conforming to the international criteria of professional achievement
1.Nobel Prize Winner (Awards of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Economics)
2.Winners of National awards: US, UK, France, and Japan.
3.Academician of National Academy of Sciences, Academy of Engineering
4.Members of ISO and other internationally renowned academic institutions
5.Directors and senior research fellows from national research institutes and national labs
6.Project leaders, chief scientists and key members of national science and technology programs
7.Former chief editors, deputy editors and senior member of international high-level scientific and technical journals
8.Publishing 3 papers as the first author or the corresponding author in high-level international sci-tech journals
9.Former middle or senior administrators, professors, associate professors of foreign or overseas high-level universities
10.Former senior managers, key R&D members of the headquarters, deputy general managers or above and R&D chief of the second tier branches or regional headquarters of the world top 500 companies
11.Former senior managers of the well-known international financial institutions and international accounting firms
12.Direcors, deputy directors, professors and associate professors of world famous colleges of music, fine arts, and arts
13.Chief conductors and vocal performers of the world’s leading orchestra
14.Artists who have held individual performances and shows at world famous opera houses or concert halls.
15.Winners of highest individual awards of famous literature awards, famous film, television and drama awards, famous music awards, famous advertisement awards, the top class award or the first prize in the first class contests or individual award in the second class contests of famous international art competition or judges of the above-listed awards and contests
16.Athletes listed in the top eight in the Olympic Games or the last two sessions of the World Cup, World Championships and other important international events, which are included in the Olympic Games; athletes listed in the top three in the Asian Games or the last two sessions of Asian Cup and Asian Championships, which are included in the Asian Games; the head coaches or the core members of the coaching team responsible for training the above-listed athletes
17.Former leaders of foreign governmental departments, former senior leaders of famous international organizations or non-government institutions
18.Winners of world and national skills contest or professionals engaged in the training for the contests; highly skilled personnel with the highest international vocational qualification certificates or senior technician qualification certificates of China
(C)Foreign talents fulfilling the market demand for government-encouraged posts
1.Talents appointed for senior management or technical posts in central enterprises and their subsidiaries, the global or regional headquarters of the world top 500 enterprises, national high-tech enterprises and large companies
2.Senior managers or technical staff of business engineering research centers recognized by development reform departments, engineering labs recognized by development reform departments, engineering technology research center recognized by economic and information agencies and local technical innovation service platforms recognized by science and technology departments
3.Senior managers or technical staff employed by domestic and foreign medium-sized business, the chairman of the board, the legal representative, general manager of the chief technical specialist appointed by small-sized foreign-invested business in line with the government-encouraged industries specified under “Foreign Invested Industries Guide Catalog” and “Catalog of Foreign Invested Competitive Industries in the Central and Western Regions”
4.Foreign talents appointed to senior management posts or as associate professor, associate research fellow by higher education institutions and research institutions; senior lectures, senior internship tutors and other deputy senior or above technical professional personnel appointed by vocational colleges
5.Foreign talents appointed to senior management posts or deputy senior (or above) professional technical posts by the first class domestic comprehensive hospitals, sub-provincial (or above) specialist hospitals or foreign hospitals
6.Chief conductor, artistic director and chief performer employed by first-class domestic orchestra and other arts organization
7.Staff at senior management or technical positions such as editor-in-chief, deputy editor, chief announcer, senior moderator, planning director, layout supervisor, employed by central and local mainstream media
8.Major players, coaches or core member of the coaching team employed by national and provincial sports teams or clubs
9.Foreign talents whose salary income is 6 time or higher than the local average annual income of the previous year. For Shanghai, salary income should be 600,000 RMB or higher and personal income tax 120.000 RMB or higher.
(D)Innovative and entrepreneurial talents
1.Business founders who contribute with major technological inventions, patents and other independent intellectual property rights or proprietary technology and have stable investment for three consecutive years with the actual investment in the business not less than 500,000 US dollars and individual shares not less than 30%
2.The chairman, the legal representative, the general manager, or the chief technical specialist who contribute with major technological inventions, patents and other independent intellectual property rights or proprietary technology of the business with the annual sales more than 10 million or the annual tax more than 1 million yuan for three consecutive years
3.Talents at senior management or technical posts employed by businesses listed by the competent provincial department as innovative business or scientific innovation industry
(E)Outstanding young talents
Young talents under the age of 40 who are engaged in post-doctoral research in high-level foreign (overseas) universities or domestic universities
(F)Graded 85 points or more in the points-based system
II.Foreign professional talents (category B)
Foreign professional in line with the “Foreigners Employed in China Guide Catalog” and the corresponding demands of the economic and social development of China who fall within any of the following conditions shall by classified into Category B:
(A)Foreign professional with a bachelor degree or above and 2 years and above related work experience and fall within any of the following descriptions:
1.Administrators or technical personnel engaged in the posts of research, teaching and administration in the fields of education, research, news, publishing, culture, art, health, sports and other special areas
2.Personnel under the intergovernmental agreement between China and foreign countries, international inter-organization agreements, economic and engineering contracts between China and other countries and personnel dispatched by well-know international academic institutions and international science and education organizations shall have more flexible age restriction.
3-Staff employed by the representative offices of international organizations in China and representatives of the representative offices of overseas experts organizations in China
4.Middle or above managers dispatched by multinational businesses; the chief representative or the representative of the resident offices of foreign businesses in China
5.Foreign managers or technical professional employed by businesses, institutions and social organizations
(B)Skilled talents with internationally recognized qualification certificates or in short supply
(C )Teachers of foreign languages. Teachers of foreign languages generally shall be engaged in the teaching of their native languages and shall have a bachelor’s degree or higher degree and language teaching experience of at least two years. These who have had degree in the field of education, language or teaching, or have acquired a qualification certificate of teaching at their own countries or recognized international certificate of language teaching shall be exempted from the restriction on work experience.
(D)Skilled talents with qualification certificates, with an average salary income 300,000 RMB or higher and personal income tax 120,000 RMB or higher.
(E)Special personnel under the relevant state regulations or for the implementation of special projects
(F)Professional graded 60 points or more according to the points-based system
III.Other foreigners (Category C)
Foreigner employed to meet the demand of the domestic labor market in line with the state policies and regulations are hereby classified into Category C. This category includes:
1.Foreign employees in line with the relevant regulations concerning the employment of foreigners in China
2.Foreigners engages in some temporary or short-term (no longer than 90 days) posts;
3.Foreigners under the quota system management, including young foreigners coming to China for internship under intergovernmental agreements, foreign students in line with the relevant regulations, foreign graduates from overseas institutions of higher learning, foreigners engage in long range fishing and other special fields.
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