Beijing Review

30 BEIJING REVIEW APRIL 20, 2017 http://www.bjreview.com

Still a Land of

Milk and Honey

Foreigners looking for jobs in China get heartened by new policy relaxation

By Cao Qingqing & Sudeshna Sarkar

A service center in Beijing offers residence permit services to foreigners on March 1, 2016

XINHUA

W

KHQ$%&FRUUHVSRQGHQW-LP/DXULHĶUVW

visited China in 1978, he remembers

the term used to describe foreigners

living in China: laowai. They needed to have a

ìforeignersí registrationî card and if they wanted

to drive outside Beijing, they also needed a for-

eignerís travel permit. He still has his old permit,

numbered 208420.

But when Laurie visited more recently

NATION

in 2015, he found a massive change. He at-

tended a job fair for foreigners and found

applicants ranging from an American mas-

terís degree student to an aspiring Russian

radio host to a Turkish construction worker.

This year, the fairs are going to be even

more crowded and diverse with further re-

laxations in the Chinese Governmentís policy

for recruiting fresh foreign graduates.

Less restrictions

On January 6, the ministries of human resources

and social security, foreign affairs, and educa-

tion announced that foreign graduates with a

masterís degree or above from a university in

China can apply for work visas within one year

of graduation. Foreign graduates with the same

qualifications from ìwell-known universities

overseasî can also apply for jobs in China within