Visa news: you can apply online for residence permit renewals

Posted 2021-04-29 TimeOutShanghai

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You can now skip the trip to bureaucratic purgatory, but only for a few visa needs. The Exit-Entry Administration of Shanghai Public Security Bureau has launched an online portal where foreigners can apply for student residence permits, extend residence permits and update address and passport number details on residence permits. Those most important parts are in English, too.

The portal will be highly helpful to HR people as well, but it's not clear at the moment if prospective travellers will ever be able to use the portal to apply for visas and residence permits by themselves. For those unfamiliar, foreigners living in China need a visa (student or work) and a residence permit.

The portal launch is a part of ongoing initiatives to streamline immigration oversight in China. During last month's People's Congress, Chinese officials to consolidate the country's immigration oversight bodies in order to streamline the process overall. The plan was passed, and as of Monday 2 April, it's reality.

The Exit-Entry Administration now promises permit turnaround in three days, according to reports by SHINE and China Daily. In addition, Chinese green cards for permanent foreign residents are now database-integrated, device-readable and usable at banks, hotels, airlines and railways, like Chinese national ID cards.

Potential candidacy for these green cards in Shanghai has also been extended beyond top ranking scientists and academics to include any foreign national that meets certain criteria for financial investment or income and taxpaying records.

, now might be the time to get locked in. Otherwise, it looks like foreigners will indeed have an easier time getting through the maze of immigration bureaucracy.

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