You may have heard that the Chinese Government is planning on ranking foreigners who wish to live and work here... Well, we finally have the details of the categories and points system! Grab a calculator or pen and paper because if you have to apply for a work visa soon, you are about to see how you score in the foreign worker rubric.
This new scoring system is divided into different categories, and each category contains a maximum number of possible points totalling at 100 points overall. However, most people will not be able to get points from every category.
The Main Categories
1: Direct Qualifications (which are determined by the industry itself and don’tget a score)
2: Annual Salary
3: Education Level
4: Years of Related Work Experience
5: Number of Months in Contract
6: Level of Chinese Language
7: Location of Work
8: Age
There are also special considerations and points awarded if you graduated from one of the top 100 universities in the world, are working for a Fortune 500 company, or will be working in a field that has a high demand for employees in that region. So don’t expect to get a perfect score, unless you both graduated from a top university and are working for a fortune 500 company!
Are You Ready to be Ranked?
Below is an English chart that breaks down the exact points for each category.
(Chart taken from VisaofChina.com)
(the Official Chinese Release from the SAFEA titled, 国家外国专家局文件, taken from http://www.safea.gov.cn/)
Well, now that you have your score, you will fall into one of three categories:
If you score 85 points or more, you fall into A-class,highly skilled and qualified workers. Congratulations! Your ability to live and work in China is going to be a lot easier. From processing visas for yourself and family members, to extended visa duration, as well as many other aspects ofliving and staying in China. As far as living in China goes, you have it made.
Coming in at 84-60 points puts you in the B-class group , professional talent and talented workers. Getting a work visa is a pretty sound bet, but notguaranteed. The length of visa will remain roughly the same, but it could still be difficult to open lines of credit or purchase a house unless you have lived and worked here for quite some time, and bringing family members may still be a bit tricky in certain situations as well.
Finally coming in with less than 60 points: C-class,unskilled service industry workers. For this group, the chances of getting a working visa will be very limited. It is not necessarily impossible to get a working visa if you didn’t rank high enough, but the field you are hoping to work in will need to be in dire need of your skills to allow you to get a visa.
But I Already Have a Job!
When Will This Take Effect?
These policies are being put through a test phase and will be rolled out starting December 2016 through March 2017 in specific locations around China. The first cities to begin implementing these new regulations will be Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai. The provinces of Anhui, Shandong, Guangdong, Sichuan and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region will also begin following these guidelines before April. But by April 2017, all of China will be affected by these regulations. So if you are in a region that is not already affected do everything you can to get your Work Permit for your Z Visa before April 2017. At least that way, you will have bought yourself some time to boost your Chinese language skills and study for the HSK test, which can help earn you a few more points!
The next four months are supposed to be a trial period to see how this policy will affect hiring in the areas listed above, so hopeful some adjustments may be made to the scoring system, but we can be pretty sure that by April next year some form of this ranking system will become another thorn in the sides of young foreigners looking to start their careers here in China. We will keep you informed as more details become available.
For more information on these policies you can refer to the official website of the SAFEA in Chinese (http://www.safea.gov.cn/)
or read the article,
“Are You a Grade-A Expat? Beijing's New Work Permitting System Aims to Score, Rank Foreigners” by The Beijinger
(https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2016/09/10/are-you-grade-expat-pilot-change-beijings-work-permitting-system-aims-score-rank)
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