Shanghai FTZ Eases Work Policies for Expats

The expanded China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) is set to ease employment policies for overseas aspirants who want to work in the zone, in a bid to attract foreign students and university graduates to stay and work in the area.

Sun Jiwei, head of Pudong New Area, said in a news conference that more international students are willing to work in Shanghai, as more international universities such as New York University Shanghai are on the rise.

Half of the first 300 students recruited by New York University Shanghai in 2013 were international students, and the number is expected to reach 1,000 by 2020. The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission reported that there were more than 53,800 international students studying in Shanghai in 2013, 30 percent more than in 2010.

It was previously difficult for newly graduated foreign students to work in China, but with the new regulations of the Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration of the Ministry of Public Security, foreigners aged between 24 and 60, with at least two years of work experience, can now apply for a work permit in China.

"I am in full support of the local government's open attitude in the talent policy," Pete Chia, managing director of recruitment service BRecruit China, was quoted as saying.

"But we are still waiting for detailed regulations for international students. In my opinion, the local government should be clear-cut about the purpose and the measurements of this new policy, which means that they know very well what they want to achieve in the next few years with the new policy," Chia added.

"These international students should provide added value to the Chinese job market. In other words, they should be armed with skill sets that can't be found among the local talent," he said.

Sun said that aside from the adjustment in the employment policies for international students, the zone also plans to cancel the maximum allowable age limit.

Jiang Weiming, president of DSM China, a Dutch material science company, said that companies place great importance to experts who have had years of experience.

Chia said that the easing of the employment policy indicates a mismatch between labor supply and demand and a brain drain of Chinese domestic talent. He added that international students should have the skills that cannot be found among the local talents.

Shanghai has released late in May some 22 measures that included the granting of permanent resident permits for high-level overseas talent and providing subsidies to high-tech professionals, which was aimed at transforming the city into a global technological innovation hub.