Entrepreneurs in China: Shanghai’s New Startup Visa

Source:Ecns 中新网；Chinadaily; Chinabriefing; SHANGHAIBIZZ; Guideinchina; Photo: VCG

If you are a foreigner living in China, there are 3 main topics that you will talk about with your friends:  Your Chinese level, The air pollution and on which visa you are  (Whoever thinks differently raise their hand, or just comment…) 

Marc Olivier, a 39-year-old French man, had worked in an advertising agency in Shanghai for a decade before deciding to start his own business earlier this year. But then came the question many expats might have encountered: How would he obtain legal status－a visa allowing him to stay in China while self-employed－after quitting his job?

Can he apply for and get  “Entrepreneurship” visa in Shanghai, even in most cities of China ( Like in Korea, as example ), which enables him to stay for a relatively long period of time and work on your startup, there is a need to use different methods to stay in China? The answer to this question appeals most to all the Entrepreneurs in China?

Luckly, for expats who are considering starting your own business in China, In May, 2018, Shanghai's Public Security Bureau recently introduced a new 'Private Residence Permit (Entrepreneurship)' also known as the 'startup visa' (创业签证) that has been specifically designed for entrepreneurs in select districts, which offers foreigners a chance to establish a new and innovative startup business within Shanghai.

Note

1. This visa is valid for one year, but can be extended for a further one year if the foreign entrepreneur is able to demonstrate the successful incorporation of a company within this time. Alternatively, this visa can be transferred to a work permit once the company is set up.

Compared with a business visa, which allows the holder to stay in China no longer than six months, the permit for entrepreneurs is valid for one year with multiple entries and can be extended to a maximum of two years.

2. To date, the visa has only been piloted in certain districts in Shanghai, including Changning and Yangpu.

3. The business startup visa is unique in that its scope of eligibility is expansive — it includes individuals who have traditionally been excluded from many other visa categories, such as inexperienced graduates and individuals older than 60 years old.

4. Compared to traditional work permits, the business startup visa also gives investors and key management staff alike flexibility in conducting auxiliary business activities such as market research, business development, staff recruitment, lease searching, initial company setup procedures, etc. before getting the company legally established.

5. The following people are eligible to apply for the business startup visa:

Besides current students and professors, graduates with a degree from the world's top 300 universities ranked by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University can get the "entrepreneurship visa" within two years of graduation to live and work in Shanghai.

Forein students
Foreign students who have the willingness to innovate and start a business in Shanghai and graduated from a higher education institution in China;果没有学会秒刷技能，请进入帮助中心查看。Foreignersplanning to invest in Shanghai or innovate in business; Foreign entrepreneurs with a business plan and documents proving their investment and source of income can also apply.Excellent overseas graduates
from top Chinese universities or world-renowned universities who have been graduated for no more than two years but have made outstanding achievements in innovation and entrepreneurship in Shanghai.果没有学会秒刷技能，请进入帮助中心查。

6. Besides these special requirements, most of the required documents are similar to that required of other types of visa applications. Notably, under the business startup visa, an applicant will be required to submit an entrepreneurship or investment related certificate from certain economic development zones, high-tech parks, or corporate incubator spaces designated by the government.

Shanghai has always been a city with a strong entrepreneurial atmosphere. In 2017, the entrepreneurship activity rate in the city reached 12 percent, up 0.7 percent from 2016, according to statistics released by Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

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Since 2015, Shanghai has launched 25 pilot visa policies to streamline and simplify the foreigner visa application process and to diversify the visa types to better fit the demand, said Cai Baodi, chief of the foreigner visa management division at the Exit-Entry Administration Bureau.

Among the 25 pilot visa policies, four are directly linked to foreigners opening businesses in the city. These include issuing visas that allow current international students in Chinese colleges to start businesses in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, and allow foreign technological specialists or college professors to commercialize their research in those areas.

"Before, our visa policy didn't allow foreigners to hold two jobs, but ... Shanghai launched a talent visa program in May that made it possible," said Cai, from the Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau.

Cai said his department has issued 95 such entrepreneurship visas in the past three years. "We hope this kind of residence permit will encourage talent and entrepreneurs to come to the city with their innovative ideas and plans," Cai said.

The business startup visa is just the latest policy rolled out by the Shanghai government to stimulate the city’s economic development through innovation and attracting high-level talent. However, Shanghai is far from the only Chinese city to launch visa incentives for foreign talent. Beijing and Yunnan province, for example, are among the regions that have released policies this year to attract high-end foreign talent. Their main purpose is to attract more high-tech foreign talent. More than 100 measures have been announced, such as the assessment to key industry sector.

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Source:Ecns 中新网；Chinadaily; Chinabriefing; SHANGHAIBIZZ; Guideinchina; Photo: VCG

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