How difficult for Chinese-foreign couples to reside in Mainland?

The number of new Chinese-foreign couples, as well as mainland residents marrying residents from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, remained basically steady from 2009 to 2018, fluctuating slightly between 40,000 and 50,000 each year, according to the 2019 China Civil Affairs Statistical Yearbook. 

Photo credit: IC

Transnational marriages accounted for 0.47 percent of all marriages in 2018 in China, much lower than the 3.7 percent in Japan that year, official statistics showed.

China's limits on the residency of foreign spouses is stricter than most other countries.  Foreign spouses are only entitled to work if they meet the qualifications for a work visa, which likely will require a bachelor's degree in the field of intended employment.

Most foreign spouses in urban areas have jobs because they have met the criteria for a work visa, not because of their marital status. 

Jack (pseudonym), an American who has stayed in Northeast China's Liaoning Province for five years with his Chinese wife, invested in their own business, a startup company, to qualify for his work permit.

According to Measures for the Administration of Examination and Approval of Foreigners' Permanent Residence in China, only foreigners married to a Chinese citizen for five years and residing in China for at least five consecutive years, with at least nine months of residence in China each year, are eligible to apply for a "green card." These are minimum thresholds, and applicants may face more requirements in practice.

"Each time I ask about the green card at the public security bureau, they tell me it's very difficult to get one," Mike, a Canadian who is married to a Chinese woman and has lived in Southwest China's Sichuan Province since 2006. Mike holds a Q visa.

Many foreign spouses want to have the right to work and contribute to Chinese society and their family's future. Chinese experts have even suggested offering foreign spouses more equitable treatment that could help ease the country's gender imbalance and increase the birthrate. 

Source:globaltimes

Editor: Crystal H

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