Mar. 23 – The Organizational Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee has launched a program that would pay roughly US$146,000 or one million yuan in subsidies each for foreign senior company officials, patent holders and entrepreneurs willing to work and share their technical knowledge.

The package will also include allotment for medical care and pensions, reports Xinhua.

Hiring qualified people has been a problem for both local and international firms working in China as companies struggle to fill strategic positions because of a skills gap in the country’s labor market.

For the past years, Beijing has been trying to attract skilled Chinese immigrants to go home by offering stipends and financial aid.

The new program is looking into hiring 1,000 foreign experts aged 55 or younger that are willing to stay in the country for half a year or longer. Applicants must have the academic title equivalent to a professor, or currently work as a senior managing staff with a famous international company or banking institution.

People who have developed technologies or patents are also welcome to apply in addition to entrepreneurs well-versed with the international rules of a certain industry.

The foreign experts will be tasked to lead colleges, research institutes, state-owned companies, banking institutions and research programs.

Interested applicants can send their application to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, the All-China Youth Federation, the China Association for Science and Technology and the Western Returned Scholars Association. Institutions involved in central government-funded innovation programs, laboratories, companies or state-owned banking institutions and high-tech parks will also be accepting applications.