SHENZHEN, Jun. 9 – Last April 17, Shenzhen Social Security Bureau came out with simplified procedures for working permit applications for foreigners.

The changes from the previous 2005 regulations are as follows:

a.) the position of the foreigner shall fulfill the special needs of the company, and that there is currently no such candidate in Shenzhen, namely, in the China market, moreover the company cannot find a proper candidate for the same type of job;

b.) for the cancellation or transfer of work permit, the applicant shall provide an employment relationship termination letter;

c.) non-criminal certificate that shall be notarized and legalized by Chinese consulate is not required now, but the applicant/ foreigner shall declare this issue in the application form and take related responsibility for his declaration;

d.) for foreigners who change their employment from one company to another company but retain the same occupation, the Health Check Report for Foreigners is no longer required;

e.) the application documents for employment license and work permit are different;

f.) so long as the foreigner gets the Z visa, he can apply work permit without the need of an interview with the local PSB;

g.) it is after obtaining their work permit that foreign applicants shall apply a resident permit and require an interview with the local PSB;

h.) original passport, health check report and labor contract and related documents are required to provide in the process of work permit application;

i.) for the chief representative of representative office, no need to get employment license before application of work permit;

j.) qualified senior management people, are exempted from providing some documents;

More information on the new procedures are available in Chinese here and here.