The Telegraph published a short interview with me about Chinese Green Cards:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/9615282/China-may-give-more-green-cards-to-foreigners.html
The Green Card issue as well as obtaining visas and work permits are rather complex issues. What the Chinese government declares and what it does in practice are very different things.
Overall, getting visas, work permits and green cards have all become more and more difficult – while China is lamenting the EU “makes visa and work permits difficult”. They ought to look also at what happens in their home turf.
Obtaining a green card remains virtually impossible. China claims you can get it according to a set of conditions but in fact they rarely agree to grant one. Beijing Municipality has given out a grand total of over 700 many went to returning overseas Chinese and some were probably given as prestige gifts to VIPs (if they do not reside here they lose their status quickly). Real “long noses” like me are a minority as far as I know.
It is so annoying that when I travel, I get often stopped at airport check-in by security, police, airline staff who never saw the document and have to call “the boss”. A bit humiliating.
Visas are now overall more tough to get, while it is true in the past it was rather too easy compared to other countries like USA and EU. The immigration services require many more (original or certified) documents and obtaining long-term visas is more difficult. As a result, business people often have a hard time. Not to even mention that some nationals have a hard time getting any visa (Philippines among others).
There are limitations on who can get a work permit: if you are “too young and no experience” it is nearly impossible. That makes that young people trying to get internships or training face many difficulties, and many end up working illegally. People over 60 are normally not able to get a work permit (according to the labor law – retirement in China is 60 for men and 55 for women). This does not make any sense as many expats with rich experience want to work in China and have a lot to contribute in sharing their experience. We had the case of a foreign dentist, a super specialist in dental implants who was offered a job in a Chinese dental clinic but was refused a work permit on the grounds he was over 60. Ridiculous. In my book “Toxic Capitalism” I mention the issue of retirement in China. Other grey areas: people who wish to retire in China or people who want to come here for medical treatment. I have officially discussed all those issues with the Ministry of Public Security.
Overall the feeling of expats here is now that foreigners are not so welcome anymore. Chinese have become anti-foreign, arrogant, even hostile. Foreigners are starting to leave. Hostile confrontations are becoming more common. “Foreigners out”. It does not make any sense. There are officially far less than 1 million foreigners in China in a population of 1.3 billion. Compare that to the amount of Chinese living in European countries!
We all understand immigration laws should be respected. But the way China is handling it now is against their own interest. Let’s hope one day they will understand.