Shanghai: the most attractive place in China for expatriates

Shanghai is the most attractive place in China for expatriates, a recent report showed.

An index measuring China's regional competitiveness on attracting international talent ranked Shanghai at the top place with 3.91, followed by 3.67 for Beijing and 3.52 for Guangdong Province, according to a report co-authored by Center for China & Globalization and the Institute of Development Studies of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.

The report measures competitiveness through the number of expatriates, career development environment, and living environment.

The report covers China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.

“Shanghai was among the first batch of opening-up areas in China, and always had a good reputation among international talent,” the report said. “Last year Shanghai introduced 30 new rules on human resources, offering sound policy support for development of international talent. Further development and innovations made in the free trade zone will lift the city's attractiveness to international talent.”

As mart of the new policies implemented last year, Shanghai allowed companies to employ fresh graduates from renowned universities in the world by lowing threshold for applying a work visa.

The city also allowed senior talent of more than 60 years old to work in Shanghai and expanded coverage of permanent residence permit.

The report granted Shanghai a full score of 1 in terms of development environment for international talent, but the sub-index measuring living environment was 0.52, lagging behind Guangdong Province, Beijing, Jiangsu Province, and Shandong Province.

In terms of the number of expatriates, Shanghai stands behind Beijing at the second place.

The report said overall, China is less competitive than major developed countries in the world due to the small number of expatriates and significant outflow of talent.