New policies in FTZ ease money transfers, visa for foreign businesses

Shanghai has unveiled a batch of new policies to further facilitate the growth of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), including easier money transfers and more efficient visa policies for foreign businesses.

Released ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Shanghai free trade zone on September 29, these policies benchmark the highest standards in line with best international practices.

Main targets

The policies for the zone focus on promoting pilot practices concerning goods trade, service trade, digital trade, temporary entry of commercial personnel, and optimizing the business environment.

They aim to create a set of replicable and scalable best practices to make progress within one-year time through new innovations, new projects, new achievements, and new breakthroughs.

And here are some highlights of the new policies:

Innovations in goods trade

• Formulate a pilot plan for the import of remanufactured products and implement it in a timely manner after getting approval from the national commerce authority;
• For some goods that are temporarily placed in the FTZ from overseas, the owner can provide a guarantee to customs upon entry, thus obtaining a temporary exemption on customs duties, import value-added tax, and consumption tax;
• In cases of only minor errors in the origin of goods certificate, such as printing errors, typing errors, or minor differences of non-key information between documents, on the condition that the origin of the goods is confirmed, the customs can offer a preferential tariff treatment – Businesses don't need to repeatedly modify and submit application materials.

More convenient service trade

• When applying for new financial businesses that have already been carried out by domestic counterparts, foreign financial institutions in the zone can be granted licenses by the local financial authority based on the national requirements, and they will be given equal treatment, as well as supervision.

More convenient temporary entry of commercial personnel

• Accompanying family members of experts of foreign enterprises registered in the zone can apply for port visas. The port visa office will offer an S2 visa that allows one entry and exitf for a stay of up to 30 days;
• Senior management personnel and accompanying family members of foreign enterprises intending to set up branches or subsidiaries in the zone can also apply for port visas.

Better business environment

• All money transfers related to foreign investment that are compliant can be freely remitted without delay;
• Wages and other lawful income of the foreign employees of foreign-invested enterprises, as well as those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, can be freely remitted according to the law;
• No entities and individuals can unlawfully restrict the currency, amount, or frequency of the fund remittance.