Frenchman's family first to benefit from unified policy
Vincent Hasenfratz, 52, and his family now benefit from the policies of the integration of Yangtze River Delta region.
French man Vincent Hasenfratz, 52, and his family are the first beneficiaries of a new policy for the Yangtze River Delta region to get the Shanghai permanent residence permits for overseas talents.
"Shanghai is home to me, and the permit gives me a sense of belonging," Hasenfratz told Shanghai Daily.
Although he holds the permanent residence permit given by Jiangsu Province, he still faced inconveniences due to the different policies of Shanghai and Suzhou.
He had to run between the two cities to avail of services like hospitals and education.
But under the integrated Yangtze River Delta region, he filled in all the applications in Shanghai for a local residence permit and obtained it last month.
The Shanghai residence permit of Hasenfratz and his family.
With the new permit, Hasenfratz and his family are entitled to various preferential policies in medical, property, children's education, professional qualifications, career development, logistics, financial and driving licenses.
Hasenfratz has been in Shanghai for almost 20 years. He met his wife, a half Chinese and half Japanese woman, here, and is the general manager of the Arcade marketing (Suzhou) Company, which is located in Wujiang, neighboring Jiangsu Province, and provides cosmetic samples to international brands.
They have a 4-year-old daughter.
Hasenfratz is the first foreign family to benefit from the new policy.
Vincent Hasenfratz and his wife posed for a photo with their newborn daughter on September 1 in 2017 in Shanghai.
"It makes things much easier for us to get my daughter into an international school in Shanghai," Hasenfratz said. "As soon as I saw the news, I prepared all the materials and applied for the permit as soon as possible."
Hasenfratz, who first came to China in 1997, speaks fluent Chinese.
"I have been to many places in China because of my business," he said. "And my first Chinese teacher is a taxi driver from Shanghai."
After the driver greeted him with "您好" (Hello) and "您从哪里来?" (Where are you from?), he was encouraged to start learning Chinese.
Then his colleagues, customers, and his wife, all became his teachers as he began to learn Chinese earnestly.
"Learning Chinese for me is a good way to integrate into the local society."
"Now my wife and I communicate in Chinese every day," he said.
Vincent Hasenfratz, his wife and their daughter on the Bund in Shanghai on October 30, 2020
The couple loves to explore the city and the world together, which means that the historic buildings and blocks in Shanghai attract him a lot.
"My wife is a very romantic person, she likes to try different things every year on her birthday," he said. "This year, we went to Paramount, where we could feel the old Shanghai."
