More overseas talent set sights on Lingang

When Dr Mujtaba Naaseri from Afghanistan decided to move his family to China, it took him less than a month to decide to settle at Dishui Lake.

After attending an international talent fair in the Lingang section of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone a month ago, he was fascinated by its open-minded policy initiatives, its state-of-the-art infrastructure, and the ambience of a young community.

"There is no doubt that Lingang will develop into an international community recognized worldwide," Naaseri said.

Naaseri is just one of the many young talent who have chosen to settle in Lingang, encouraged by a number of local incentives provided for overseas young talent, given the trade zone's endeavor to brand itself as a "young city for the young."

Sources from the local government said that, recently, the pilot trade zone has implemented a number of new policy incentives aimed at attracting talent.

In an interview regarding subsidies for college student interns, Yang Wu, an official from the pilot trade zone administration, said college, MA and PhD interns would be entitled to monthly subsidy of 2,000 yuan (US$280.24), 3,000 yuan, and 5,000 yuan. For those who are not Shanghai residents and are studying outside Shanghai, an additional maximum of 1,000 yuan will be provided to cover transport and accommodation.

Yang revealed that, in light of previous investigation, it was found that, in view of the subsidies, about 25 percent of the interns chose to work in Lingang.

"This policy has a clearly positive impact on attracting and retaining talent in Lingang," Yang said. "To further ante up the proportions of the interns who ultimately choose to work here, we have decided to give out the subsidies twice – half of the subsidy would be given at the end of the internship, and the other half would be provided later, after the students choose to work or launch start-ups in the zone within one year of graduation."

As a further inducement for employers, the administration has also been providing subsidies for those entities certified to be internship based for college students in the zone. Specifically, 500 yuan will be provided to the tutor in charge of the intern each month, and 5,000 yuan will be given to the employer as a one-time subsidy.

With beefed up overseas exchanges, more and more overseas talent is being attracted to the zone.

An example is Muhammad Ahsan, a Pakistani student from East China Normal University, who has been busy in recent days launching a start-up.

He said in an interview that the routine publicity drive about Lingang's policies for overseas talent persuaded him of the fact that Lingang's craving for overseas talent is sincere and in good faith.

"My family has been operating a family business for half a century, and has been cooperating with relevant Chinese counterparts in finding solutions for digital printing in textile industry since 2001. We have the biggest market share in Pakistan. To expand our business, we intended to launch a trade company in Shanghai to help Pakistani clients access Chinese commodities," Ahsan said.

After attending the talent fair in June, relevant staff got in touch with him, particularly with regards to his planned startup.

Their discussions ranged from preparation of relevant documents, to the application procedures, social insurance subsidies for the start-up in its early stage, and preferential tax breaks.

These explanations further strengthened Ahsan's determination to start his business in Lingang.

As Yang explained, Lingang provides a wide array of preferential policies for startups for returned students, from registration, policy consultation, operation, to financial and tax policies, with a number of fast track policies created for overseas talent, in such areas as residency, work permits, or professional certification.

Since preferential policies for overseas talent were implemented comprehensively in 2020, the number of overseas talent introduced in Lingang has been going up steadily.

By June 2024, a total of 94,018 professionals have settled there, averaging an annual growth of 97.23 percent.

During the first six months of this year, the zone introduced a total of 23,748 people, representing a growth of 41.91 percent compared to a year earlier.