People gather on the Bund along the Huangpu River in Shanghai on June 1, 2022, following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in the city after a two-month lockdown. Photo: AFP

Shanghai opens hukou to students who graduated from universities that rank top 50 around the world as a bid to attract more overseas high-level talents to boost the city's resumption of work and production. 

Students from universities that rank top 50 worldwide can directly apply for hukou in Shanghai if they work in the city, regardless of requirements of social insurance; while those from universities ranking from 51-100 can also apply to get Shanghai hukou after working full-time and pay social insurance premiums for six months, Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau said. 

This is part of Shanghai's endeavor to activate economic development after three months of epidemic fight. 

Previously only doctoral degree holders from domestic universities were allowed to apply for Shanghai hukou directly, Wu Bin, vice president of Shanghai Overseas Economic and Technological Promotion Association, told Chinese media Yicai.

Wu said his organization received some 40 calls and consultants on Tuesday afternoon from graduate students from foreign universities and those who are about to graduate from abroad. "The policy offers them a reason to stay in Shanghai,"  Wu said.

University ranking will take Times Higher Education, U.S. News & World Report, Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings and Shanghai Ranking's Academic Ranking of World Universities as references. 

The average salary involved in the policies will still maintain the existing base standard as a reference. Such preferential policies will last till June next year, the notice said.

Hukou, or household registration status, is important for staying in a big city and access public resources such as child education and housing purchase. 

To boost a fast recovery of economic and social activities, Shanghai has rolled out a basket of 50 measures, ranging from encouraging work resumption and stabilizing foreign capital to stimulating consumption. As for manufacturing and business resumption, the metropolis has scrapped the "whitelist" mechanism and other restrictions on companies that want to restart.

Latest census data showed Shanghai has a total of 24.87 million residents, among which 14.39 million have Shanghai hukou and the remaining are non-permanent residents who have lived in Shanghai for more than six months.

Global Times