Passengers wait for trains at the waiting hall of Xuzhou East Railway Station in Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Aug 1, 2023. China's railways recorded 406 million passenger trips from July 1 to 31, according to data revealed by China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., the country's railway operator. Photo: Xinhua

East China's Jiangsu Province on Wednesday released a draft regulation to completely scrap limits for household registration, or hukou, except for the major cities of Nanjing and Suzhou, in a bid to better serve its goal of achieving sustained economic development. 

The entire province plans to scrap the limits for household registration completely and pilot a project to allow residents to register at their place of work. It also encourages governments to apply the same registration policy to rural residents currently living in or outside of the cities. 

For Nanjing and Suzhou, the draft encourages the two cities to make customized household registration policies based on the population and functional role of each district in the two cities.

The 18-clause draft regulation on policy measures to promote the province's sustained economic recovery and high-quality development was recently released by the Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission. 

Experts said that this policy will promote the interprovincial movement of people and play an important role in regional economic development. Encouraging rural migrants to settle in cities is a key part of promoting a new type of people-oriented urbanization.

Jiangsu made the announcement following the recent call by China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to further relax household registration nationwide.

According to the MPS, household registration restrictions for cities with a permanent urban population of less than 3 million will be completely lifted, while for cities with a permanent urban population of 3 million to 5 million, the registration policy will be "significantly relaxed." 

The points-based household registration system for mega cities with a permanent urban population of over 5 million will be optimized to encourage local governments to lift restrictions on annual quotas for local household registration, the MPS said. 

Previously, East China's Zhejiang Province spearheaded to lift hukou requirements in the province. For the capital city of Hangzhou, it will further improve its points-based household registration policy, and the annual quota for household registration will gradually be eliminated.

Global Times