Guides - Human Resources & Payroll in China 2016 - 2017 (5th

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Human Resources and Payroll in China 2016-2017 (5th Edition) - 111
5.4 R-Visa
The R-visa, also known as a China Talents Visa, is issued to those who are high-level qualified talents
or whose skills are urgently needed in China.
As of now, Shanghai and Beijing have relatively well-defined rules on how to determine high-level
qualified talents, and how to apply for the R-Visa. Here we take Shanghai as an example.
To apply for the R-visa, the foreigners must fulfill one of the following conditions:
• High-level qualified talents invited by the Chinese government (i.e. Ministry of Organization;
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security or State Administration of Foreign Experts).
• High-level qualified talents invited by the Shanghai local government (Shanghai Ministry of
Organization; Shanghai Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security or Shanghai Foreign
Experts bureau).
• High-level qualified talents employed by a Shanghai high-technology company which has the
valid high-tech certificate.
• To be qualified as a high-level talent, the foreigner must fulfill one of the following conditions: Be
a well-known award winner or be in the high-level personnel plan list (e.g. the Nobel Prize, the
Turing Prize, the Fields Prize, China’s Thousand Talents Program).
• Be a well-known expert, scholar, exceptional talent or professional (e.g. Foreign members of
the Chinese Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, leaders of foreign
governments or well-known organizations).
• Be a talent and/or professional in the enterprises (e.g. senior management, technical talent or
key researcher of state-owned enterprises, high-technology companies that have valid high-tech
certificates, FIEs in the encouraged categories, enterprises with register capitals of over USD 3
million).
• Be regarded as a professional whose skills are urgently needed.
Foreign talents, with proper documentation issued by above ministry or company, can apply for
the R-visa directly in the Shanghai airport after landing. That R-visa is renewable for up to 180 days.
R-visa holders, whose labor contract is over 180 days, can apply for the talents working residence
permit in Shanghai. After three years of continuously holding the talents working residence permit,
the foreigner can apply for a Chinese green card.
Except for the extra documents from the government for qualification as a high-level talent, the
application procedure for the R-visa is almost the same as applying for the Z-visa (detailed in Section
5.2). The whole process takes about seven working days.