Relaxed visa restrictions for business travelers and a scrapped tariff on Australian barley may hint at a softer policy approach. That - or the post-Covid recovery is really sputtering.
The announcement was published rather unexpectedly in the middle of the morning on Friday on the English website of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.
Amid a slew of other measures, the mainland government indicated that the Ministry of Public Security and National Immigration Administration would «facilitate the issuance of port visas and multiple renewals for foreign businessmen».
This is a significant step in that previously anyone traveling to the country on business needed to have a ready visa in hand when arriving. And applying for it was not exactly administrative bliss.
Father and Mother
In ten fulsome sections, the applicant had to confirm all their citizenships (for dual or triple nationals), work experience, language skills, education, spouse, father, mother, and children.
Not only that, but they also had to indicate what hotel they were staying at, which individual in China had invited them, and where that person worked.
Then they had to confirm any travel to China in the past three years, former visas to the mainland, and whether they had been fingerprinted by authorities or not. To top it all off, the applicant also needed to list all other countries they had traveled to in the past five years.
Tall Order
This is all way beyond all the normal stuff most countries ask for and it begs the question as to what passports are for, given they are a relatively novel invention created a century ago («National Geographic», no paywall) to allow many of us to bypass all of that.
It is also a tall order to ask the hapless businessperson who their father and mother is when they only want to attend an industry trade fair, do some business, and go home.
The ministry seemed to be acknowledging that grudgingly, at least in English, stating that foreigners «who have no time to apply for visas to China outside the country» can now get port visas when they enter on the spot if they have an invitation letter and certification material on hand. And when that one expires, they can then apply for a multiple-entry visa if they need one. That will indeed make things a good deal easier, but it will not make them easy.
Keep Your Passport
As indicated, this comes with a slew of other news and measures. The ministry also indicated that foreigners applying for permanent residency in China no longer must hand their passports in when making applications. Many will consider a meaningful relaxation – not to mention a tangible relief, particularly during the application process.
This all comes on the same day that punitive tariffs (i.e. 80 percent - or almost double) were scrapped («ABC News», no paywall) on Australian barley after an agreement had been mooted in April.
The question now is whether this is a substantive liberalization of policy or whether the once-lauded post-Covid recovery has stalled out. But as with much else when it comes to China, only time will tell.
