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[Escaped Lunatic]

Some of us are here for the very very long term.  Little hints and things have been given about the elusive Chinese Permanent Residence Permit, aka Green Card.  To get one of these, it looks like you first need to get a D Visa if your are outside of China (may not be needed if you are already inside).  The general consensus online is that these aren't easy to get.  Sadly, full details of just how easy or hard these are to get aren't easy to come by.  Most of the sites I've found that discuss it have no recent info posted.

The question really comes down to how to get qualified.

Qualifications can include:

Somehow being considered a person who has contributed greatly to China. (seems like this may not be $$$ - that's covered elsewhere)

Otherwise, 5+ years mostly inside, with one of these:

1. BIG investments. (Expensive!!!)

2. Cool job title at a major company or similar. (Pity they don't take small companies )

3. Having Chinese citizens as close relatives - aka Marriage. (We have a winner!!!! )

If you get one, it's good for 10 years (with a much simpler renewal that initial application), permits you to work, and grants some other useful benefits.

So, who's been living here, has been married to a local for at least 5 years, and wants to be the Saloon's test case?  I need some test subjects to find the way through the maze.

[jpd01]

I haven't actually heard of anyone getting it for anything other than the investment option (not personally mind you)
I know 4 guys here that have been married for over 5 years and have all been rejected (one has been rejected 3 years in a row) One great old bloke was basically hanging in there to be able to apply for it, got rejected and then got cancer 3 months later. He left China for treatment and now if he even decides to bother to come back (I hope he does he's an awesome bloke) he will have to wait again as his time will reset.
Seems to be that you still need to be able to offer something to the local community and China in general above just wanting to retire or settle down here in order to be able to get it.

[The Local Dialect]

I've heard of old school Party supporters getting it -- I mean people who were here back in the day, war time and all. Then I've heard of super rich investors getting it, usually overseas Chinese who have strong connections here.

I have honestly never heard of any of us regular folk getting it. I've been married for 5 years and living in China continuously since 2003. I've only been out of the country a handful of times, for a max I think of 10 days, and I've never, in all that  time, been back to the States. Technically, I should qualify, but I'm not going to even bother trying. There's no way I'd get it. China has enough people and unless you're offering something pretty amazing in return, they're going to make it a hassle for you to stay here permanently.

[zero]

There is a guy on Shanghaiexpat who says he has it. He posts in the "legal issues and visas" area or whatever they call it. There is a thread devoted to permanent residence. He lays out the process and considerations very clearly. He likes to insult people; it's his shtick. Has a Charlie Sheen avatar. But, if all that he says is true, it's the clearest explanatory material I've seen on the issue.

As I recall, one major barrier for teachers is a requirement of stable employment. You need a long-term or open-ended contract. Most English teachers are on one-year contracts.

Another consideration is stable housing. You need to own a place. Can't remember if a long-term leasing status is sufficient or not.

For Americans, the criminal background checks were an issue, because the kind the Chinese government wanted was hard to get in the U.S. It may be easier nowadays, though.

The guy on Shanghaiexpat says the final decision is made at the national level and local "guanxi" and so on won't help you at all.

[Mr GZPF]

For Americans, the criminal background checks were an issue, because the kind the Chinese government wanted was hard to get in the U.S. It may be easier nowadays, though.

The guy on Shanghaiexpat says the final decision is made at the national level and local "guanxi" and so on won't help you at all.

For Yankistani citizens the criminal background checks of the type China likes are easier to get? I do not view this as a "good" thing.

Sure the final decision is made at the national level. However it's going to be made based upon the recommendations and findings of local government officials.

[zero]

As I understand, the local officials carrying out the checks had a very cut-and-dried role, ticking off boxes, and no real influence in terms of recommendations. They apparently interview all of your neighbors, but it's a limited set of questions: Has he talked about overthrowing the CCP? Does he make statements about independence for T? etc.

If you meet the requirements and get all of your paperwork in order, you will get permanent residency, in all likelihood. But, as I said, it's hard, because most people don't have long-term employment contracts. You would most likely need to work for a foreign company as a permanent employee -- ironic, isn't it? Owning your own business might work, if you could show that it has supported you for a number of years, but I'm not sure.

[Pashley]

I know one guy who has it. He has been here & married to a Chinese for decades.

Here's a page with the official requirements.
http://www.gov.cn/english/2005-08/29/content_27379.htm

[Escaped Lunatic]

I saw an article about a retired woman getting it.  She'd been making very large chgarity contributions and had lived in China for 10+ years.

[jpd01]

Even if you were running a long term business in China, i don't really see any benefit to permanent residency besides bragging to people or business partners.
I know I wouldn't chase it even if i spent five years here. At the end of the day it's not too annoying to renew your visa once a year. And if you don't want to work then the family visa is fine as well.

[MK]

There was an article about this in a local Hangzhou magazine I read ages ago - 4 foreigners had been granted citizenship.  Hailing form Korea (2), Japan and Germany, they were all female, and, I got the impression from the article, married to very important (or at least very rich) local guys.

[Escaped Lunatic]

Even if you were running a long term business in China, i don't really see any benefit to permanent residency besides bragging to people or business partners.
I know I wouldn't chase it even if i spent five years here. At the end of the day it's not too annoying to renew your visa once a year. And if you don't want to work then the family visa is fine as well.

If you plan to be here for a very long time (forever in my case) and not become a citizen (see below), I think permanent residency is the safest route.  Remember the visa nightmares in 2008.  More than one spousal visa didn't get automatically renewed and other visas and permits had quite a few issues.

Contemplate what happens if you settle down and your spousal permit is up for renewal just after your spouse precedes you in dying of old age.  You could potentially end up being out of the country trying to get a tourist visa to attend the funeral.

From what I've read, there are a few other benefits regarding home purchasing, etc.  Those laws change often enough that it's hard to be sure which would apply by the time anyone recently married can qualify for a residence permit.

There was an article about this in a local Hangzhou magazine I read ages ago - 4 foreigners had been granted citizenship.  Hailing form Korea (2), Japan and Germany, they were all female, and, I got the impression from the article, married to very important (or at least very rich) local guys.

Citizenship is a different can of worms.  The Green Card/Permanent Residence Permit doesn't give you citizenship, but does let you stay inside the country indefinitely - as long as you aren't caught being too naughty.

[zero]

Contemplate what happens if you settle down and your spousal permit is up for renewal just after your spouse precedes you in dying of old age.  You could potentially end up being out of the country trying to get a tourist visa to attend the funeral.

You could also end up separated rather abruptly from your house and bank accounts. Her relatives and/or the government would be happy to "handle" all of the inheritance issues, I'm sure, as you languish back in your homeland. Maybe you can get a tourist visa in time to go see about the whole matter. Maybe not, as who knows what the situation will be regarding Chinese visas 10, 20 or 30 years from now. It's entirely at China's discretion. Maybe you'll get the visa after a few months' delay, at which point all disbursements will have already been made and all deeds transferred -- and not to the foreigner. Maybe a tourist can handle property and inheritance issues in a Chinese court, and maybe not.

Lots of issues at this point in staying in China long-term. Not that people shouldn't do it, but I would like to see China make it easier. I'd like to see a lot more green cards awarded.

[NOYB]

I think Zero is pretty much on the right track.

There are definite advantages to having permanent residency.  In addition to actually being able to live and work in China permanently without visa / work permit hassles, it helps when conducting currency exchange operations at the banks.  It's also a heck of a lot easier going anywhere within China simply carrying a card with you instead of a passport.

It is true that all approvals for PR are done on a national level with municipal / provincial Public Security Bureau simply collecting the documentation, conducting a local background investigation and passing everything to the Public Security Ministry for analysis and decision. 

At first glance the requirements tend to be clear, concise and easy to meet.  Where problems can surprisingly arise are in trying to show stable residence and stable means of support.  If you own your own home, that would certainly to stable, but what if you rent?  Do you have a long-term rental agreement?  Do you have fa piaos showing how long you have been living there and paying rent? 

As previously mentioned, stable income can be shown by employment.  However, they do want to see long-term employment contracts instead of the standard one-year or less contracts many end up with. 

Then there is the background investigation.  The criminal records check you obtain in your own country should be easy enough, but when the PSB conducts the local background investigation you'd think they'd just ask a few neighbors and concentrate on stuff like drug usage and other illegal behavior.  In fact, I have seen where they ask every single resident of a complex consisting of three 36-floor buildings.  And what do they ask?  Nothing about when I would consider illegal behavior.  They want to know if you support the Dalai Lama, a free T, Taiwan independence or have made negative comments about the Party. 

Personally, I think if you can meet the minimum requirements you find in the regulations, can meet their concept of stable income / residence, are not what they consider a political adversary and are anal retentive in collecting all the required documentation, I think you'd have a decent chance of success.