In accordance with the Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China and Rules for Application of Foreign Experts Certificates and other documents’ requirement issued by the government, the foreigners seeking employment in China should have no criminal record. In order to strictly implement regulations and standardize the review and approval process when applying for the Alien Employment License, from July 1st, 2013, all employers must submit the applicant’s police clearance certificate of residence when submitting the Alien Employment License. The specific requirements are as follows:

1. Scope of Applicant

  1)  The personnel who apply for Alien Employment License and Foreign Experts Certificates;
  2)  The personnel who apply for Alien Employment Permit in representative agents;
  3)  The personnel holding the Alien Employment Permit or Working Permit of Foreign Experts issued from other provinces , plan to be transferred to Beijing

2. Requirement of Certificate

  1) The applicant’s police clearance certificate of residence issued by public security bureau or judicial authority (if the certificate is in foreign language should be translated by formal translation company)
  2) The police clearance certificate should be authenticated By Chinese Embassy or Consulate in applicant’s home country.

Beginning on July 1st, 2013, an original and legalized "Certificate of Police Clearance" must be provided to the Labor Bureau at the time of submission for these applications.

This requirement is only applicable to new requests submitted on or after July 1st, 2013.

Applications are currently under consideration or filed prior to July 1st, 2013 will not be affected. Applications for renewal, amendment and annual inspections of Work Permits are not affected.

This change will not apply to employees from Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, nor will it apply to Chinese citizens holding permanent residence abroad, returning to China for employment.

At present, this change is only applicable to Beijing and has not yet been announced for other locations in China, although some cities (including Nanjing and Suzhou) already require this document. Still, it remains possible that this requirement will be extended to other locations in China shortly.

The information above was provided by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Labor.

The information herein is for general information only and not intended as advice for a particular matter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the global immigration professional with whom you work with or send an email to visa@lehmanlaw.com