Xiamen offers more convenient services to foreign professionals

The Xiamen Service Center for Foreign Professionals and Immigration Affairs Service Center are inaugurated on Dec 27. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Xiamen Service Center for Foreign Professionals and Immigration Affairs Service Center were inaugurated in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, on Dec 27, according to local media reports.

The two centers, respectively established by the Xiamen municipal bureau of science and technology and the entry and exit administration bureau of the Xiamen public security bureau, are the first organizations of their kind in the province.

The centers are designed to simplify administrative processes for foreign professionals who live and work in Xiamen and attract more foreign professionals to start businesses in the city.

The Xiamen Service Center for Foreign Professionals will offer services such as consultation on policies affecting foreign professionals, entrepreneurial guidance, dispute resolution, and work permit handling.

The Immigration Affairs Service Center will offer consultation on immigration policy, evaluations of foreigners' business plans, volunteer foreign language translators, and lodging registration.

In addition, five foreigners received permanent residence permits from the local public security bureau at the inauguration ceremony.

Deng Haiying, deputy director of the Xiamen public security bureau, said that the bureau would continue improving their services so as to create an efficient and safe "green channel" for entry-exit affairs.

The city has also launched 144-hour visa-free transit policy and 12 measures to facilitate immigration over the past few years.

Statistics show that Xiamen currently houses roughly 8,000 permanent foreign residents, 2,100 of whom are certified foreign professionals.