4,752 expats hold Chinese ‘green cards’

Beijing (CNS) -- The number of expats holding permanent Chinese residency status reached 4,752 at the end of 2011, which has been increasing by around 10 percent every year since 2000, according to a Wednesday State Council meeting on the entry, exit, residence, and employment situation of expats.

All foreign employees in China now number about 220,000, or about 37 percent of all foreign residents. They serve mostly in enterprises concerned with foreign capital and education institutes.

In 2011, nationwide public security offices apprehended more than 20,000 foreigners who crossed the border, resided or worked in China, without legal documents. The majority of them come from neighboring countries.