Shanghai loosens hukou rules for university graduates

Fresh graduates from six top universities who meet the basic application requirements can secure a Shanghai hukou, or household registration, an increase from the previous two, according to the city's latest household registration regulations, China Youth Daily reported Wednesday.

Local authorities released on Wednesday regulations for Shanghai's point-based household registration system, under which non-local university graduates working in the city can qualify for hukou application. The regulations state that fresh graduates who have obtained master's or doctoral degrees from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Fudan University, Tongji University and East China Normal University can get their urban hukou as long as they fit the basic application requirements, regardless of their total points. Usually non-Shanghai students who apply for the city's hukou have to earn a minimum of 72 points.

In 2018, Shanghai launched a "green passage" mechanism to bring in talents from high-level universities, using Peking and Tsinghua, the nation's two "world-class universities" in the capital, for the pilot program. Non-Shanghai graduates from the two institutions who obtain a higher education degree and diploma can apply for the Shanghai hukou.