Process eased for getting visas, permits

Foreigners will be able to apply for visa extensions and residence permits at district police offices in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, not just at a city-level public security bureau, the provincial police announced on Tuesday.

The change, one of 20 measures authorities have introduced to better serve the public, was made to enable foreigners to renew at an office near home. Since the start of a pilot program last month, foreigners in Foshan's Nanhai district and four districts in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, have been allowed to apply for visa extensions and residence permits at district police offices.

Foshan, Guangdong's third-largest commercial city, with advanced manufacturing, attracts numerous foreign visitors. Jiangmen is also the hometown of many overseas Chinese. Its foreign visitors are mainly people reconnecting with family members or who want to visit after retirement. Children living apart from their parents in foreign countries are also among the visitors. Some family members live in villages far from the city center.