Foreigners take fast track to permanent status in Shanghai

Shanghai has granted around 500 permanent resident cards to foreigners in the two months following the country's April adoption of a streamlined application procedure. That's nearly 30 percent of the country's total, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau said on Tuesday.

During the same period, another 270 foreigners applied for permanent status, the bureau's department for exit and entry administration said in a news release.

Among those who have received cards for permanent residency are high-caliber personnel and their families - for example, Nobel chemistry laureate Kurt Wuthrich; 15 postdoctoral university advisers or directors of national-level laboratories; and seven people recruited in China's Thousand Talent program, which seeks experts worldwide.