A helping hand to cut the red tape
By Hu Min |
March 31, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
The Foreigners Service Center in the Hongqiao town has received a warm welcome from the expatriates since it went into operation in January.
The first service center of its kind in the city has already handled more than 1,200 temporary accommodation registrations from foreigners, processed about 100 residence permits related to employment visas and mediated 10 disputes.
The center has served people from Australia, North Korea, the United States, Germany, the Philippines and Canada, but the majority of those seeking help are South Korean.
Hongqiao town, administrated by the Minhang government, is home to 23,750 expatriates, according to January data, and just over half of them are South Korean, making the area the largest concentration of Korean expats in Shanghai.
Staff who work at the center speak several languages.
"I recommended the center to a friend who works in Minhang because I heard it was efficient and convenient," said Park Seung Ho, who works at the same building where the center is located.
The idea for setting up the service center originated from the Minhang branch director of the Exit-Entry Administration Office, which is under the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.
The director, whose surname is Wang but who declined to give her full name, said she visited the Korean Chamber of Commerce in Minhang and learned that a number of expatriates have had trouble applying for temporary accommodation registration or getting extensions on work-related residence permits.
They complained that they had to visit one place to pick up the forms and another place to file them, she said. Moreover, the Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau where they must apply is far away in the Pudong New Area.
Foreigners are required under law to register within 24 hours after they enter China. If they live in a hotel, the hotel normally will apply for their registration. However, failure to do the required paperwork can get an expatriate in a lot of trouble.
The Minhang Exit-Entry Administration Office negotiated with the Hongqiao town police and the Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau to establish the center, which started trial operations last October.
The Korean Chamber of Commerce helped the center design a bilingual handbook outlining the services available and giving other information pertinent to foreigners living in China.
Lu Minjie, who is in charge of the daily operations at the center, said the center is unlike other bureaucratic offices, where the atmosphere can be stifling. He said the idea was to make the center a pleasant place to visit. The center at present serves only foreigners living or working in Hongqiao town.
On the mediation front, the center has successfully resolved a financial dispute between a foreign man and his Chinese girlfriend after they broke up.
It has also held several informational events warning expatriates of the perils of drunk driving.
Lu said the center plans to launch new services, such as designating legal go-betweens related to apartment-leasing agencies and recommending them to expatriates.
That service is aimed at reducing the instances of foreigners getting cheated in a chaotic marketplace.
It will also host lectures to help foreigners familiarize themselves with China's rules related to health, trade, business and tax, particularly targeting people working in restaurants and other service industries.
"We hope to turn the center into a bigger platform involving not only the police department, but also other government departments to provide more comprehensive services to foreigners," Lu said. Similar foreigner service centers are expected to be opened in Minhang's Huacao area, where several international schools are located, and in the Zizhu area, which is home to multiple international companies, according to Lu.
The first service center of its kind in the city has already handled more than 1,200 temporary accommodation registrations from foreigners, processed about 100 residence permits related to employment visas and mediated 10 disputes.
The center has served people from Australia, North Korea, the United States, Germany, the Philippines and Canada, but the majority of those seeking help are South Korean.
Hongqiao town, administrated by the Minhang government, is home to 23,750 expatriates, according to January data, and just over half of them are South Korean, making the area the largest concentration of Korean expats in Shanghai.
Staff who work at the center speak several languages.
"I recommended the center to a friend who works in Minhang because I heard it was efficient and convenient," said Park Seung Ho, who works at the same building where the center is located.
The idea for setting up the service center originated from the Minhang branch director of the Exit-Entry Administration Office, which is under the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.
The director, whose surname is Wang but who declined to give her full name, said she visited the Korean Chamber of Commerce in Minhang and learned that a number of expatriates have had trouble applying for temporary accommodation registration or getting extensions on work-related residence permits.
They complained that they had to visit one place to pick up the forms and another place to file them, she said. Moreover, the Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau where they must apply is far away in the Pudong New Area.
Foreigners are required under law to register within 24 hours after they enter China. If they live in a hotel, the hotel normally will apply for their registration. However, failure to do the required paperwork can get an expatriate in a lot of trouble.
The Minhang Exit-Entry Administration Office negotiated with the Hongqiao town police and the Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau to establish the center, which started trial operations last October.
The Korean Chamber of Commerce helped the center design a bilingual handbook outlining the services available and giving other information pertinent to foreigners living in China.
Lu Minjie, who is in charge of the daily operations at the center, said the center is unlike other bureaucratic offices, where the atmosphere can be stifling. He said the idea was to make the center a pleasant place to visit. The center at present serves only foreigners living or working in Hongqiao town.
On the mediation front, the center has successfully resolved a financial dispute between a foreign man and his Chinese girlfriend after they broke up.
It has also held several informational events warning expatriates of the perils of drunk driving.
Lu said the center plans to launch new services, such as designating legal go-betweens related to apartment-leasing agencies and recommending them to expatriates.
That service is aimed at reducing the instances of foreigners getting cheated in a chaotic marketplace.
It will also host lectures to help foreigners familiarize themselves with China's rules related to health, trade, business and tax, particularly targeting people working in restaurants and other service industries.
"We hope to turn the center into a bigger platform involving not only the police department, but also other government departments to provide more comprehensive services to foreigners," Lu said. Similar foreigner service centers are expected to be opened in Minhang's Huacao area, where several international schools are located, and in the Zizhu area, which is home to multiple international companies, according to Lu.
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