Beijing municipal authorities shortened by half the time needed to process passports for residents starting Monday as more and more Beijingers head abroad for either business or pleasure.

Residents can get passports within five workdays after they apply instead of the previous 10.

That is the quickest response time among cities throughout the country, according to the Beijing Entry-Exit Administrative Division under the Beijing Public Security Bureau.

Gao Huada, deputy chief of the division, said there were increasing public appeals for shortening the time span.

According to statistics, there are about 1.2 million citizens in Beijing who hold passports. They make up nearly 9 percent of the city's population.

Gao said there are up to 2,000 people who arrive at the centre daily, with peak period's climbing to 3,000.

Gao recalled that it used to take a couple of months to obtain a passport before the 1990s. The time span was slashed to 20 workdays in 1992 and then to 10 workdays last year.

In the past, very few people were allowed to ask for urgent service to get their passports within five work days. One had to pay an extra fee for the service, he added.

But now, everyone can enjoy the expedited service at a normal price, said Gao. And the special service for urgent acquisitions now makes passports available within just two or three work days.

He said Monday the city would adopt a long-awaited "green card" system by the end of this year to grant permanent residence permits to foreigners working in Beijing.

Under the new system, some foreigners living or working in Beijing will not have to apply for visas when leaving and entering the city, and the government will allow foreigners holding senior positions to apply for long-term residency permits.

Actually, over 45 foreigners in Beijing, including senior advisers, researchers and managers as well as professionals from foreign-funded companies, received the country's first batch of long-term residence permits and multi-entry visas last year. They are allowed three to five years' stay in China without need for an annual renewal.

Gao said the permits and visas only serve as a transition towards permanent residence permits.

According to sources with the Ministry of Public Security, regulations for permanent residency permits for foreigners have been mapped out and sent to the State Council for approval.

And the regulations would apply to high-level foreign professionals, big investors and foreigners seeking to reunite with their families.

Su Qiang, an official with the Beijing Entry-Exit Administrative Division, said Beijing was becoming more open to the outside world, and his bureau had taken several major measures to streamline the procedure for going abroad.

(China Daily June 8, 2004)