Expatriates who do not have a work permit cannot join the city's government-run pension scheme, a senior government official said yesterday.

"Expatriates, Hong Kongers, Taiwan residents and Macao people are eligible to receive a monthly pension or a one-time lump-sum payment in Shenzhen upon retirement after they have contributed to the pension scheme for 15 years or more," Yuan Jianyong, director of the city's social security fund management center, told a press conference on the city's new pension rules which became effective December 29.

However, the rules do not apply to those who work without a work permit, said Yuan. According to Chinese law, foreigners and residents of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao cannot work on the mainland without a work permit.

Yuan also said Hong Kongers who stay in Shenzhen but do not work here cannot join the pension scheme, either.

The pension scheme can give retirees at least 1,000 yuan (US$125) per month, according to current levels.

At present, most of the city's 120,000 pensioners are people with Shenzhen hukou, or permanent residence permits. They receive on average 2,200 yuan a month from the social security fund.

Only around 200 of the city's pensioners are without a Shenzhen hukou, as migrants, who make up the majority of Shenzhen's workforce, are still young and few of them work in Shenzhen for more than 15 years.

Yet with an increasing number of people settling down here, the government has been easing pension rules for migrants in recent years. It started to accept migrants into its pension scheme in 2002. The new rules made it even easier for the migrants to join the pension scheme by lifting a restriction that required migrants to contribute to the pension scheme for five consecutive years before retirement.

Some 3.2 million people without Shenzhen hukou are covered by Shenzhen's pension scheme, the highest proportion in the nation.

The new pension rules also include other major changes: No one can receive pensions from two cities simultaneously, hukou holders who have not contributed to the pension scheme for 15 years can make up the payments to receive the pension, and, the amount of basic pension depends on a person's number of years' contribution.

(Shenzhen Daily January 11, 2007)