People who have lived for seven years cumulatively in Shanghai, China's leading economic hub, could have a chance to get permanent residence, under a regulation posted Monday on the municipal government website.

Applicants for resident status should also have participated in the social security system for seven years and paid taxes in Shanghai.

Other conditions include holding middle-level professional certificates and abiding by the country's "one-child" policy.

Under the regulation, the city will impose an unspecified quota on new permanent residents.

Only about 3,000 people are believed to have reached the required number of years of residence, and the number of those meeting all the qualifications would be even lower.

Shanghai mayor Han Zheng said Saturday in response to an online query that the city, with a population of 19 million, has 13 million permanent residents.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2009)