Mid 2021, our expats business is still heavily under the influence of the pandemic. Some of our old clients who are currently aboard now find it extremely difficult to re-enter China. Some had plans to go back to home country for holidays and visits, yet being afraid of not able to come back in because of the visa issue. Therefore, it is understandable that there are more inquiries about how to obtain Permanent Residency in China. surely this China Green Card will make entering China much more convenient.2021几乎过半，我们的外事服务业务依然受到全球疫情的影响。一部分目前还在海外的客户发现回到中国的路异常艰辛。有一些在国内的客人想要回到自己的国家度假拜访2家人，但是却担心出境容易入境难。因此，也很容易理解为何有一些关于中国永久居留许可的申请问询。毕竟持有“中国绿卡”，入境中国将变得容易很多。

In this article, we will not be translating or exploring the long documents of state policies, rather let’s have a look how officers from Ningbo Immigration Office have to say about the application and some tips if you are thinking about get one in the future. As from what Reindeer Station learned over the years of experience in expat service, it is important that one prepare in advance for any documents that you need to get granted from the government.我们不打算在文中为你翻译和探讨关于中国永久居留许可的政策文件。另辟蹊径，我们来看一下宁波出入境的的办事老师如何解读办理条件，并给出一些可操作的意见，如果你有意向要在未来申请永居。从灵达商务多年来从事外事服务的经验看来，任何你需要政务部门为你开具办理的文书证件，都需要长远考虑早做打算。
If you are a high profile professional in a high profile institution, such as an extremely prestige university, or a major government project, with more than four years of residency in China and with three years of good tax record, it is viable. However, if you qualified this criteria, it would be very likely that your HR department would have designated specialist handling your file for the permanent residency as the state would be highly motivated to grant you the Permanent Residency. You don’t have to wonder if you are qualified or not.假如你是一个高级别的专业人士，就职于高级别的机构，比如极其优质的高等学府，或重要的政府项目，有着四年的居住以及三年的交税历史，就可以申请。但是话说回来，如果你符合上述条件，那么很有可能你所任职的人事部门会有专员为你处理永居申请，因为政府机构会非常有动力为你办理中国身份。你也无需担心自己是否符合资格。
This would lead to a mostly viable type, the income and tax. 因此，普通人最有可能成功的方案是通过收入和税务。

The Definition 定义

Foreigners who had been working in China for contentiously 4 years, each year with actual residency of more than 6 months, the salary annual income of more than 6 times of the last year average salary of the residency city, meanwhile, the annual income tax no lower than 20% of annual personal income.
外国人在中国连续工作四年，每年在中国实际居住时间超过6个月，工资性收入超过当地平均工资水平的6倍，同时个税缴纳比例占工资性收入20%以上。
If your salary is well above the six time of local average income (statics can be found in the website of Ningbo Municipal Statistics Bureau, year of 2019 the number is RMB76282). Based on that, we can easily calculate that your income in China should be RMB76282*6=457,692, the income tax paid should be higher than RMB 457,692*20%=91538.4.假如你的工资性收入超过了当地城乡居民平均月（数据可在宁波统计局网站上找到，2019年数据为RMB76282）收入6倍以上。基于此，我们可以很容计算出你的工资性收入需要达到RMB76282*6=457,692元，而个税缴纳需要达到457,692*20%=91538.4元。
Just looking at the income number, many expats can easily top that income and they asked Reindeer Station to help apply for the Permanent Residency with a simple reason, why not? 仅参考收入的数据，许多在华工作的外籍人士的收入都可以轻松突破，也有不少客人问询灵达商务帮助他们申请中国永居，理由很简单，为什么不呢？
The number of income and income tax should fulfill the requirement at the same time, either your income is high enough yet the tax payment does not fit the 20% above requirement. Simply because when you are paying income tax, your accountant, usually the HR of your employer would deliberately help avoiding income tax with many benefit and welfare paid in tax exemption criteria. For certain beneficial policy that qualified some of our perspective clients, they even enjoy tax free income in China for their first year of employment.然而，收入和个税比例的数据必须同时符合要求，很有可能你的收入达到标准，但是你的个税缴纳比例无法达到20%以上的标准。仅仅因为当你支付个税的时候，你的会计，一般是雇主公司的人事部门会主动帮你规避个人所得税，将一些收入划为员工福利补贴等可免税的部分。我们的一些客人甚至享受过一些优惠的税收政策，在几年前免去了他们的个人所得税。

When it comes to actual proof of the income, in the policy, it states ‘income certificate issued by the employer’, in actual process, the officer required bank statement. This leaves little next to no room for fabricating data as the bank statement should indicate clearly all income received from employer. As a fact that when it comes to stamped statement, there is big room for manipulation. Bank statement is a much more exact fact. However, the policy didn’t state how the percentage is calculated, would it be overall past four years of income, or the percentage of year by year.当涉及到为收入提供佐证材料的时候，政策文件中写的是“雇主提供的收入证明”，但是在实操过程中，办事老师要求提供工资银行流水。这种方式给数据调整几乎没有留下空间，因为工资卡上的每一笔工资性收入都会由雇主通过银行卡转账留下痕迹。事实上，当提供盖章材料的时候，是有很大的可操作空间的。银行流水作为证明材料，更能保证数据贴近现实。但是，值得关注的是，政策性文件中没有说明这个税务的比例是如何计算的，是整个四年的全部个税缴纳金额除以总收入，还是按每一年的数据单独核算。For income tax, it can only be issued by tax bureau, avoiding any way of data fabrication.
至于个人所得税的完税证明，只能去税务机构开具，这无法作假。
During our conversation with immigration officer, she was kind enough to remind us that the income tax certificate is a fixed proof, you can’t just go to the tax bureau and request to pay more tax in order to fulfill the 20% quota. Logically the tax bureau would be happy someone is voluntarily paying more tax, yet the immigration office will not justify the extra amount.在我们与出入境办事老师交流的过程中，老师很友好的告知我们，税务部门开具的完税证明是唯一的凭证，他们不认可为了办理永居而向税务部门要去补缴个税来满足20%的条件这是行为。理论上税务部门是会欢迎愿意多缴个税的行为的，但是出入境不会认可任何补缴的数额。
Therefore, the logic behind is straightforward, you have to be a very good tax payer to show your  determination to be a Chinese citizen. Because without years of carefully planning and calculation, it can be extremely difficult.因此，这背后的逻辑清晰可见，你需要成为一名优秀的纳税人来展示你获得中国永久居留许可的决心。因为没有长久以来的规划和计算，这会是异常困难的。
Therefore, when considering getting a China Green Card when connection and recognition from high profile organization is not viable, you should always think ahead and make plans about how you want to file income tax.综上所述，在无法获得高级别认可的情况下考虑申请中国绿卡时，请务必早做打算并考虑好将如何缴纳个税。