People’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and cities directly under the jurisdiction of central government, and all State Council ministries and commissions and directly managed agencies:
This Opinion is put forward so as to deepen the implementation of the Party's 18th Congress and its third plenary session, and the Central Committees meeting on urbanization work's requirements for reforming the household registration system; and to promote the orderly transition of long-term residents who can have stable employment and lives into urban residents, and steadily advancing basic urban public services to cover long term populations.
I. General Requirements
1. Guiding Concepts: Guided by Deng Xiaoping theory, the important thinking of the 'three represents' and the scientific outlook on development; appropriately promote the requirements of the new form of urbanization, further promoting reform of the household registration system, and carrying out relaxation of household registry relocation policies. Promoting the coordinated progress of industrialization, informationalization, urbanization and the modernization of agriculture; Promoting the coordinated development of large, middle and small cities and small townships, and the joint development of industry and urban areas. Coordinate household registration system reform and related economic and social reforms, reasonably guiding the orderly migration of rural populations to urban areas, and promoting the orderly transition of rural populations into urban residents.
2 Basic Principles:
* Persist in being pro-active yet prudent, standardized and orderly. Proceed actively yet prudently based on the basic national conditions, giving priority to working out volume capacity by bringing about orderly increases and , reasonably guiding the expectations and choices of the rural populations transitioning to settle in the towns and cities.
* Persist in being people-oriented and respecting the public's wishes. Respect the wishes of urban and rural residents for autonomy in determining their residency, safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of migrant rural populations and other long-term resident populations, and compulsory resettlement methods must not be employed.
* Persist in adjusting measures to local conditions and differential treatment. Fully consider the developmental level of local economic society, cities' overall load-bearing capacity and ability to provide basic public services, to carry out differentiated settlement policies.
* Persist in comprehensive planning of accompanying [rules and policies], providing basic safeguards. Plan for the promotion of household registration system reforms and equalization of basic public services by continuously expanding the coverage of basic public services in cities and towns such as educational, professional, medical, elder-care and housing-security services.
3. Development goals: Make further adjustments to household registration relocation policies, unify the registration system for urban and rural household registries, and comprehensively implement a residence permit system. Accelerate the construction and publicly sharing of a national population database. Steadily promote advancement in the coverage of basic public services for all permanent residences, such as compulsory education, occupational services, basic elderly care, basic medical services, and housing security.By the year 2020, establish the basis of a new type of household registration system that is people-oriented, rational, efficient, standardized, and orderly, that is built comprehensively to adapt to a moderately prosperous society, effectively supports social management and public services, and protects civil rights in accordance with the law. Strive to have about 100 million migrating rural populations to and other permanent residents settle in urban areas.
II. Further adjust household registration and migrantion policies
4. Fully release restrictions on settlement in small towns and small cities:Persons with with lawful fixed domiciles (including leases) in townships under county level municipal district or county people's governments, or in other townships, as well as their spouses, minor children parents or other such persons living with them, may apply to register for a long-term household registration for that area.
5. Methodically release restrictions on settling in medium sized cities:Persons in cities with a population of 500,000 to 1 million who have legitimate and stable occupations and legitimate and stable housing (including leased housing), and who at the same time follow have reached the year limit for participation in urban social insurance, as well as their spouses, minor children, parents and others, may apply to register for long-term household registration in that area, In areas where the pressure on the overall load-bearing capacity of cities is low, the standards for towns and small cities may be referenced in completely releasing settlement restrictions; In areas where the pressure on the overall load-bearing capacity of cities is high, specific provisions may be made in regards to the scope of stable occupation, the years requirement and the scope of lawful residence (including leases) requirements, but specific requirements for stable law residences must not be established in terms of square footage, value etc. and the requirement of years for participating in urban social security must not exceed 3 years.
6. Rationally determine the requirements for settling in a large cities:A person and their spouse, minor children, and parents with whom they reside can apply for permanent residence in a city with a metropolitan population of between 1-3 million if they have had legitimate and stable employment of a specified number of years in that locale, as well as legitimate and stable residence (including leased housing), and if they have also participated in urban social insurance in accordance with the state regulations for a specified number of years. More stringent regulations can be made regarding, e.g., the scope and time frame of legitimate and stable employment and the conditions and scope of the legitimate and stable housing (including leased housing) for cities with metropolitan populations of between 3-5 million in order to appropriately control the scale and pace of settlement; these can also be integrated with local practices to establish a score-based system for settlement. The urban social insurance participation requirement for large cities must not exceed5year.
7. Exercise strict control over the population of megacities:Improve the settlement policies in force for cities with populations of 5 million or more, establishing an improved, score-based settlement system. On the basis of the overall load-bearing capacity and the needs of economic and social development, establish score values with primary indices such as possessing a lawful and stable occupation, lawful and stable residence (including leases), the year requirement for participating in urban social insurance and the year requirements for continuous residence. Following the principles of volume control, transparency, organization, and fairness; migrant populations that have achieved the provided score may apply to register for household registration in that area, as may their spouses, minor children, parents and others living with them.
8. Effectively resolve major issues in household residence relocation: Earnestly carry out the priority resolution of capacity requirements, with an emphasis on resolving settlement problems of persons who have been in a city for a long time, have strong occupational skills, and can adapt to urban industrial shifts and upgrades and market competition environments. Continuously increase the rate at which college graduates, skilled workers, graduates of vocational schools, returned overseas students and other long-term residents settle in urban areas.
III. Make innovations in population management
9. Establish a unified urban-rural household registration system: Eliminate the distinction between rural and non-rural household registration and any registration categories derived from such distinction, such as 'blue stamp' household registration, and unify them as residents' household registration, so as to realize the household registration system's functions in managing population registry. Establish and unify the rural-urban household registration system to adapt to education, health, family planning, employment, social security, housing, land, and demographic systems.
10. Establish a residence permit system: Citizens who leave the location of their household registration for another community at the city level or above and reside in that location for a half year or more, can apply for a residence permit in that location. Eligible residence permit holders can apply to register for permanent residence in the location of their residence. Establish sound mechanisms for the provision of public services tied to year requirements for residency, with the residence permit as the medium. Holders of temporary residence permits shall enjoy equal rights to those with local household registration, including employment, basic public education, basic medical services, family planning services, public cultural services, and license processing services. Holders of temporary residence permits who have the required period of continuous residency and have participated in social insurance for the required period shall gradually enjoy equal rights as those with local household registration, including assistance for secondary vocational education, employment support, housing security, pension services, social welfare, and social assistance. Additionally, if their children who accompanied them in relocating reside in that locale continuously for the required period, they shall gradually qualify to participate in the high school or university entrance examinations in that locale. All localities should actively create conditions, for continuously expanding the range of public services provided to holders of residence permits. In accordance with the principle of corresponding rights and responsibilities, the residence permit holder shall performing national and local civic obligations such as military service and participation in the militia.
11. Improve population information management systems: Establish sound and practical systems for residence registration systems, strengthening and improving population census, so as to comprehensively and accurately understand the population size, composition, geographic distribution and other circumstances. Create and improve the national population information database for the entire country's population using citizen identification numbers as a unique identifiers and basic information as reference. The database would be classified into intact information systems such as employment, education, income, social insurance, housing, credit, health, family planning, taxation, marriage, and ethnicity. It would progressively achieve cross-sectoral and regional sharing and integration of information across departments and regions to provide information support for the formulation of policies and strategies on population development and sustain population services and management.
IV. Guarantee the lawful rights and interests of rural populations migrating to urban areas and other permanent residents
12. Improve the rural property rights system: The rights to land contractual management and easement are usufructuary rights bestowed upon rural residents by the law, and the right to collective income distribution is a lawful property right which should be enjoyed by rural residents as members of collective economic organizations. Accelerate rural land ownership verification, registration, and certification to ensure rural residents' rights to land contractual management and easement in accordance with the law. Promote reform in the property rights system for rural collective economic organizations and explore the qualification methodology for members of rural collective economic organizations as well as effective forms of collective economies, to safeguard the collective property and income distribution rights of such organizations' members. Establish a transfer market for rural property rights and promote open, impartial, and standardized transfer of rural property rights. Guide rural populations migrating to urban areas in orderly transferring of land contractual management rights, adhering to the principles of compensation, voluntariness, and being in accordance with the law. Whether rural residents resettling in urban areas should be compensated for renouncing their Three Rights should be in accordance with the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the CPC, and a pilot program which respects the will of rural residents should be developed. In the present stage, it shall not be a precondition for resettlement in urban areas that rural residents renounce their rights to land contractual management, easement, and collective income distribution.
13. Expand coverage for basic public services: Ensure that the children accompanying rural migrants and other long-term residents enjoy equal rights to education; bring the education of accompanying children within the scope of every level of government's education development plans and financial guarantees; gradually improve and implement policies for accompanying children to receive free secondary vocational education and universal preschool as well as implementing methods for accompanying children accompanying to partake in testing for the next level of schooling after receiving compulsory education. Improve the employment and unemployment registry management system, comprehensively providing government-subsidized vocational and technical training services for the rural migrant population, to increase the strength of support initiatives promoting employment of rural migrant labor. Include rural migrant workers and other long-term residents in the community health and family planning services, to provide them basic health services. Bring rural residents who have completely resettled in urban areas completely within the city's social security system, bring the village senior citizen insurance and medical insurance in which they participated into the urban social insurance system, improve and implement methods for continuing medical insurance follows relocation and for settling medical bills from other areas, integrate the urban-rural basic resident medical insurance systems and hasten the implementation of a unified urban-rural medical assistance system. Improve the overall pool, and realize a basic, national, unified senior citizen pension plan, hastening the implementation of a unified urban-rural residents' basic senior citizen insurance system, implement a policy by which a city worker's related senior citizen insurance follows them. Hasten the establishment of a social eldercare service system that covers urban and rural areas, to promote the equalization of basic eldercare services. Improve the minimum assurances system as the core of a social aid system and bring about overall development of an urban-rural aid system. Bring those rural residents who have resettled in urban areas completely within the city's housing guarantees system, adopting multiple ways to guarantee the rural migrant population's housing needs.
14. Strengthen safeguards in place for funding of basic public services: Establish mechanisms for financial transfer payments which are linked to the urbanization of rural populations migrating to urban areas. Improve the promotion of equalized public finance system for basic public services, gradually sorting out the powers and relationships, and building a system adapting powers and duties of expenditure, where the division of power between the central and local authorities corresponds to commitment and shared responsibility for expenditures. Make further reforms to the tax system and improve local tax systems. Improve transfer payment system, step up efforts to balance finances, and protect financial resources in place for local governments to provide basic public services.
V. Truly Strengthen Organizational Leadership
15. Promptly implement policy measures: Further reform of the household registration system, is a major initiating affecting hundreds of millions of migrant persons. Every region and every relevant department should fully understand the major significance of reforming the household registration system, firmly grasping the objective patterns of urbanization, further unifying thinking, strengthening leadership, making careful deployment, rising to the occasion, and following the new requirements for taking a path to urbanization with Chinese characteristics and fully increase the quality of urbanization, truly implementing all policy measures for household registration reform, and preventing campaign style advancement born of eagerness for success. People's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and directly controlled municipalities should, on the basis of this Opinion, comprehensive considerations and adjustments made on the basis of local conditions, put forward workable household registration system reform measures and release them to the public, strengthening social oversight. The Ministry of Public Security, Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural Construction, Ministry of Agriculture, Health and Family Planning Commission, the Legislative Affairs Office and other departments should follow their division of functions, to carefully draft accompanying policies in areas such as education, employment, medicine, elder-care and housing guarantees, to improve regulations and implement financial safeguards. The Ministry of Public Security and the National Development and Reform Commission, and also the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, should collaborate with the relevant departments to increase follow up assessments, supervision and guidance of all areas' implementation of household registration system reform efforts. The Ministry of Public Security and the local public security organs should strengthen the management of household registration and resident identity cards, sternly enforce law and discipline, and do the basic work of reforming the household registration system.
16. Be proactive in publicity and guidance: Fully explain the important significance of adapting to a new model of urbanization and development with Chinese characteristics and further promoting reform of the household registration system; accurately explaining policies for household registration system reform and relevant accompanying measures. Forcefully publicize good experiences and methods from all areas in areas such as having rural populations and other long-term residents migrate and settle in urban areas, ensuring lawful rights and interests, and providing basic services. Reasonably guide societal expectations, respond to the public's concerns, bring together a consensus, form a joint force for reforms, and construct a positive social environment for advancing reforms of the household registration system.
State Council
7/24/2014
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