AS a countermeasure to the new "US-visitor programme" that requires the fingerprinting of visa applicants, as announced on January 5 and first put into effect in China on March 22, the Chinese government started its own visa policy for US visitors on April 1(see the story "Visa retaliation" in April 8 issue).

The new Chinese policy has three basic aspects: US citizens with diplomatic or service passports have to apply and pay fees for common visas when planning private visits to China; the Chinese Embassy in the US holds interviews with some US citizens before issuing visas; and US citizens visiting China are not allowed to apply for port visas on arrival but must instead complete the visa application process before leaving the US.

Several Americans who were unfamiliar with the new policy had been prevented from entering China at customs immediately after the policy was implemented.

The US move had been strongly opposed by the Chinese Government as an intrusion into privacy and a discriminatory act.

Visa applicants from Brazil and some Asian countries were among the first to be asked to go through the procedure, and this was considered to be in contradiction to the US claim to a "global" requirement for US-visa applicants.

In a US policy shift, the 28 countries that had originally been given visa-waiver privileges, including Australia, Japan, Britain and most of the European Union countries, were also required to submit to the tougher procedure from April 2, excepting only Canada.

A local resident, surnamed Shen, who failed to be issued a visa to visit the US recently, said the fingerprinting policy showed disrespect to visa applicants. "Applicants were asked to provide their fingerprints through a small scanner before the interviews started, so that even the fingerprints of those who failed to obtain visas were collected," she said.

Hu Jian, an expert from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said the new US procedure for non-immigrant visa applications was understandable as a move to fight against terrorism. However, he also noted that the US had arrogantly introduced the new procedure as an international practice without any support from international law. In contrast to the tough stand Brazil has taken, requiring fingerprints from US visitors, China responded in a "milder" way.

On a related topic, China has started to hand out "green card" permanent residence permits to foreigners, in accordance with a new regulation which took effect August 15 (see story "Easy come, easy go" in August 26 issue).

Previously, China had two administrative approaches to long-term residents: "settling down" cards mainly for returning overseas Chinese and "permanent residence" cards for foreigners who had made a contribution to the country.

The new "green cards" basically combined the two approaches, with 10-year permanent residence permits being issued to "high-level" foreigners who bring in important investment or business skills, exempting them from rules that require them to renew visas annually.

By December 10, the Entry-Exit Administration of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau had received more than 1,600 visitors either inquiring about or applying for the green cards. Its application hotline had received 7,000 inquiries.

Among those applying in Shanghai, 79 have been determined to meet the standard required for Chinese permanent residence, of whom 28 already had permanent residence permits before the new regulation was introduced. The remainder are waiting for approval from the Ministry of Public Security.

A source with the administration in Shanghai said the remaining 51 qualified applicants would probably receive approval by the end of this year.

At present, Shanghai receives more than 2 million expatriates on temporary visits every year. The official number of expats residing for long periods in the city is over 60,000. Lu Chang