Serbian expert in the Yinchuan Carvar Heart Center receives the Foreigner's Work Permit on Nov 10. [photo/safea.gov.cn]

The Ningxia Hui autonomous region issued its first Work Permit for Foreigners to a Serbian expert in the Yinchuan Carvar Heart Center on November 10. The permit marks the beginning of a new era in management and service work for foreigners in Ningxia.

The receiver said that he honored to be the first foreigner to get a work permit in Ningxia under the new system.

In future the Ningxia Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs will encourage the introduction of more high-end foreign workers, control the number of those at an average-level, and limit the number of less qualified or low-level foreign workers.

The double-track work permit system, involving border entrance work permits and foreign experts work permits for foreigners employed in China, was streamlined into one system under reforms initiated by the State Council and implemented by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.

Trials of the integrated mechanism were officially launched in Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Anhui, Shandong, Guangdong, Sichuan and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on November 1. Based on the experience of those areas in matters such as how to distribute duties, streamline procedures and improve coordination among different departments, the system is expected to be expanded to other provinces and regions next year.