積分落戶 (jīfēn luòhù): Points system for household registration

The Beijing municipal government has issued the draft of a regulation that would allow migrants to claim permanent resident permits, or hukou, based on a points system. According to the draft, applicants should be under 45 years old, have a Beijing temporary residence permit and have paid social security premiums in Beijing for at least seven consecutive years.

This move is considered an important measure to control the population of Beijing in the coming years.

The points system means employment, accommodation, educational background, skill level, tax payments, and credit records, among other things, would be converted into points. Migrants would be able to change their household registration status after reaching a specified amount of points. Beijing will publish the specific number of points every year based on the population changes in the city.

In July 2014, the State Council, China's cabinet, decided to accelerate reform of the hukou system, which has divided the nation into rural and urban populations since the 1950s.

The circular it issued said megacities with more than five million residents should control the influx of new citizens and adopt a points system. Similar systems are already in place in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin. Beijing's permanent population exceeds 20 million, about two and half times that of London and New York.

The draft regulation, which is soliciting public opinion now, will be reviewed by central authorities before it comes into effect.