Beijing: China plans to permit about 100 million people without urban ID records to settle in towns and cities by 2020 in an effort to reform its dreaded household registration system which barred citizens from settling in places of their choice.
The Chinese government issued a circular aimed at accelerating reform of the nation's household registration, or "hukou," system which stipulated that people should settle only in their native places not places of their choice.
The document said the government will remove the limits on hukou registration in townships and small cities, relax restrictions in medium-sized cities, and set qualifications for registration in big cities.
The hukou system is widely criticised as it prevented millions of migrant labour to bring their families to cities where they worked causing widespread social problems for their families, specially children.
The rights and benefits of residents who do not have urban ID records in the city where they live should be safeguarded, the document added.
Vice public security minister Huang Ming told media here today differentiated approaches will be applied in the hukou system, based on the size and population of a city.
The authorities will set no limits for those who want to settle in small cities and towns.
"Anyone who has a legal residence can register for permanent residence, even temporary tenants," Huang was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.
Medium-sized cities with a population between one million and three million will have a low threshold, while megacities with more than five million residents will try to strictly control the influx of new citizens.
People wishing to settle in megacities like Beijing and Shanghai will have to qualify through a "points system" based on their seniority in employment, their accommodation and social security, Huang said.
Megacities "face a lot of population pressure, with an annual floating population of hundreds of thousands," he said.
