Expatriates who do not have a work permit cannot join the city's
government-run pension scheme, a senior government official said
yesterday.
"Expatriates, Hong Kongers, Taiwan residents and Macao people
are eligible to receive a monthly pension or a one-time lump-sum
payment in Shenzhen upon retirement after they have contributed to
the pension scheme for 15 years or more," Yuan Jianyong, director
of the city's social security fund management center, told a press
conference on the city's new pension rules which became effective
December 29.
However, the rules do not apply to those who work without a work
permit, said Yuan. According to Chinese law, foreigners and
residents of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao cannot work on the
mainland without a work permit.
Yuan also said Hong Kongers who stay in Shenzhen but do not work
here cannot join the pension scheme, either.
The pension scheme can give retirees at least 1,000 yuan
(US$125) per month, according to current levels.
At present, most of the city's 120,000 pensioners are people
with Shenzhen hukou, or permanent residence permits. They receive
on average 2,200 yuan a month from the social security fund.
Only around 200 of the city's pensioners are without a Shenzhen
hukou, as migrants, who make up the majority of Shenzhen's
workforce, are still young and few of them work in Shenzhen for
more than 15 years.
Yet with an increasing number of people settling down here, the
government has been easing pension rules for migrants in recent
years. It started to accept migrants into its pension scheme in
2002. The new rules made it even easier for the migrants to join
the pension scheme by lifting a restriction that required migrants
to contribute to the pension scheme for five consecutive years
before retirement.
Some 3.2 million people without Shenzhen hukou are covered by
Shenzhen's pension scheme, the highest proportion in the
nation.
The new pension rules also include other major changes: No one
can receive pensions from two cities simultaneously, hukou holders
who have not contributed to the pension scheme for 15 years can
make up the payments to receive the pension, and, the amount of
basic pension depends on a person's number of years'
contribution.
(Shenzhen Daily January 11, 2007)