Talent outflow
China has sent out about 1.92 million overseas students and scholars since 1978, among which only 600,000, or less than one-third, have returned to the country, according to the Wang Huiyao, founding director of the Center for China and Globalization and the vice chairman of the China Western Returned Scholars Association.
The country became the largest international student exporter to the US in 2010 with 140,000 Chinese students leaving for the US to study. The US Census Bureau estimated that the number of Chinese in the country has surpassed four million, among which 530,000 hold US permanent resident cards, or green cards, but about 3.5 million have acquired US citizenship.
China's Tsinghua University and Peking University are two top universities that export doctoral students to the US and most talents stay there after graduation said Science, a US magazine.
In addition to the US, other "nations of immigrants," such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, counted China as their largest talent exporting county. The estimated statistics from Citizenship and Immigration Canada showed that there were about one million Chinese living in the county last year.
Compared with the huge number of talents exported, the amount of "backflow" was limited. At the end of 2009, only 220,000 foreigners having work visas or permits lived in the county. The international population only accounted for 0.5% in China's first tier cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, which was much lower than that in New York, London, and Paris, where the number reached 20-30%, according to the Times Weekly.
"I applied for US citizenship as I would not be allowed to enter high-end laboratories in the US without it," said Huang Ying (alias), a post doctoral student. "But once I lost Chinese citizenship, it became so complicated to go home. It's ridiculous to spend so much time and money just to apply for a visa!"
Huang's remarks are also commonly expressed by many immigrant talents who left to learn high-end technology and science, but when they hoped to return home, the way was blocked. The law says they are not "Chinese" any more.
Ways to attract talents back
The talent outflow caused by the citizenship issue has been noticed by the authorities and think tank experts.
Wang Xiaochu, vice minister of human resources and social security, said in June at a summit in Dalian, Liaoning Province that China is studying the feasibility of offering dual citizenship to some senior overseas Chinese professionals to lure them to return to the country.
"Dual nationality is a sensitive and complicated issue," said Wang Xiaochu. "But as far as I know, relevant government departments are seriously studying it."
However, experts believe that for China to recognize dual citizenship there is still a long way to go. The Chinese Nationality Law has a special historical background. After the liberation of China in 1949, many doubts and troubles emerged in some countries (especially those in Southeast Asia) about the large amount of overseas Chinese with dual nationalities. It was a misunderstanding but did harm to the ties between China and some countries, an expert told the Times Weekly.
"If China recognizes dual citizenship, it may again stir the suspicions of Southeast Asian countries, which will harm Chinese immigrants' lives and development in those countries," Dai Ruijun, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.
Leaving aside the long-term discussion on citizenship, Wang Xiaochu said that the priority now is to perfect the existing permanent residence system to make it easier for overseas Chinese to come back and work in the country.
China's current permanent residence system, which began in August 2004, has nearly been laid aside because of its high-thresholds – it requires a lump-sum investment of up to $2 million. On the other hand, the work permit, which can free overseas Chinese from visas for several years, also was not used very much because of its frivolous procedures.
"It would be more practical to urge the government to loosen the requirements on green cards," said Wang Yaohui.
"The country will continue to improve the Chinese green card, or permanent residence system, to attract overseas Chinese to work on China's mainland," Wang Xiaochu added.
