The residence routes we hold for China, each requirement as its rule states it, and what a month costs in its cities. This page assesses no one.
This page describes the destination for nobody in particular. Answer a few questions and each requirement is set against your own answers, with a monthly budget for your household. Your answers stay in the address bar of your browser; nothing is stored.
Vast market and world-class infrastructure in Shanghai.
Manufacturing and supply-chain depth unmatched elsewhere.
Modern, efficient city life; good public transport.
Low everyday costs outside housing.
Deep pool of skilled labour.
Cons
Residence is employer-tied; no realistic route for a non-employed business buyer.
Political and regulatory risk; data, capital and exit controls.
Mandarin required; internet restrictions.
Air quality and dense urban living.
Geopolitical tension with the EU affects business and personal risk.
Emigrator’s assessment, 6 October 2026. Where a point names a figure, the sourced data above governs.
Routes we hold for China
What each rule states, as we encoded it from the source. A money threshold that grows with the size of the household is shown for the reference household named under the costs.
Work-type residence permit (employer-filed)
Draft — not checked by us yet
We built these rules from the country’s own sources and have not finished checking them line by line.
Never checked · limit 45 days
Requirement
Rule says
Type
A Chinese employer who will file for you
Must be Yes
Mandatory
What the authority states and we cannot test
Quoted in the authority’s own words rather than summarised. No rule of ours tests these.
a work permit issued by the local human resources and social security authority
Stated by National Immigration Administration of the People's Republic of China — Application for a Foreigner's Residence Permit
A month here, for a reference household
Reference household: two adults aged 38 and 37, a one-bedroom home, no children.
Residence fees and health cover are those of Work-type residence permit (employer-filed). The low, middle and high figures are the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles where a publisher states them; each line says who published it.
illustrative Money figures on this page are illustrative unless the figure names its publisher. The illustrative ones are arranged so the shape is right — a larger flat costs more than a smaller one, and the expensive cities are the expensive ones — and they are accurate in nothing. Do not plan on them.
City
P25
P50
P75
ShanghaiThis total does not include Building or service charge, Statutory levies and licences, Residence permit renewals and Domestic help, which nobody publishes for this city. It is the sum of what we hold, not of what the household will pay.
Each cell: average daily high, monthly mean, average daily low, in °C. These are averages of daily values over 2001–2020, not records — the hottest day is higher and is not shown.
How this country is governed
World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators, 2024, on a 0–100 scale the Bank publishes itself. They describe the country, not any city in it.
Political stability and absence of violence
63the World Bank governance score for political stability
Rule of law
47the World Bank governance score for rule of law
Control of corruption
50the World Bank governance score for control of corruption
Rule set 1.58.0-2026-10-11 · read on 26 October 2026. Every figure on this page was computed by the engine from versioned rule files. No language model produced any number here, and translation happens only after the calculation.
