Shanghai unveils 26-point action plan to make cross-border business easier

Shanghai’s municipal government has released a sweeping “integration of government services” action plan that officials say will make doing business in China’s financial capital almost as simple as buying online. The 26-point package, announced on 3 June, pulls together dozens of entry-related and administrative procedures that foreign executives previously had to chase across multiple departments.

City leaders described the move as part of a wider effort to turn Shanghai into "the first stop for global entrepreneurs" by cutting red tape for everything from store openings to intellectual-property filings.

For mobile talent, the headline change is a strengthened one-stop digital portal – International Services Shanghai – that lets users track visa status, work-permit renewals, housing registration and tax rebates in a single dashboard.

The city will expand its pilot electronic “port visa” programme, first tested in 2024, so that visiting engineers and investors can obtain a short-stay M visa on arrival at Pudong and Hongqiao airports by scanning a QR code instead of queuing at a counter.

Officials said the pilot cut average processing time from 45 minutes to under 10 minutes during the first quarter of 2026.



A new fast-track for regional commuters will also go live this summer. Qualified finance and shipping professionals who regularly shuttle between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao can now apply for a one-year “talent endorsement” that allows unlimited multiple entries and 30-day stays per trip – a benefit previously granted only to high-level research staff. The Exit-Entry Administration Corps confirmed that more than 700 such endorsements have already been pre-approved for issuance in the next three months.

Meanwhile, companies and individuals looking for hands-on assistance with these new visa channels can tap VisaHQ’s dedicated China team (https://www.visahq.com/china/). The platform consolidates Shanghai’s e-visa filings, talent endorsements and subsidy paperwork into one easy interface, guiding applicants through each digital step and providing real-time status tracking that dovetails neatly with the city’s revamped portal.

Behind the scenes, Shanghai has automated 826 fiscal-support policies so that eligible companies receive tax rebates or subsidies without filing applications.

This matters for global mobility because the rebates include relocation allowances for expatriate staff, VAT refunds on conference spending and pilot cash-back schemes for inbound exhibition cargo – incentives usually trapped in bureaucratic loops.

Xu Jie, finance director of Hydrogen Propulsion Technology, said the "automatic qualification" model saved his firm "weeks of paperwork and at least RMB 200,000 per project."

For multinationals, the immediate takeaway is practical: fewer touchpoints, digital rather than paper forms, and clearer eligibility for preferential visas. Longer term, Shanghai is signalling that city-level administrations can innovate on visa facilitation even while national entry rules remain unchanged – a precedent other Chinese hubs such as Shenzhen and Chengdu are expected to follow.