For maintenance of  legitimate rights and interests of foreign employees in China who participate in social insurance and enjoy social insurance treatment, and for  strengthening of social insurance management, Ministry Of Human Resources and Social Security of the People's Republic of China created Interim Measures for participating in the social insurance of the employment of foreigners in China based on the Social Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China. It was adopted at the No.67^th Ministerial Council of the Ministry Of Human Resources and Social Security and approved by the State Council. It has now been passed and will enter into force on October 15^th, 2011.

Article 1  In order to maintain legitimate rights and interests for the foreign employees who participate in social insurance and enjoy social insurance treatment in China, and to strengthen the management of social insurance. The measures are made in accordance with Social Insurance Law of People's Republic of China (herein after referred to as the Social Insurance Law).

Article 2  The foreign employees in China, applies to people who have obtained the Alien Employment Permit, foreign experts certificate, certificate of resident for foreign correspondents or other employment certificate and residence documents, as well as to non-Chinese nationality personnel lawfully employed in China and holding foreigners permanent residence permit.

Article 3 The foreigners lawfully employed by enterprises, institutions, social organizations, private non-business units, foundations, law firms, accounting firms and other organizations (hereinafter referred to as the ‘employment unit’) lawfully registered in China, shall participate in the basic pension insurance scheme, basic employment medical insurance scheme, working relative injury insurance scheme, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance scheme. All of these social insurance premiums should be paid by the employment unit and the foreigners themselves according to the relevant provisions

The foreigner who  works in the registered branches, representative offices (herein referred as domestic employment unit) after he or she has signed a contract of employment with the overseas employment unit should participate in the basic pension insurance scheme, basic employment medical insurance scheme , working relative injury insurance scheme, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance scheme. All of these social insurance premiums should be paid by the domestic employment unit and the foreigners themselves according to the relevant provisions

Article 4  The employment unit shall register social insurance within 30 days from the date of the effective of the employment permission. .

Foreigners who work  domestically employed by the overseas employers shall be registered in accordance with the above provisions by the employment unit.

The institutions dealing with the working permission shall timely provide the relevant information about the foreigners employment to the local social insurance agencies. And the local social insurance agencies shall regularly consultant the relevant institutions for the situation of handling the foreigners employment certificates.

Article 5  Foreigners participating in the social insurance, who comply with the conditions, lawfully enjoy social insurance treatment.

When the required pension age is reached before departure of China, the social insurance individual account shall be retained. If a Foreigner resumes employment within China the term should be calculated with the accumulative years. If the foreigner himself or herself applys to terminates the social insurance relation in writing, the sum accumulated in social insurance individual account can also be  released to him or her.

Article 6  In case of Foreigner’s death, the remaining sum in his or her social insurance individual account could be inherited according to the law.

Article 7  The foreigner who enjoys monthly social insurance treatment overseas should at least annually provide to the social insurance agency who responsible for the payment with his or her survival proof issued by Chinese embassies, consulates , or the survival proof should be notarized and authenticated by Chinese embassies and consulates in the resident country.

The foreigner legally being immigrated can provide his or her survival proof to the social insurance agencies, and can no longer provides the survival proof stipulated by above clause..

Article 8  If the foreigner who lawfully participates in the social insurance scheme has dispute with his or her local employment unit or domestic employment unit, he or she may apply for mediation, arbitration and litigation according to relevant laws and regulations. If the employment unit or the domestic employment unit infringes Foreigner’s social insurance rights and interests, he or she can also apply to the social insurance administration office or a social insurance agency  to deal according to laws and regulations.

Article 9  The personnel who with the nationality of the country who signed bilateral or multilateral social insurance agreements with China, the social security measures should be handled in accordance with the agreement.

Article 10  Social insurance agencies shall, according to the Number Coding Rules for the Foreigner Social Security, set up a Social Security Number and issue a  People's Republic of China Social Security Card to the Foreigner Employee,  

Article 11  Social insurance administrative department shall, in accordance with the Social Insurance Law, supervise and inspect the situation of the foreigners’ participation of the social insurance scheme. If the local employment unit or the domestic employment unit fails to register social insurance or pay social insurance premium for the employed foreigners, the matter should be settled according to the Social Insurance Law, Labor Security and Supervision Regulations and other laws, administrative regulations and other relevant rules and regulations.

If the employment unit employ the foreigners who fails to obtain the working permission,or the foreigners do not hold the Foreigners Permanent Residence Permit, then the matter should be settled in accordance with the regulations of employment of foreigners in China.

Article 12  The Measures shall be implemented on October 15th, 2011.

Attachment: Social Security Number System rules for Foreigners

Social Security Number System rules for Foreigners

The social security number for foreigners participating in social insurance scheme in China consists of the country or region code and effective certificate number. A passport or foreigners’ permanent residence permit may  constitute effective certificate number. The region code of his or her country effective certificate number is reserved between A. The  applicable format is provided below:

XXX                   X          XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(the country or region code )(reserved bits) (effective certificate number )

1. The country or region code is expressed as the 3 English letters that form the first part of the country name according to the" ISO 3166-1-2006" name code of the country and region code(i.e German is DEU, Denmark is DNK) When upgrade the international standards, Ministry Of Human Resources and Social Security of the People's Republic of China will uniform the code upgrade time.???

The country or region code of foreigners who obtain permanent residence certificate and the first to the third number of the country or region code of the Foreigners Permanent Residence permit is the same (also  three).

2. The reserved bit is one, in the state of being acquiescent is 0 while it can be filled in with the numbers 1 to 9 in special situations.

3. The preparation of the foreign passport number should contain all the English letters and Arabic numerals, while not including“.”、“-” and other special characters. The number consists of fourth to the fifteenth number of the Foreigners Permanent Residence Permit,

(1) As an example a German worker working in an employment unit whose Passport No is G01234 – 56 and social security number is DEU0G0123456

(the country or region code )( reserved bits ) (effective Passport No)

DEU          0              G0123456

(2) A Danish worker working in an employment unit whose Foreigners Permanent Residence Permit No is G01234– 56 as an and  social security number is DNK0324578912056.

(country or region code)  (reserved bits) (Foreigners Permanent Residence Permit No)

DNK         0                324578912056

4. The database reserves 18 bits length (in which the passport number up to a maximum of 14 bits) for foreigners’ social security number. In case of a smaller amount of numbers, additional numbers do not need to be provided.5. The foreigners’social security number exclusive and permanent in China. When the certificate number is changed, the social insurance agencies should record the certificate type and the change of the certificate number according to the firstly registered social security number as the only identification.