On March 1st, Yichang free trade zone has, firstlyin China, introduced the policy that foreigners can apply for visas without passports kept in the country, aiming to effectively solve the inconveniences in work and life caused by long time of keeping passports during the period when foreigners apply for visa certificates.

　　Before the implementation of the new measures, according to the laws and regulations, when foreigners apply for visa certificates, the public security organization will accept the admission receipts to those who meet the accepted conditions, keep their passports and decide whether to issue thosevisas or not in 7 or 15 different workdays. During the 7 or 15 workdays of applying for visa certificates, a foreigner has no passport in his hand and only owns the application receipt.

　　The new policy imposed “applying for visas with no passports kept” for foreign high-level talents, management personnel, technical personnel, foreign employees and accompanying dependents who work in Yichang free trade zone. In other words, when a foreigner applies for a visa, the public security organization will no longer keep his passport, which will greatly facilitate the applicant’s work and life.

　　According to reports, the public security organization will further optimize the visa services for foreigners, better serve the economic development and talent plan of Yichang free trade zone, and truly implement the visa convenience to the "last kilometer", so as to attract more high-level talents and entrepreneurial innovation personnel at home and abroad to gather in Yichang, thus providing a strong momentum for the construction and innovation-driven development of free trade zone.(Reporter: Gao Wei; Correspondent: Li Zufen, Zhou Tingting)