What happened in Nantong’s talent push
On 11 November 2026, the 24th China International Talent Exchange Conference opened in Shanghai. The event was jointly hosted by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, which includes the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. Nantong University ran a sub-forum on the same day under the theme of cross-disciplinary exchange in materials, electronics and biology.
Nantong used the platform to connect its foreign employers with international researchers. Key parks including Nantong High-tech Zone, Hai’an High-tech Zone and Haimen Economic and Technological Development Zone took part. So did foreign employers such as Nantong University, Zhongtian Technology and Sansheng Graphite. Together they organised more than 10 science and technology innovation foreign experts who have worked in Nantong for several years and received achievement honours. These experts met more than 30 international researchers from universities including the National University of Singapore, the University of Siena in Italy, the University of Pannonia in Hungary and Pohang University in South Korea. They used technical exchange, results displays and project pitches to discuss cooperation.
The head of the Nantong Science and Technology Bureau spoke at the Nantong University sub-forum and presented the city under five themes: connectivity, industrial strength, natural beauty, livability and openness to innovation. The message was that Nantong wants to keep foreign talent and make their working and living experience better. The notice also points to a follow-up event on 13 and 14 November 2026, when overseas academicians will visit Nantong for a frontier dialogue on cross-disciplinary research.
What this means for foreign professionals and HR teams
This notice is a matchmaking and cooperation story, not a new immigration rule. It does not change visa categories, work permit criteria or residence permit procedures. The notice does not mention any specific immigration policy or visa facilitation measure, and it does not describe conditions or an application method for the talent connections it reports.
For foreign professionals already in Nantong, the practical value is visibility. The notice shows that parks and employers are actively putting foreign experts in front of international research partners. If you are a researcher or technical specialist, these events are a way to meet potential collaborators and raise your profile with your employer and local authorities.
For HR teams, the notice is a signal about local priorities. Nantong is promoting its innovation platforms and its foreign expert studios. The city lists a set of platforms that support international work, and those platforms are the places where foreign hires are most likely to be based. The table below sets out the platform counts from the notice.
| Platform type | Count in Nantong |
|---|---|
| National-level international science and technology cooperation base | 1 |
| Provincial international cooperation parks | 2 |
| Provincial functional institutions of multinational companies | 5 |
| Provincial foreign-funded R&D centres | 11 |
| Provincial key laboratories | 16 |
| Provincial new R&D institutions under provincial listing | 26 |
| Provincial foreign expert studios | 27 |
These figures describe the local innovation base. They do not create entitlements. A foreign expert studio, for example, is a hosting and collaboration arrangement, not a permit category. HR teams should treat the list as a map of where foreign talent is concentrated and where local support is likely to be strongest.
Event participation versus immigration procedure
The notice mixes two different things: an event that connects people, and the legal process that lets a foreign national work in China. Keeping them apart avoids confusion. The comparison below shows the difference.
| Question | What the notice says | What it does not say |
|---|---|---|
| Is there a new visa or permit route? | No. The event is a talent exchange conference. | No new category, criteria or fast track is described. |
| Who was invited? | More than 10 foreign science and technology experts already working in Nantong, plus more than 30 international researchers. | No eligibility test for readers, and no application channel. |
| What is the benefit? | Technical exchange, results displays, project pitches and cooperation talks. | No promise of permits, funding or jobs. |
| What should HR do? | Watch park and bureau announcements for future events. | No instruction to change permit files or deadlines. |
A common mistake is to read an event like this as a policy signal that permits will be easier or faster. The notice gives no processing times, no deadlines and no requirements. It also gives no effective date for any rule, because no rule is being changed. The only dates in the notice are the event dates: 11 November 2026 for the conference and sub-forum, and 13 to 14 November 2026 for the follow-up visit.
For employers, the useful action is to keep your foreign hire records in order regardless of events. That means a current work permit, a matching residence permit, and a clear record of the role and qualifications. If your company is setting up or expanding in Nantong, the foreign capital and company setup page explains the employer-side steps that come before hiring foreign staff.
How OTGEO reads it
Our read is that nothing changes in the rulebook. The notice reports a talent exchange event and the platforms Nantong has built around foreign experts. The people who benefit are the foreign experts already working in the city and the employers who hosted them. Compared with a normal recruitment drive, the difference is that the city is using a national conference to put local foreign experts in front of international researchers, rather than simply advertising jobs. There is no old rule being replaced here, and no new one being introduced.
The common misreading is to treat a high-profile talent event as an immigration announcement. A foreign expert who attends a matchmaking session does not gain a new work right, and an employer who sends staff to the conference does not gain a faster permit process. The notice itself is careful: it describes exchange, displays and talks, and it does not mention visa facilitation. Read it as networking and local promotion, not as permission to work.
For HR teams, the practical output is a document pre-check list. Start with the work permit document review for each foreign employee, including the role description and qualifications. Keep a permit expiry reminder in your calendar and link it to a residence permit renewal reminder, because the two documents need to stay aligned. Store copies of the foreign expert studio or park cooperation documents if your hire is hosted through one of those platforms. None of this is required by the notice, but it is the work that keeps a foreign hire compliant while local events come and go.
On timing, there is no deadline in the notice to miss. The dates to note are the event dates in November 2026. If you want to take part in future editions, the earliest step is to ask your park administration or the local science and technology bureau how employers are invited. Do that well before the next conference season, because invitations are organised by parks and employers rather than by individual application.
Practical next steps for HR teams in Nantong
First, confirm where your foreign employees sit in the local platform map. If your site is in a high-tech zone, an economic development zone or a provincial cooperation park, ask the park administration whether it takes part in talent exchange events and how it selects employer delegates.
Second, keep your permit files separate from event files. Event invitations, agendas and cooperation notes are useful for profile building, but they are not permit evidence. Keep the work permit document review and the residence permit renewal on their own schedule.
Third, use the notice for what it is: a sign that Nantong is promoting itself to international researchers. If you are recruiting, the platform counts in the table above tell you where research capacity is concentrated. If you are already here, the foreign expert studios and cooperation bases are the natural places to look for collaboration.
For permit-side questions, the work permit and residence permit support page sets out the usual document categories. The notice gives no conditions or application method for the talent connections it reports, so any specific case still needs to be checked against the current national and local requirements.
What the notice does not cover
The notice does not set out eligibility criteria for foreign experts, application steps, processing times or fees. It does not say that any category of foreign professional will receive preferential treatment. It does not name any individual permit holder, and no personal details are published in it.
It also does not describe the outcome of the meetings. More than 30 international researchers and more than 10 local foreign experts took part, but the notice reports talks and pitches rather than signed agreements. HR teams should not treat participation as a guarantee of recruitment or cooperation results.
If you need the current document list checked, OTGEO can confirm it.