Beijing has so far granted permanent Chinese residency to a total of 911 foreigners, the city's Municipal Public Security Bureau revealed on Thursday.

Foreigners who have permanent residency in China share the same rights and responsibilities as Chinese nationals with the exception of politics and those aspects specifically excluded by law, said a spokesman with the bureau's exit and entry management department.

A press release quoted an unnamed official as saying that, like other Beijing citizens, these individuals enjoy medical insurance, endowment insurance and other treatment as Chinese nationals.

The release of the figure comes after an announcement on Tuesday that China's 25 ministerial-level departments have jointly created a regulation calling for permanent foreign residents to be granted largely the same rights as Chinese nationals.

Besides social insurance, foreigners with Chinese "green cards" benefit from preferential policies in terms of employment, investment, home purchases, gaining professional titles and obtaining an education for their children, said the spokesman.

Under the new regulation, permanent foreign residents will also be able to enjoy social insurance and purchase homes using publicly accumulated housing funds.

China started to grant permanent residence cards to foreigners in 2004. Over 4,700 foreigners had received the cards by the end of last year.

According to the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs, nearly 530,000 foreign experts were working in China in 2011.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2012)