Chongqing — For many people moving to Chongqing for work, getting a residence permit used to mean waiting six months. A policy change has shortened that wait for some arrivals from nearby Sichuan. Li Qin was among the first to benefit.

For many people, Sichuan and Chongqing are part of the same daily life: Guang'an, Dazhou and Suining border Chongqing, and Nanchong lies nearby. As residents move between these cities for work and family, the policy makes it easier to access local services such as public housing.

When Li received her residence permit at Dashiba Police Station in Chongqing on July 23, she was surprised by how quickly the process was completed.

Li moved from Nanchong in neighboring Sichuan Province to Chongqing for work in April and expected to wait months before she could apply. But after Chongqing extended residence permit recognition to Nanchong, Dazhou and Suining on July 21, she received hers within two days.

The policy allows residents from the three cities, along with those from Guang’an, which joined the program in 2025, to apply for Chongqing residence permits without completing the previous six-month residence registration requirement.

A joint Sichuan-Chongqing job fair is held at Guanyinqiao Pedestrian Street during the Employment and Entrepreneurship Week in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle. (Photo/Chongqing Daily)

For Li, the change meant more than saving time. It helped her feel more connected to the city where she works and lives.

“Without a residence permit, many things are difficult to do,” Li said. Previously, she could not apply for public rental housing, participate in some community training programs or access certain local services because she lacked proof of residence.

“Before, I always felt that I was only temporarily staying in Chongqing rather than truly settling down,” she said.

After learning about the new policy, Li prepared her ID card, employment contract and rental agreement and received her permit shortly afterward.

“With this permit, I finally feel like I’ve truly settled down in Chongqing,” she said.

Suining native Chen Fang had a similar experience. She moved to Chongqing in May to work at a community eldercare facility and planned to build her life there with her husband, who works in freight transportation.

For a long time, however, she still felt like an outsider.

“When I went to the community office and was asked for my residence permit but couldn’t provide one, I felt uneasy,” Chen said.

After Suining was included in the mutual recognition program, she applied for her permit and later used it to apply for a library card for her child.

“That was when I felt I was no longer just someone from Suining working in Chongqing, but a Suining native living in Chongqing,” she said.

Business, school and a place to settle

The policy has also benefited business owners who operate across the Sichuan-Chongqing border.

Zhang Ming, who runs an advertising company in Chongqing’s Jiulongpo District, was among the first group to benefit after Guang’an joined the program in 2025.

Previously, because he had not met the six-month residence requirement, his company faced difficulties participating in some government project bids and had to rely on other firms’ qualifications.

After the policy took effect, Zhang obtained his Chongqing residence permit using his residence information from Guang’an.

“It was much easier than I expected,” he said.

The permit helped him complete tax registration-related procedures, apply for local business support programs and enroll his daughter in a public primary school in Chongqing.

“She used to go to school back home while my wife and I worked here. Now she can stay with us, and I can see her every day after school,” Zhang said.

A residence permit may seem like a small document, but it provides access to a wide range of public services, including education, employment services and public rental housing.

The expanded mutual recognition policy is part of broader efforts to deepen integration between Sichuan and Chongqing under the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle. Previously, residents moving between the two regions often faced different requirements and redundant paperwork. The new system allows residence information to be recognized across both areas, making cross-regional services more accessible.

Since the policy took effect, more than 500 residence permit applications have been processed for residents of the four Sichuan cities in just over a month, according to Chongqing police.

As cooperation between Sichuan and Chongqing continues to deepen, the boundary between the two regions is becoming less visible in people’s daily lives — replaced by greater mobility, convenience and connection.

(Li Jiayan, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)