What is a sound business environment?

It is generally assessed from three dimensions: marketization, rule of law, and internationalization.

An international business environment requires international talent.

Hunan's international talent layout has been accelerating from the provincial capital of Changsha to other cities and prefecture across the province.

On August 24, Yueyang issued its first "entrepreneurship visa" to a foreign national.

What exactly is an "entrepreneurship visa"? How is Hunan attracting more foreign talent?

Yueyang issues its first "entrepreneurship visa" to a foreign national. (Photo/hunantoday)

Hunan takes the lead nationwide in launching the "entrepreneurship visa" system.

Strictly speaking, the "entrepreneurship visa" is not a brand-new visa category in a passport, but rather an "entrepreneurship" endorsement on a foreigner's residence permit.

It is mainly aimed at recent foreign graduates from key domestic universities. After the applicant submits the required materials, relevant authorities will conduct a comprehensive assessment, and the visa will be issued after review and approval by the exit-entry administration department of the public security organ, along with entrepreneurial support.

With the permit, international youth can legally reside and carry out entrepreneurial activities within the validity period.

Why is an "entrepreneurship visa" necessary?

In the past, obtaining a work visa required two years of work experience, and this policy threshold restricted international youth from staying and prospering in Hunan.

In 2023, Hunan took the lead nationwide in launching the "entrepreneurship visa" system, issuing visas to outstanding foreign graduates with motivation and resources, and providing entrepreneurial guidance and support to them. Changsha was the first city in Hunan Province to issue an "entrepreneurship visa."

Compared with the previous restrictive process of "finding a job first and then getting a visa," the "entrepreneurship visa" is equivalent to opening a green channel for foreign talent to "start a business first, and then seek development."

This is of considerable significance for an inland region like Hunan.

In the past, most foreigners coming to Hunan followed the path of "study-employment" or "corporate expatriation," and relatively few truly came to Hunan to start businesses as individuals.

A small change in a document lowers the threshold and sends a message of sincerity: Welcome to Hunan and come and try your luck here.

In recent years, among the international youth who have obtained the "entrepreneurship visa" in Hunan, many have already succeeded in starting businesses.

Sakariye Abdia Hmed from Somalia was the first to receive the entrepreneurship visa in Hunan. At the International Youth Entrepreneurship Port in the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone, he founded a foreign trading company targeting the African market, selling Hunan clothing, agricultural machinery, and other products to East African countries.

Somali youth Sakariye displays a luggage product sold in East African countries. (Photo/Chinanews)

Odjo Rachald from Benin obtained the first "entrepreneurship visa" of the year in the Changsha Area of the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone in 2024, and in July of the same year he registered his company, achieving "entrepreneurship upon graduation." His business focuses on exporting agricultural machinery equipment, parts, and second-hand construction machinery, while importing specialty products such as coffee, cocoa, and cashews into the Chinese market.

On May 27, 2025, Beninese youth Odjo visited Nongyou Machinery Group in Shuangfeng County, Loudi City. (Photo/Yi Ang, Hunan Daily)

He has now formed a local team of 20 people in Africa, and the business is growing strongly. This January, sales already surpassed the whole of last year, effectively doubling annual revenue.

Yueyang issued its first "entrepreneurship visa."

What does it mean?

On the morning of August 24, at the entry-exit service counter of the Yueyang Municipal Government Service Center, a personal affairs residence permit endorsed with "Entrepreneurship" was granted to Wang Peiwen, a 25-year-old Malaysian student.

This is the first "entrepreneurship visa" issued by Yueyang to a foreign national.

Wang is a postgraduate student majoring in journalism and communication at Central South University. She plans to register a trading company in the Yueyang Area of the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone, providing one-stop export services for inputs for the entire industry chain of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery‌ to ASEAN countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.

Wang Peiwen (1st R) at the exit-entry counter of the Yueyang Municipal Government Service Center. (Photo/hunantoday)

Why did she choose Yueyang? Wang Peiwen gave ample reasons.

Firstly, her family has long been engaged in international trade, with shipments going overseas via the Chenglingji Port every month, creating a solid resource foundation over the years.

Secondly, Yueyang has port's logistics advantages and can enjoy the policy benefits of the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Thirdly, the new cargo air route between Yueyang and Kuala Lumpur opened earlier this year, and she can turn this familiar trade route into her own entrepreneurial path.

Now, with the "entrepreneurship visa," she is legally permitted to start her own business in Yueyang.

A visa has launched a Malaysian girl's "trade dream" from Yueyang.

"I aim to build my company into a benchmark small-scale agricultural export business for young foreign entrepreneurs," Wang said when speaking of her future goals.

Currently, Hunan has continuously strived to become a pacesetter for reform and the opening up of inland regions‌.

Advantageous industries and emerging fields such as construction machinery, rail transit, cross-border e-commerce, and China-Africa economic development and trade require foreign talent who are familiar with international rules, multilingual capabilities, and overseas channels.

Yueyang is a provincial sub-central city, and the Yueyang Area is also one of the three major areas of the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone.

The issuance of Yueyang's first "entrepreneurship visa" is both a necessary measure for Yueyang to attract international talent and an opportunity to explore experience and provide reference for other cities and prefecture provincewide.

Foreigners coming to Hunan is the first step.

Then they can hopefully settle down and thrive here.

Behind the "entrepreneurship visa" is a concrete manifestation of Hunan's continuous efforts in optimizing the business environment for foreign talent to come to Hunan for innovation and entrepreneurship in recent years.

In June 2025, the Department of Commerce of Hunan Province, together with seven other departments, issued guidelines aimed at optimizing the environment for foreigners to come to Hunan for innovation and entrepreneurship. Eight measures were introduced to support foreigners' innovation and entrepreneurship in Hunan, addressing the pain points and bottlenecks in the work and life of foreign nationals in Hunan and enhancing Hunan's level of opening up.

Coming to Hunan is only the first step.

Hunan also needs to ensure that more foreign talent can be retained and can prosper.

It is believed that resource matchmaking and a friendly environment are the directions Hunan needs to focus on next.

As for platform resources, what foreign entrepreneurs lack is often not ideas, but local resources and trust networks.

Relying on platforms such as the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone, and the International Youth Entrepreneurship Port, Hunan can establish a project database for foreign talent entrepreneurship. This may involve regularly holding roadshows, industrial matchmaking, and policy briefings to precisely match foreign talent with Hunan's advantageous industries and local enterprises.

The International Youth Entrepreneurship Port within the Changsha Area of the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone. (Photo/hunantoday)

From the perspective of environment creation, what truly retains foreign talent are the details of life such as education, healthcare, housing, payment, and language. Cities with more foreign talent, such as Changsha, Yueyang, Xiangtan, and Zhuzhou, can speed up the arrangements of international schools, foreign-related outpatient clinics, and international communities, and promote multilingual coverage in key business districts, transportation hubs, and government service counters, enabling foreign talent to feel at home in Hunan.

An international business environment is ultimately an environment for people.

The issuance of Yueyang's first "entrepreneurship visa" is a good start. Next, whether Hunan can attract more international youth to change their ideas from "worth to come" to "willing to stay" with more open institutions, warmer services, and more professional platforms is worth looking forward to.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: ftz.hunan.gov.cn