• Foreign professional and technical personnel employed in Haikou can apply for professional title evaluation if they hold a Foreigner's Work Permit or Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card.

• The 2026 notice covers 25 fields, including electrical engineering, electronics, automation, artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, industrial Internet and aviation maintenance.

• There are different application routes for direct recognition, evaluation committee review, and senior professional titles.

• For applications handled by the Haikou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, the online pre-review deadline is 24:00 on August 31, 2026.

• Applicants need to pay particular attention to continuing education, recognised academic qualifications, professional experience and the dates of supporting materials.

Foreign Professionals in Haikou Can Apply for Chinese Professional Titles. Here Is Where to Apply

Foreign professional and technical personnel employed in Haikou can apply for professional title evaluation under China's professional and technical title system.

The Haikou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology issued its notice for the 2026 evaluation of junior and intermediate professional titles on July 7. The notice specifically states that foreign professional and technical personnel holding either a Foreigner's Work Permit or a Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card may apply in accordance with the relevant regulations.

The notice also includes professional and technical personnel from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan employed in Haikou.

What is a professional title?

The notice concerns China's formal professional title evaluation system for professional and technical personnel.

For foreign readers, this is not simply the job title written on an employment contract or business card. The notice deals with formal professional and technical titles assessed or recognised through China's professional title system.

The 2026 Haikou notice primarily covers applications for junior and intermediate professional titles. It also tells applicants where to apply for senior and professor-level senior titles.

Who can apply?

The general scope covers people engaged in engineering and technical work in professional and technical positions at enterprises, public institutions and social organisations in Hainan Province who meet the relevant qualification requirements.

For foreign applicants, the notice specifically allows applications from foreign professional and technical personnel employed in Haikou who hold:

• a Foreigner's Work Permit; or

• a Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card.

The applicant must be working as professional or technical personnel and must also meet the requirements for the professional title concerned.

Freelance professional and technical personnel are included only in the arts and crafts specialty. They may apply through a personnel agency.

Teachers working in teaching positions at schools and colleges are excluded from the scope of this particular notice.

People currently subject to an administrative disciplinary measure cannot apply while that measure remains in effect.

Which professional fields are included?

The 2026 notice accepts applications in the following 25 specialties:

• Machinery

• Materials

• Metallurgy

• Electrical engineering

• Electronics

• Chemical engineering

• Textiles

• Light industry

• Biology

• Food, excluding inspection and testing

• Automation

• Nuclear engineering

• Internet of Things

• Tropical crop processing

• Instruments and meters

• Radio and television

• Energy and power

• Control engineering

• Petroleum and natural gas

• Aviation maintenance

• Integrated circuits

• Artificial intelligence

• Industrial Internet

• Industrial design

• Arts and crafts

Applicants must apply according to the nature of the professional or technical position in which they work.

Do you apply yourself or through your employer?

For the normal application route, the notice says applicants should apply through their employer or organisation, including a personnel agency where applicable.

The application is then submitted through the prescribed levels to the relevant professional title evaluation committee office.

This means a foreign employee considering an application should normally begin by speaking to the employer or organisation responsible for their personnel matters rather than simply sending an independent application directly to an evaluation committee.

There is an exception for freelance professional and technical personnel applying in arts and crafts, who may submit through a personnel agency.

Applicants cannot submit the same application through multiple specialties or professional title series, and they cannot have the same year's application considered simultaneously by different evaluation bodies.

As a general rule, one person may apply for one professional title in a year, unless national rules provide otherwise. An applicant cannot apply for professional title evaluation in two or more series or specialties during the same year.

There are three different application routes

Not everyone applies to the same place.

1. Junior or intermediate title through direct recognition

Applicants who meet the conditions for direct recognition should apply to the Haikou Talent and Labor Exchange Service Center.

Telephone: 65373100

The notice does not explain the criteria for direct recognition, nor does it provide the centre's address, email address or detailed application procedure.

Anyone who thinks they may qualify for direct recognition should therefore contact the Haikou Talent and Labor Exchange Service Center on 65373100 to establish whether this route applies to them and what they need to submit.

2. Junior or intermediate title through evaluation committee review

Applicants who do not meet the conditions for direct recognition but do meet the conditions for professional title evaluation by an evaluation committee are handled by the Haikou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology under this notice.

This is the route for which the notice provides the detailed online pre-review and hard-copy submission procedure explained below.

3. Senior or professor-level senior title

Applicants seeking senior or professor-level senior professional titles should apply to the Hainan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology.

Telephone: 31070716

The Haikou notice does not provide the detailed application procedure for these senior-level applications.

How does the 2026 Haikou application process work?

For junior and intermediate applications accepted by the Haikou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, the process is divided into two stages.

Stage 1: Online application and pre-review

Applications are made through the applicant's employer, organisation or personnel agency.

For applications handled by the Haikou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, the notice gives hkscfk@163.com for online pre-review materials.

It does not specify whether the applicant or employer should send the email, so applicants should coordinate the submission with their employer.

Wait for the acceptance notice

The Bureau reviews the materials submitted during the online pre-review.

Only after the online pre-review has been approved and the applicant has received an acceptance notice from the Bureau should the applicant proceed to the hard-copy stage.

Stage 2: Submit the hard-copy application and originals

Applicants who pass the online pre-review must bring the required bound hard-copy application materials and original documents to the Bureau.

Hard-copy submission deadline: 24:00 on September 30, 2026

Submission location:

Room 4015, 4th Floor (North)
Building 18
Municipal Government Administrative Office Area
East 2nd Street, Changbin Road
Haikou

Telephone: 68724677 / 68724670

The notice explicitly states that hard-copy materials will not be accepted unless the online pre-review has first been passed and the applicant has received the acceptance notice.

Applications that are not submitted within the required deadlines and according to the prescribed procedure will not be accepted for the 2026 evaluation round.

The dates for the professional title evaluation and defence will be announced separately.

What documents do you need?

The notice states that applicants should contact the responsible staff by telephone for the detailed requirements covering:

• application materials;

• the required content of those materials; and

• how the materials must be bound and submitted.

The contact numbers given are 68724670 and 68724677.

Mi Weiwei and Mo Hongtao are listed as contacts.

Applicants should therefore obtain the current document checklist and binding requirements before preparing the final application rather than attempting to infer them from the notice.

What education qualifications are accepted?

Academic qualifications used for professional title evaluation must be domestic or overseas educational qualifications recognised by China's national education administrative authority.

The notice says the following cannot be used as the educational basis for the evaluation:

• completion certificates issued by training programmes;

• specialist certificates issued by training programmes; or

• academic certificates from schools that were not approved to enrol students by the national education administrative authority.

The notice also provides equivalencies for graduates of technical colleges.

Graduates of:

• intermediate technician classes may apply on the basis equivalent to a secondary vocational education;

• advanced technician classes may apply on the basis equivalent to an associate degree; and

• preparatory technician/technician classes may apply on the basis equivalent to a bachelor's degree.

These provisions form part of the general evaluation rules in the notice.

How is professional experience calculated?

For applicants who already hold a professional title, the relevant qualification period is calculated from the date the applicant obtained their current professional title through the year of application.

For the 2026 evaluation, the cut-off date for calculating this professional and technical work period is December 31, 2026.

Any period spent in full-time study during that time must be deducted.

There are also specific rules on which achievements and supporting documents can be counted.

Performance achievements, including papers and monographs, are counted from the date the applicant obtained their current professional and technical qualification.

The deadline for performance achievements, academic degree certificates and other application materials is the day before the applicant's employer publicly announces the application.

Supporting materials must fall within the applicable start and end dates for the performance-achievement period. Materials outside that period cannot be used as the basis for evaluation.

What are the continuing education requirements?

Continuing education is a significant part of the application requirements.

Professional and technical personnel are required to accumulate at least 90 credit hours of continuing education per year after taking up their current position.

For the three years immediately before applying for evaluation, the applicant must have completed at least 90 credit hours in each year.

One credit hour equals 45 minutes.

No more than seven credit hours per day can be counted.

Of the required 90 hours each year:

• 60 credit hours must be specialised subjects.

• 30 credit hours must be general subjects.

What counts as specialised continuing education?

The notice says specialised-subject credit can include:

• training courses;

• seminars;

• advanced study programmes;

• relevant continuing education practice activities;

• academic conferences;

• lectures;

• academic visits;

• distance education; and

• other education or training activities that comply with the requirements.

How are the general subjects completed?

For the 30 credit hours of general subjects, organisations are instructed to arrange for professional and technical personnel to register and complete free study through the designated system.

The website listed in the notice is:

http://113.59.48.193:9090/

Are there special credit rules for grassroots service?

Yes.

Professional and technical personnel taking part in grassroots service activities can receive eight specialised-subject credit hours per day.

People participating in education support, agricultural support or medical support work may receive:

• 30 credit hours of general subjects; and

• 60 credit hours of specialised subjects per year.

Where that service lasts for less than one year, the credit is calculated proportionally by month.

Are annual performance appraisals required?

Yes.

During the applicant's current tenure, their annual appraisal results must be rated competent/qualified or above.

The notice states that people subject to demerits or Party, administrative or disciplinary sanctions while those measures remain in effect are regarded as incompetent/unqualified for this purpose.

What are the actual evaluation criteria?

The notice does not reproduce the full basic application conditions or detailed evaluation criteria.

Instead, it instructs applicants to obtain them by contacting the responsible staff by telephone.

For applicants, this is an important step. Meeting the basic foreign-national requirement of holding a Foreigner's Work Permit or Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card does not by itself establish eligibility for a particular professional title.

Applicants still need to meet the relevant education, experience, continuing education and professional evaluation requirements for the title and specialty concerned.

For details not specified in the notice, the listed Bureau contacts are:

Mi Weiwei / Mo Hongtao
68724670 / 68724677

What if your employer is headquartered outside Hainan or is a central government unit?

The notice contains a separate provision for professional and technical personnel working in:

• central government units stationed in Hainan;

• Hainan branches, subsidiaries, liaison offices or similar operations of enterprises based outside the province; and

• military units.

Where these applicants want their professional title evaluated through the Haikou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, the Bureau may accept the application if the applicant provides a letter of entrustment from the personnel department that holds professional title evaluation authority.

Your employer also has responsibilities

The application is not solely an individual process.

The notice requires the applicant's employer to review and recommend applicants and places responsibility on employers for the integrity of that process.

Professional ethics are to be treated as a primary criterion in talent evaluation. Employers are required to examine the applicant's professional conduct and behaviour using methods including self-assessment, evaluation and measurement, and public opinion surveys.

Employers must also properly review application materials, make the required public announcement of application materials, investigate objections or complaints, and submit materials within the relevant professional title evaluation procedures and deadlines.

Employers that fail to carry out these duties, or that condone, conceal or assist fraudulent applications, may be dealt with under the relevant laws and regulations.

Application materials must be accurate

Applicants must sign a personal commitment letter confirming the authenticity of the materials they submit.

The notice specifically includes journals and papers among the materials for which the applicant is personally responsible.

Violations listed in the notice include:

• falsification of application materials;

• fraud;

• academic misconduct;

• false performance achievements;

• soliciting favours; and

• intimidation.

Applicants found to have made false commitments or committed relevant violations can be entered into the professional title evaluation integrity archive database and prohibited from applying for professional title evaluation for three years.

The integrity record can also be used as an important reference in future professional title applications.

Anyone providing false or inaccurate materials is responsible for those materials and may be dealt with by the relevant authorities.

Can you add documents later?

Applicants should make sure their application is complete before the evaluation committee meets.

The notice states that supplementary application materials will not be accepted during evaluation committee sessions.

The key contacts

Which number to call depends on the type of application.

Junior or intermediate title through direct recognition
Haikou Talent and Labor Exchange Service Center
65373100

Junior or intermediate title requiring evaluation committee review
Haikou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology
68724670 / 68724677

Senior or professor-level senior professional title
Hainan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology
31070716

For the Haikou Municipal Bureau application route, the notice identifies Mi Weiwei and Mo Hongtao as contacts.

The dates to remember

For junior and intermediate evaluation applications handled by the Haikou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology:

August 31, 2026 at 24:00
Deadline for the online application and centralised pre-review.

September 30, 2026 at 24:00
Deadline for hard-copy submission after the online pre-review has been passed and an acceptance notice received.

The professional title evaluation and defence dates will be announced separately.

The notice also states that matters it does not cover will be handled according to current national and Hainan provincial professional title policies. If major policy changes are introduced while the 2026 process is being implemented, the new policy provisions will take precedence.

If you have questions about the application process or how the notice may apply to your situation, post them below and we'll try to clarify them from the available official information.

NOTE: If you have questions about the application process or how the notice may apply to your situation, post them below and we’ll try to clarify them from the available official information.