Beijing is planning to introduce its first-ever immigration laws in an effort to control the increasing number of foreigners coming to China to work.
 
With more and more people from overseas attracted by the economic opportunities available in China, the new law is expected to divide potential immigrants into different categories such as skilled and unskilled labour, according to the government's Xinhua news agency.
 
In 2007, almost 2.9 million foreigners were registered with the Ministry of Public Security as working legally in China.
That number is rising rapidly. Last year, there were 152,000 foreign resident workers in Shanghai alone, a 14 per cent increase on 2008.
 
The People's Republic of China has never before limited immigration, other than for health reasons, including a ban that was recently lifted on HIV positive immigrants. However, China's buoyant economy has resulted in a sharp rise in the number of illegal immigrants from bordering countries like Vietnam and Laos since the onset of the global financial crisis.
 
Vietnamese are especially valued by the factory owners of southern China, because of their willingness to work for wages of 450 yuan (£45) a month, less than half of what a local would get, and the ease with which they can assimilate into Chinese society.
 
Illegal immigrants from impoverished North Korea can also be found working on farms and building sites in northeast China, and there is increasing demand among the new urban middle class for Filipino nannies, who are prized for their ability to speak English with their charges.
 
China was once a huge source of economic migrants to other countries.
Now, the rise in the number of foreigners coming to work in the country is a reflection of how quickly it is moving up the global economic chain.
"Judging from the history of western developed countries, inward migration flows often reveal the appeal of a nation," said Zhang Jijiao, a migration expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
 
While there is no timetable as yet for the introduction of the new immigration law, foreign residents will be included in China's next national census in November for the first time in an effort to monitor their numbers. Beijing plans curbs on number of foreigners working in China
 
Beijing is planning to introduce its first-ever immigration laws in an effort to control the increasing number of foreigners coming to China to work.
 
By David Eimer in Beijing