YANGON, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar government has granted permanent residency to 617 foreigners out of 705 applicants since 2015, according to the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population on Thursday.
"Former Myanmar nationals topped the list among the approved applicants, followed by foreigners who are related to Myanmar nationals," Min Zaw, director of Foreigners Division under the ministry, told Xinhua.
Some 70 more applicants were shortlisted at a recent coordination meeting of the Central Committee for Implementation of Permanent Residency.
The shortlisted ones included an expert, three investors, 30 former Myanmar nationals, 15 foreigners who are related to Myanmar nationals, and 21 family members of them and the face-to-face interviews will be further conducted soon.
Myanmar's permanent residency system started in January 2015 under four categories -- foreign experts, investors, former Myanmar nationals and foreigners who are related to Myanmar nationals, respectively. Enditem
