China's household registration - or hukou - system currently blocks migrant workers and their families from access to education and social welfare if they are not living in their home villages or towns.
But at the same time China wants more rural people to settle in the cities as part of an ambitious 10-year economic and social restructuring plan. The leadership sees urbanisation as key to its plans to have consumer demand drive economic growth.
Under the new proposal, qualified migrants will be able to register households at their habitual residence, though it will not be compulsory, Huang Ming, Vice Minister of Public Security, told the official Xinhua news agency in an interview published on Tuesday.
"We will let local governments study differentiated household registration policies based on their local situations," Huang was quoted as saying. Qualified migrants would be those meeting conditions including being in regular employment, he said.
Millions of migrant workers from the countryside and smaller towns work in China's big cities, often in low-paid manual work, but lack access to education, health and other services tied to the system.
Last month, China's leaders unveiled a reform agenda for the next decade, pledging to push forward household registration reforms by lifting registration restrictions in towns and small cities.
Huang also noted difficulties in quickening the reform of household registration, including vested interests, differences in regional social and economic conditions and differing expectations among migrants.
But at the same time China wants more rural people to settle in the cities as part of an ambitious 10-year economic and social restructuring plan. The leadership sees urbanisation as key to its plans to have consumer demand drive economic growth.
Under the new proposal, qualified migrants will be able to register households at their habitual residence, though it will not be compulsory, Huang Ming, Vice Minister of Public Security, told the official Xinhua news agency in an interview published on Tuesday.
"We will let local governments study differentiated household registration policies based on their local situations," Huang was quoted as saying. Qualified migrants would be those meeting conditions including being in regular employment, he said.
Millions of migrant workers from the countryside and smaller towns work in China's big cities, often in low-paid manual work, but lack access to education, health and other services tied to the system.
Last month, China's leaders unveiled a reform agenda for the next decade, pledging to push forward household registration reforms by lifting registration restrictions in towns and small cities.
Huang also noted difficulties in quickening the reform of household registration, including vested interests, differences in regional social and economic conditions and differing expectations among migrants.