China is considering loosening its restriction to issue permanent resident cards or green cards to foreigners, China News Service reported on Monday.

The move is a response to an appeal by foreigners and overseas Chinese to lower the threshold to get a green card and expand the group of eligible applicants, said Qu Yunhai, deputy head of Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration of the Ministry of Public Security.

Qu said the ministries of public security and foreign affairs are formulating rules to issue cards to people from more countries and fields.

Since the green card system was introduced in August, 2004, China had issued more than 4,700 cards to foreigners by the end of 2011. A green card holder can cross the border without a visa.