Starting on Dec 1, residents across the entire Yangtze River Delta region, which encompasses Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces and Shanghai municipality, are eligible to apply for and obtain their first identity cards in local police departments even if their places of origin are elsewhere within the region.

The policy adjustment is part of efforts by police departments across the YRD to promote the integrated development of general public services in the region.

Previously, YRD residents were already allowed to change their identity cards anywhere in the region as long as their places of origin are within the region, but adolescents who have followed their parents from one place to another within YRD still have to travel back to their places of origin to make the initial application for identity cards when they come of age.