Residents without hukou pin hopes on new policy

In July, Guangdong province further opened its hukou policy, allowing newborns in violation of the family planning policy and out of wedlock to have a hukou.

From Dec 1, the police bureau of Dalian, Liaoning province began to register all local residents without a hukou. Since October, second babies are also entitled to one.

A staff member of the household registration administration in Nanchang, Jiangxi province said that since last year additional babies could also have a hukou.

Wang Yan (alias) in Longyan city, Fujian province, got a hukou for her second baby in 2013. Before that, parents who had more than one child had to pay fines before getting one.

However, some parents are still afraid that they would be fined sooner or later if their second babies are registered.

The good news is that the standard of social maintenance fees in different provinces will be unified, which will lower fines in most places.

Though people who have more children than permitted to can apply for a hukou in future, the government still needs to clarify more rules to ease their worries, said Du Peng, director of the Institute of Gerontology at Renmin University of China.