The 2026 Gaokao season has arrived once again. On June 3, 2026, the Ministry of Education officially announced that the number of applicants for the 2026 national Gaokao is 12.9 million.
Meanwhile, a set of data has attracted attention——The number of applicants for the 2026 Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students is 12,449, accounting for less than one-thousandth of the scale of the regular Gaokao.
Against the backdrop of intensifying competition for higher education, more and more families are beginning to take a long-term view, shifting from "exam preparation" to "educational planning," and proactively arranging status, residency, and educational resources in hopes of securing a more diverse and relaxed development path for their children.
Among these, the Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students is becoming an important option that more and more families are focusing on.
What is the Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students? Six Major Advantages Revealed
The Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students, fully known as the "Joint Entrance Examination for Overseas Chinese, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Students," is a domestic entrance exam specifically for overseas Chinese, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan students. Its core advantages lie in: less competition, lower difficulty, and a higher rate of admission to prestigious universities. Six major advantages:
• Admission quotas do not occupy domestic Gaokao quotas; more than 300 undergraduate universities nationwide recruit overseas Chinese students, including 211 and 985 universities.
• Only 5 subjects are tested for both liberal arts and sciences; politics is not tested for liberal arts, and biology is not tested for sciences. The overall difficulty of the exam questions is relatively low.
• General universities (majors): 430 points for liberal arts/history, 460 points for science/engineering. Art universities (majors): 330 points for liberal arts/history, 360 points for science/engineering. Sports universities (majors): 330 points for liberal arts/history, 360 points for science/engineering.
• The number of participants in the Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students is small each year, the competitive pressure is very low, and there are many universities and majors to choose from.
• Candidates can apply for 10 undergraduate university preferences, with 6 majors available for each school, and 5 preferences for preparatory courses, offering a wide range of choices.
• University tuition fees and graduation certificates are the same as those for regular domestic candidates.
What are the application requirements for the Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students?
For overseas Chinese candidates, the candidate and at least one parent must have obtained long-term or permanent residency in the country of residence and have resided in the country of residence for 2 consecutive years, with a cumulative residency of no less than 18 months within those two years. The candidate must have actually resided in the country of residence for no less than 18 months within the 2 years prior to registration.
If the candidate or one of their parents has not obtained long-term or permanent residency in the country of residence, but has obtained a legal residency qualification in the country of residence for 5 consecutive years or more (including 5 years), with a cumulative residency of no less than 30 months within 5 years, and the candidate has actually resided in the country of residence for no less than 30 months within the 5 years prior to registration, they may also apply.
Educational planning is essentially time planning
For families intending to take the path of the Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students, what is more important than a last-minute choice is to plan from the perspective of medium-to-long-term educational planning in advance.
Taking the plan to participate in the 2029 Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students as an example:
• Second half of 2026: Initiate status planning and project assessment
• Before March 2027: Complete the approval of third-country status
• April 2029: Complete the cumulative residency of no less than 18 months within the two consecutive years prior to registration, and complete the registration for the Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students
• May 2029: Return to China to participate in the Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students
• September 2029: Begin studies at a domestic university
In other words, for families who wish to catch the fastest time window, they have already entered the critical stage of planning.
Currently, you can conduct status planning through the Portugal Golden Residence Permit Program, Cyprus Permanent Residency Program, Panama Investment Immigration, Malta Permanent Residence Program, Greece Permanent Residency Program, etc. Not only can you quickly obtain the status of an overseas Chinese student, fulfilling your children's dream of easily entering domestic prestigious universities, but the whole family can also enjoy an international lifestyle at any time, which can be described as achieving multiple goals at once!
For detailed inquiries in Mainland China: 400-138-2929, Hong Kong, China Customer Service Center: (852)2802 8798