The Myanmar government has granted permanent residency to 617 foreigners out of 705 applicants since 2015, according to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population on Thursday Xinhua reported.

Some 70 more applicants were shortlisted at a recent coordination meeting of the Central Committee for Implementation of Permanent Residency.

The shortlisted ones included an expert, three investors, 30 former Myanmar nationals, 15 foreigners who are related to Myanmar nationals, and 21 family members of them and face-to-face interviews will be further conducted soon.