When U.K.-born Nico Yennaris, or Li Ke as he is known in China, became the first naturalized player to play for the national soccer team, he became not only the face of the country’s drive for on-field glory, but also a symbol of potential revamps to its prohibitive immigration policies.

Yennaris’ arrival certainly made sense to soccer insiders like Wang Dazhao, the former head of the Chinese Football Association, who said the country’s soccer industry, with its huge following and clear need for overseas talent, is the perfect place to test out changes to China’s immigration and naturalization systems.

But researchers take a dimmer view. The fast track used for in-demand athletes like Yennaris amounts to preferential treatment rather than a widely applicable policy, said Liu Guofu, a legal studies professor and immigration researcher at the Beijing Institute of Technology. The government previously allowed people mostly of ethnic Chinese descent into the country to fill specific roles.

With the State Council due to debate new regulations on permanent residence later this year, the politics of naturalization are firmly back on the government’s agenda.

Read the full story on Caixin Global later today.

Contact reporter Dave Yin (davidyin@caixin.com, @yindavid)

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