As most language learner might know, professional fluency is far from “not zero”. I have near perfect mark in English for my high school entrance exam in China.

我懂了. 我学习中文一年可是我的中文还没好.

No, I am saying public worker needing to submit passport is not new. Here are some Chinese source:

• https://www.zhihu.com/question/582316284
• https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_26669534
• https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/487193115

I am not saying that they are not expanding the scale of the program.

This is good information, thank you for sharing that. I also appreciate you bringing your personal experience to this conversation. You are living firsthand the topic, and brought that valuable perspective. 谢谢!