Beijing, April 18 (IANS): Former NBA star Stephon Marbury has applied for a Chinese "green card", or permanent residence permit.
"I'm applying for a Chinese green card," Marbury wrote Friday in his Weibo account.
China started to grant permanent residence permits to foreigners in 2004. Since then, about 5,000 foreigners have received permits, reported Xinhua.
Marbury, who left a 20 million US-dollar NBA contract behind six years ago to play basketball in Beijing, is now a settled superstar in China. He led Beijing to their third third and second straight Chinese basketball league title last month and was voted the CBA finals MVP.
The 38-year-old American is so popular in his adopted hometown that he was named honorary citizen of Beijing. Outside Beijing's home court Wukesong Stadium stands a Marbury statute built by his fans.