A check of credentials, a police background check, etc., etc....

Provinces like Inner Mongolia actually already do a criminal clearance check. South Korea also requires this from what I hear, and the last time I was in the visa office in Hong Kong, lots of FT's from Guangdong were headed home because of a change in policy which required them to prove no criminal record, so they had to head home to get their clearance from the police to satisfy the new regs.