Hong Kong SAR: Policy Address Announces New Initiatives to Attract Talent

Key plans include the below:

• Top Talent Pass Scheme. Creation of a new two-year Top Talent Pass Scheme for people who have been earning at least HKD 2.5 million a year, or those who have graduated from the world’s top 100 universities and have at least three years of work experience.
• Attract strategic enterprises. Establishment of an Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises, led by the Financial Secretary, for attracting strategic enterprises from Mainland China and overseas, and with a particular focus on industries of strategic importance, such as life and health technology, artificial intelligence and data science, financial technology, and advanced manufacturing and new energy technology.
• Strengthen connections with universities and businesses. Creation of dedicated teams within Mainland China and overseas economic and trade offices to attract business and talent to Hong Kong SAR and strengthening links with Hongkongers studying or working in Mainland China or overseas. The functions of mainland offices and overseas economic and trade offices will be expanded to promote Hong Kong SAR’s programs to organisations and professionals and liaise with the world’s top 100 universities. This will be complemented by the establishment of a HKD 30 billion fund to attract enterprises to set up operations in Hong Kong SAR and invest in their businesses.
• Relaxed immigration schemes. Relaxation of the General Employment Policy scheme and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals by eliminating the requirement to conduct labour market testing for certain occupations with recognised skilled shortages or where the proposed annual salary is HKD 2 million or above.
• Quota suspension. Suspension for two years of the annual quota for Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, currently set at 4,000 places, and updates to the ‘Talent List’ to reflect the latest shortages and market demand in relevant professions.
• Expanded IANG scheme. Relaxation of the stay arrangements under the ‘Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates’ (IANG) to extend the stay period from one year to two years. Under a new two-year pilot scheme, the IANG scheme will also be expanded to graduates from the Guangdong-Hong Kong SAR-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) campus of a Hong Kong SAR university.
• TechTas scheme improvements. Improving the Technology Talent Admission Scheme, including lengthening the quota validity period from one year to two years, and incorporating emerging technology areas into the scheme as necessary to better meet the needs of the technology sector.

The Chief Executive also announced that measures would be introduced to ‘relax the stay arrangements for various talent admission schemes’ and ‘streamline the visa renewal processing’, although no further detail has been released at this stage.

Policy addresses in Hong Kong SAR do not usually bring about so many immigration-related initiatives. However, due to the tight labor market and skills gaps in Hong Kong SAR, as well as the shrinking of the international labour market due to various factors such as COVID-19 travel restrictions, the government is attempting to aggressively tackle these issues.

Employers should benefit from the relaxation of several immigration scheme processes and those short on talent should take advantage of the new immigration scheme offerings.

The 2022 policy address included a commitment by the Chief Executive to turn Hong Kong SAR into a smart city, including the aim to have all government services online in two years. These measures may also drive the greater digitization of visa applications.

Implementation dates have not been released for many of these new initiatives. Fragomen will continue to monitor and will provide updates as more information becomes available.