Hong Kong’s labour minister has taken to Facebook to defend the city’s talent admission schemes following concerns raised by a former leader.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun meets the press on February 27, 2025, to discuss the 2025 Budget initiatives. Photo: GovHK.
Chris Sun, the secretary for labour and welfare, published a post titled, “Debunking myths about Hong Kong’s talent admission schemes,” on the bureau’s Facebook page on Monday night, after former chief executive Leung Chun-ying cast doubt on the policy.
On February 23, Leung wrote on Facebook in Chinese that “recently, in different cities and occasions in mainland China, I met [mainland talent] who came to Hong Kong under various talent schemes but they immediately returned to the mainland.”
“They came to Hong Kong just to obtain residency status, solely to conveniently travel to and from Hong Kong; to enrol their children in either schools for Hong Kong residents’ children in mainland China or in Hong Kong schools; or even to enjoy a tax rate for Hongkongers in mainland China,” he continued.
“All these practices go against the original intention of Hong Kong’s talent policies.”
Leung Chun-ying. File photo: European Business Summit, via Flickr.
Sun wrote in Chinese on Facebook that whether talent chose to stay in Hong Kong depended on various factors: “I often compare talent matching to dating… If talent finds Hong Kong is suitable for them, they will stay; if they choose not to stay, it is normal to ‘break up peacefully.’”
Hong Kong introduced the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) in December 2022, aimed at attracting high earners after professionals left the city following the imposition of a national security law and years of strict Covid-19 curbs. The policy has since been expanded, while a retired investment visa scheme was revived.
Authorities also extended the limit of stay from one year to two years for non-local graduates, suspended the annual quota under the Quality Migrants Admission Scheme (QMAS), and eased requirements for three other schemes.
The opening ceremony of Hong Kong Talent Engage, an office specially for talent attraction and services launched on October 20, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/ HKFP.
Over the past two years, from 2023 to 2024, the government received nearly 430,000 new applications under the seven visa schemes, according to the Immigration Department. More than 274,000 applications were approved, of which one-third belonged to the TPPS.
In a separate Facebook post on Sunday, Leung asked: “With over 400,000 applications over the past two years, does the government have enough staff to ensure that the information submitted by the applicants is authentic?”
Sun wrote on Monday that the TPPS has clear eligibility criteria and simple documentation requirements, adding: “The Immigration Department has fully digitised the application process, improving processing capacity.”
He also said that since last August, applicants for the TPPS and the QMAS schemes must submit documents certifying their academic qualifications issued by designated third-party certification bodies or awarding institutions.
Talent pool
The government has also faced criticism that its visa schemes attract a homogenous talent pool as the majority of visa holders are from mainland China. Pro-establishment lawmaker Chan Wing-kwong, for example, called on the government to broaden Hong Kong’s appeal, local media outlets reported.
As of September 2024, around 95 per cent of TPPS visa holders were mainland Chinese, the Immigration Department said.
Sun also posted a video featuring an Australian real estate senior manager called Jordan Huber, talking about his work and life in Hong Kong.
A promotional video featuring an Australian real estate manager called Jordan Huber, posted by the Hong Kong Labour and Welfare Bureau on Facebook on March 3, 2025. Photo: Hong Kong Labour and Welfare Bureau, via Facebook.
As of the end of January this year, the government had approved more than 280,000 applications under different talent admission schemes, Sun wrote, adding that about one-quarter of them were foreign passport holders.
