Relaxation of various immigration measures and implementation of Capital Investment Entrant Scheme

At a glance

• At the end of 2023, the government announced relaxation of the eligibility criteria for various immigration and visa schemes.
• The General Employment Policy (GEP) and Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Pprofessionals(ASMTP) schemes have been relaxed and expanded.
• The government also announced its plan to revive the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme.

 

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At the end of 2023, the government announced relaxation of the eligibility criteria for various immigration and visa schemes. For example:

• for GEP and ASMTP, which are the two key employment visa schemes, relaxation measures include eg allowing Vietnamese talents to apply for an employment visa etc;
• for the Top Talent Pass Scheme, which allows eligible individuals to work without obtaining an employment visa under GEP and ASMTP, relaxation measures include eg expanding the list of eligible universities to include additional Mainland China and overseas institutions, allowing Vietnamese talents to apply etc; and
• the government also announced its plan to revive the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (suspended back in 2015), which allows eligible investors to gain entry into Hong Kong by investing at least HKD30 million into various assets (eg stocks, funds bond, etc). It is anticipated that the scheme will be launched in mid-2024.