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Policy Address

Trawl for Talents

29. Over the past two years, the local workforce shrank by about 140 000. Apart from actively nurturing and retaining local talents, the Government will proactively trawl the world for talents. We will:

  1. launch the Top Talent Pass Scheme for a period of two years. Eligible talents will include individuals whose annual salary reached HK$2.5 million or above in the past year, and individuals graduated from the world's top 100 universities with at least three years of work experience over the past five years. These two categories of talents will be issued a two-year pass for exploring opportunities in Hong Kong and are not subject to any quota. Individuals who graduated from the world's top 100 universities in the past five years and have yet to fulfil the work experience requirement will also be eligible, subject to an annual quota of 10 000. The scheme will be reviewed after the first year of implementation;

  2. streamline the General Employment Policy (GEP) and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP), such that for vacancies falling under the 13 professions with shortage of local supply as listed in the Talent List or for vacancies with annual salary of HK$2 million or above, employers are not required to provide proof to substantiate their difficulties in local recruitment in making applications for talent admission. The Government will update the Talent List as soon as possible to reflect the latest shortage situation in various professions, and will aim to complete it in the first quarter of 2023;

  3. suspend the annual quota under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) for a period of two years, and improve the approval process to attract more world-class talents to relocate to Hong Kong;

  4. relax the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) by extending the limit of stay from one year to two years to facilitate their staying in or coming to Hong Kong for work; and expand the scope of the arrangements to cover those who graduated from the GBA campus of a Hong Kong university on a pilot basis for a period of two years. The pilot arrangement will be reviewed after the first year of implementation;