As of the end of October 2024, the Hong Kong High end Talent Pass Scheme has approved nearly 85000 applications, of which Class A applications are mainly targeted at high paying individuals, accounting for about a quarter of the total applications.
The Director of the Labour and Welfare Bureau, Sun Yuhan, stated that the SAR government has no intention of changing the eligibility criteria for A-class applications, which require applicants to have an income of HKD 2.5 million or more (after tax) in the previous year.
Although Legislative Council member Tan Yueh Heng questioned the singularity of relying solely on income as an approval criterion, the government still maintains the existing standards in order to continue attracting high-income entrepreneurs and company management to develop in Hong Kong.
The three types of applicants under the Gaocai Tong Plan each have clear requirements. In addition to the income standard for Class A, Class B applicants must have at least three years of work experience in the past five years and have graduated from a top 100 university; Class C has lower requirements for work experience, only requiring a bachelor's degree from a prestigious university within five years.
Among the A-class respondents who have already been in Hong Kong, about 60% have obtained employment opportunities, many of whom have been employed or started businesses in Hong Kong's advantageous industries such as business and trade, technology and science, information and communication technology, etc., creating more job opportunities for the local area and fully utilizing their professional advantages, effectively filling the talent gap in Hong Kong.
Regarding the renewal issue, Sun Yuhan pointed out that applicants for the Gaocai Tong program need to prove that they are working or starting a business in Hong Kong before they can continue to reside when their first visa expires.
This indicates that the Hong Kong government requires incoming talents to actively integrate into the local market and use their competitiveness to seek development opportunities. Chief Executive Li Jiachao further emphasized that attracting talents from outside Hong Kong is the key to enhancing Hong Kong's competitiveness, as a leading city with a target population of 10 million, Hong Kong currently has only 7.5 million people and urgently needs to enrich its talent pool.