In a newspaper article, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr. Chris Sun, said that the popularity of the Talent Pass Scheme has far exceeded expectations, with more than 20,000 applications received by the end of March this year, of which 12,000 have been approved, and more than 9,200 people have received visas to come to Hong Kong or are already in Hong Kong within six months.
Mr Chan Wing-kit, Vice Chairman of Centaline Property Asia Pacific and Chief Executive Officer of the Residential Division, said the Government aims to admit at least 35,000 talents who are expected to stay for at least 12 months each year from 2023 to 2025 through various admission schemes, which will cumulatively bring more than 100,000 talents to Hong Kong in three years. This will definitely increase the demand for housing in the Hong Kong property market and give new impetus to the property market.
He said, China and Hong Kong customs clearance and interest rates or top, and with a series of government measures to grab talent, the first quarter of this year, property prices rose more than 7%, the first half of the property prices are expected to rebound more than 10%, especially optimistic about luxury residential.
According to Sun Yuhan, about three months since the launch of the scheme, the number of applications has been rising steadily at an average of more than 200 per day. More than 50% of the applicants are graduates of Top 100 universities with at least three years of working experience, while 27% are graduates of Top 100 universities with less than three years of working experience and 22% are applicants from the high salary category (with an annual salary of $2.5 million in the past year). The proportion of applicants in the three categories was also stable, with the majority of applicants with high salaries and more working experience, i.e. over 70%.
In terms of age, the 10,000-odd applicants approved were mainly young people, with about half of them aged below 30 and nearly 80% aged below 40. These successful applicants are allowed to bring their dependants to Hong Kong. At present, there are about 8,300 visas for dependants granted under the Scheme. A higher percentage of applicants in the higher salary category apply together with their dependants, with each successful applicant bringing along an average of 1.46 dependants.
On the other hand, graduates of the top 100 universities with less than three years of working experience have the lowest rate of bringing along their dependants, with an average of one dependant for every 33 applicants, which is believed to be related to the fact that these applicants are younger and have not yet started a family. Mr Suen believes that the talent brought in under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme is not limited to the applicants themselves, as their family members will also become part of our community and contribute to Hong Kong.
More than half of the applicants are graduates from universities in Asia (including Mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, etc.), followed by popular destinations for Hong Kong people to study. He also revealed that of the 10,000-odd applicants approved, more than 9,200 have already received visas to come to Hong Kong within six months or have already arrived.
The Government has launched a number of "talent and enterprise" measures, including a multi-pronged approach to enhance five of the six existing talent schemes, including relaxing the General Employment Policy and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals; extending the limit of stay for non-local graduates from one year to two years under the "Arrangement for Non-local Graduates to Remain/Return to Work in Hong Kong"; removing the restrictions on the application of the "Technology Migrant Admission Scheme"; and abolishing the annual quota for the "Quality Migrant Admission Scheme". The annual quota for the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) has been abolished. The Government has also launched a new scheme, the "Top Talent Pass Scheme". Taken as a whole, the Government has taken proactive measures to attract top talent from around the world.
At the same time, in order to attract more foreign talents and respond to their aspirations for home ownership in Hong Kong, the Government allows eligible foreign talents who have come to Hong Kong under the seven Admission Schemes to claim a refund of the Buyer's Stamp Duty (BSD) and New Residential Stamp Duty (NRSD) paid on the first residential property they still own after residing in Hong Kong for seven years and becoming permanent residents, but they are still required to pay ad valorem stamp duty calculated at the "second standard rate", i.e. their stamp duty liability is the same as that of the Second Standard Rate. This means that the stamp duty burden is the same as that of a first-time HKPR.
