LCQ10: Top Talent Pass Scheme
8.2.2023

Following is a question by the Hon Edmund Wong and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (February 8): Question: On December 28, 2022, the newly introduced Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) started accepting applications to trawl talents from overseas to come to Hong Kong for development. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: (1) of the respective numbers of applications made under TTPS which were received, approved and rejected by the authorities from December 28, 2022 to January 27, 2023, together with a breakdown and the following information by the category to which the applicants belonged (i.e. Category A, Category B and Category C): salary or income, occupation and trade in which the applicant was engaged, work experience, academic qualification, age, gender and marital status; and (2) of the longest, shortest and average processing time for the approved applications? Reply: President, The Government launched a series of measures trawling for talents on December 28, 2022, including the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) with an aim to attracting talents of the following three categories: Category A: persons with an annual income of HK$2.5 million or above in the year prior to application; Category B: persons who have obtained a bachelor degree from the world's top 100 universities prescribed in the designated aggregate list and have accumulated at least three years of work experience in the five years prior to application; and Category C: persons who have obtained a bachelor degree from the world's top 100 universities within five years prior to application, but have less than three years of work experience. An annual quota of 10 000 is set for this category. In consultation with the Immigration Department (ImmD), the reply to the Member's question is as follows: (1) As at January 27, 2023, the number of applications and approvals under the TTPS is as follows: Category A Category B Category C Total Number of applications received 1 172 3 485 2 760 7 417 Number of approved applications 470 2 983 2 346 5 799 Number of rejected applications 7 134 145 286 The numbers of approved applications by income, work experience, age, gender and marital status are as follows: Income in previous year (HK$) Approved applications Category A Category B Category C 2.5 million to less than 3 million 89 Not required to submit relevant information 3 million to less than 5 million 212 5 million to less than 10 million 84 10 million or more 85 Work experience Approved applications Category A Category B Category C Less than 3 years Not required to submit relevant information Not applicable 2 346 3 years to less than 5 years 1 498 Not applicable 5 years to less than 10 years 1 467 10 years or more 18 Age Approved applications Category A Category B Category C Total 18 to 30 27 864 2 333 3 224 31 to 40 185 1 575 13 1 773 41 to 50 210 458 0 668 51 to 60 45 79 0 124 61 or above 3 7 0 10 Gender Approved applications Category A Category B Category C Total Male 335 1 876 1 149 3 360 Female 135 1 107 1 197 2 439 Marital status Approved applications Category A Category B Category C Total Single 71 1 135 2 213 3 419 Married 392 1 802 123 2 317 Separated/divorced 7 32 3 42 Widowed 0 2 0 2 Not disclosed 0 12 7 19 Applicants provided information on their occupations, which are of a great variety. The ImmD does not separately keep such statistics by relevant industries or occupations. In respect of academic qualifications, Category A applicants are not required to submit information on academic qualifications; whereas Categories B and C applicants should prove that they hold a bachelor degree from the world's top 100 universities, and do not need to separately declare other academic qualifications held. (2) Under the TTPS, the ImmD generally completes the processing of applications within four weeks upon receipt of all necessary documents. The processing time required for individual cases depends on whether the applicant meets the relevant application criteria, whether sufficient supporting documents and information have been provided, and the staffing arrangements of the ImmD. Some straightforward cases can be approved within the same day of application.