Hong Kong top talent scheme visa holders given 2 additional months for renewal process
Remote employment will be accepted on condition that they earn HK$1.2 million a year and pay income taxes in the city
Visa holders under Hong Kong’s top talent scheme will be given two extra months to apply for an extension, and remote employment will be accepted on condition they earn HK$1.2 million (US$155,400) a year and pay income tax in the city.
Officials also said on Friday that the Chinese-language requirement had been eliminated from the separate Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, with a new online questionnaire introduced to expedite the screening of applicants, as authorities were dealing with a backlog of 80,000 applications.
The Top Talent Pass Scheme was launched in December 2022, with successful applicants who wanted to extend their visa required to do so four weeks before their initial two-year stay expired.
But under a set of measures that came into force on Friday, all such visa holders can now file renewal applications three months before the due date.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said the extra months would provide new arrivals with greater assurance as they now had more time to get a head start on renewals before their visas expired.
“Even if their information is incomplete or something is wrong … we are giving them three times [as much] time [for the process]. They don’t need to worry about the visa expiring after the back and forth of documents,” he said at a media briefing.
