Hong Kong Government Press Release
8th February 2023 – (Hong Kong) The Hong Kong government launched a series of measures trawling for talents on 28th December, 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$2.5 million or above in the year prior to application;
- Category B: persons who have obtained a bachelor degree from the world’s top 100 universities prescribed in the designated aggregate list and have accumulated at least three years of work experience in the five years prior to application; and
- Category C: persons who have obtained a bachelor degree from the world’s top 100 universities within five years prior to application, but have less than three years of work experience. An annual quota of 10,000 is set for this category.
As at 27th January, 2023, the number of applications and approvals under the TTPS is as follows:
| Category A | Category B | Category C | Total | |
| Number of applications received | 1,172 | 3,485 | 2,760 | 7,417 |
| Number of approved applications | 470 | 2,983 | 2,346 | 5,799 |
| Number of rejected applications | 7 | 134 | 145 | 286 |
The numbers of approved applications by income, work experience, age, gender and marital status are as follows:
| Income in previous year (HK$) | 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 Immigration Department 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.
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.