Applications for Common Recruitment Examination and Basic Law and National Security Law Test open today

A spokesman for the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) yesterday said that prospective applicants for civil service posts at the degree or professional level can apply from today (August 5) onwards to take the Common Recruitment Examination (CRE) and the Basic Law and National Security Law Test (BLNST) in Hong Kong tentatively scheduled to be held on October 8 and 15.

Persons interested in taking the examination may apply from tomorrow through the online application system on the CSB webpage at www.csb.gov.hk/eng/cre.html; or by using the CRE and BLNST application form (CSB31 (7/2022)), which can be downloaded from the CSB webpage or obtained from any Home Affairs Enquiry Centre of the Home Affairs Department or Job Centre of the Labour Department. Applications must be made before 5pm on August 18 (Hong Kong time).

For the convenience of applicants studying or residing outside Hong Kong, the CRE and BLNST are also tentatively scheduled to be held on December 10 in seven other cities, namely Beijing, London, San Francisco, New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney. An announcement on the details will be made separately later this year on the CSB webpage. Persons who have applied to take the examination in Hong Kong will not be allowed to apply again for taking the examination outside Hong Kong.

In addition, all applicants are required to obtain a pass result in the BLNST for all civil service recruitment exercises advertised on or after July 1, 2022, regardless of whether they have taken any Basic Law Test centrally conducted by the CSB or individual bureaux/departments in previous recruitment exercises.

The BLNST (degree/professional grades) is a 30-minute bilingual paper (in both English and Chinese) comprising 20 multiple-choice questions. Applicants scoring at least 10 questions will get a pass result which is accepted for the purpose of applying for all civil service jobs.

Applicants for the coming CRE and BLNST should hold a degree, or a professional qualification meeting the entry requirement of the posts, or be a university student who expects to have obtained a degree in the 2022-23 academic year. Applicants may choose to take any of the CRE papers and/or the BLNST paper in the coming examination.