Labor chief: Over 38,000 overseas talents attracted to HK by July this year

The Hong Kong government launched various talent admission schemes at the end of last year. In an interview with Guangzhou Daily, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han, said that 120,000 applications had been received, of which more than 75,000 had been approved under the various talent attraction plans by the end of last month.

As of the end of July, more than 38,000 applicants had arrived in Hong Kong this year under the various talent admission schemes, which achieved the yearly goal of admitting 35,000 talents within just seven months, he added.

According to Sun, the Top Talent Pass Scheme has been particularly popular, with more than 40,000 applications received and over 30,000 approved.

Since the measures to optimize the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) were introduced on January 1 this year, 40,000 applications had been received up to July 31, with about 10,000 applications approved so far, which set a record in the number of applications approved, he added.

Sun said that the HKSAR Government should continue to actively attract more talents from all over the world to do business in Hong Kong and closely monitor the implementation of talent attraction measures.

"Any work permit or resident status in Hong Kong obtained by illegal means would be canceled in accordance with the law, and the person involved would be subject to criminal liability and repatriation to the original place," Sun stressed.