HONG KONG 2005

The Immigration Department is responsible for handling matters relating to the entry of foreigners for employment. Foreigners may work or invest in Hong Kong if they possess special skills, knowledge or experience of value to and not readily available in Hong Kong and are employed with a remuneration broadly commensurate with the market level, or they can make a substantial contribution to the economy.

Genuine business people and entrepreneurs are welcome to establish a presence in Hong Kong, bringing with them capital and expertise. Qualified professionals, technical staff, administrators and managerial personnel are also admitted with the minimum formalities. During the year, 21 119 foreign professionals and people with technical, administrative or managerial skills from more than 100 countries/territories were admitted for employment.

The Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals was implemented in 2003, replacing the Admission of Talents Scheme and the Admission of Mainland Professionals Scheme. The scheme aligns the conditions for admitting Mainland people for employment with those applicable to foreigners. It aims to attract talented people and professionals to work in Hong Kong to meet local manpower needs and enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness in the globalised market. (Further details of this scheme are given in Chapter 20).

Mainland students who have graduated from University Grants Committee (UGC) funded institutions since 1990 may be admitted for employment, provided that they possess special skills or knowledge of value to, but not readily available in Hong Kong and are employed with a remuneration broadly commensurate with the market level. Since July 2005, this policy has been extended to those who are admitted to study at non UGC-funded institutions in the academic year 2005/06 and thereafter, and who graduated from full-time locally accredited degree or above level programmes. The objective of this arrangement is to attract outstanding Mainland students who have completed full-time locally accredited degree or above programmes to re-enter Hong Kong for employment after graduation.

Under the Supplementary Labour Scheme, employers may apply to import workers to fill vacancies at technician level or below. The Government's policy on importation of labour is based on two cardinal principles:

All applications under the scheme are considered on a case-by-case basis. To ensure priority of employment for local workers, each application to import workers has to pass three tests before it is submitted to the Labour Advisory Board for consideration and to the Government for a decision. These tests are: advertising in newspapers, job-matching by the Labour Department for four weeks, and arranging a tailor-made retraining course for workers, if appropriate. In all, 839 visas/entry permits were issued during the year and a cumulative total of 11 876 visa/entry permit applications have been approved under the scheme by the end of 2005.

Foreign domestic helpers may be admitted subject to the conditions that they have relevant working experience, and that their employers are Hong Kong residents who are prepared to offer reasonable terms of employment including suitable accommodation and wages not lower than the level of the minimum allowable wage as set by the Government. Their employers must also be willing to provide for their maintenance and the cost of their passage home. Employers must also satisfy requirements on income and assets. The Labour Department and the Immigration Department co-organised two Information Expos in 2005 to raise the foreign domestic helpers' awareness of their rights and benefits.

In general, the demand for foreign domestic helpers has increased over the past three decades. At the end of 2005, there were 223 200 such helpers in Hong Kong, an increase of 2.2 per cent over the number of 218 430 in 2004. About 52.9 per cent were from the Philippines and 43.4 per cent from Indonesia.