Since the introduction of the National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2020, there has been a massive wave of emigration from the city. The loss of professional talent in Hong Kong has become a serious issue, prompting the government to actively recruit talents through various “talent acquisition” schemes. The government claims that up to now, 110,000 people have come to Hong Kong through these talent programs. Analysts believe that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been planning to implement the “Stay in Hong Kong, but not the people” plan, and this plan is currently being carried out.
On April 30, Hong Kong Chief Executive Li Ka-Chiu stated during a press conference that by the end of March this year, about 110,000 talents had come to Hong Kong through various talent programs. Among them, the “Talent Admission Scheme” has received around 77,000 applications, with 62,000 approvals. He also estimated that the “Talent Admission Scheme” could bring about approximately 34 billion in direct economic contributions to Hong Kong annually, equivalent to around 1.2% of GDP.
Li Ka-Chiu also mentioned that the talents admitted through this scheme are mainly engaged in management and professional work in Hong Kong, with a median income of about 50,000 Hong Kong dollars. Some have incomes exceeding 100,000 or even 200,000 Hong Kong dollars. Many of these individuals come with their spouses, and over 21,000 spouses came to Hong Kong together last year. These spouses are generally young and some have started working, mostly in higher-skilled positions, with a median monthly income of around 30,000 Hong Kong dollars.
The “Talent Admission Scheme,” officially known as the “Talent Admission Scheme for Professionals,” first appeared in Li Ka-Chiu’s Policy Address in October 2022. In the report, Li Ka-Chiu acknowledged that Hong Kong had seen a loss of approximately 140,000 local labor force in the past two years. He then proposed four measures to attract foreign talents, including the launch of the “Talent Admission Scheme,” relaxation of the “General Employment Policy,” and the “Import of Mainland Talents Scheme.”
At the end of 2022, Hong Kong formally started accepting applications for the High-end Talent Admittance Program. Within just 7 weeks of its launch, over 10,000 applications were received, with the government approving more than 7,700 of them. The Secretary for Labour and Welfare of Hong Kong, Law Suk-Hon, mentioned that two-thirds of the applications came from mainland China, and one-third from overseas. He also emphasized that it was difficult to differentiate if the applicants from overseas were Chinese nationals, with reports suggesting that around 95% were Chinese nationals from mainland China.
According to the description on the Hong Kong Immigration Department’s official website, the “Talent Admission Scheme” aims to attract high-end talents with rich work experience and high academic qualifications from around the world to explore opportunities in Hong Kong, including high-income individuals and graduates from the top universities in the world.
According to the “Qualified University Comprehensive List” released by the Hong Kong government in January of this year, undergraduate graduates from the top 100 universities globally are eligible to apply. This includes nine universities from mainland China, such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Science and Technology of China, Sun Yat-sen University, Nanjing University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, as long as graduates from these universities meet the application criteria.
Since the implementation of the National Security Law in July 2020, Hong Kong has seen a new wave of emigration, with hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents moving overseas.
The loss of students in Hong Kong is also significant. According to the Student Number Statistics Report released by the Hong Kong Education Bureau, in the three years from September 2019 to September 2022, nearly 68,000 primary and secondary school students have left Hong Kong, with a loss of 27,000 students from September 2021 to September 2022 alone.