Hong Kong’s new visa schemes, improved market spurs mainlander worker rush

Improved market conditions and supportive visa programmes have spurred a rush from mainland Chinese workers heading to Hong Kong for employment, according to recruitment consultants.

Since last year, the Hong Kong government has announced a slew of new immigration policies to attract global talent amid an exodus of residents who left the city during the Covid-19 pandemic. The city recorded a loss of some 210,000 workers between early 2019 and the end of 2022.

“Recent government initiatives, and lucrative business and career development opportunities brought on a noticeable shift in attracting mainland Chinese talent in Hong Kong in the last two years,” said Karen Ng, country leader for Asia excluding Australia and New Zealand, at recruitment consultancy, Deel.

The introduction of new and enhanced talent-related policies, such as the stamp duty exemption measure, has also helped attract mainland Chinese talent to the city, she added.

Since the introduction of new visa policies and the talent schemes, mainland Chinese professionals have made up the lion’s shares of visa applications.

In the Top Talent Pass Scheme, the city’s most popular talent scheme, for those who earned no less than HK$2.5 million per year or were graduates of one of the world’s top 100 universities, saw 44,215 applications from mainland Chinese, representing 94 per cent of all applications in the first ten months of the year.

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The Quality Migrant Admission Scheme saw 12,313 applications from mainland Chinese, from January to November, reflecting 98 per cent of applications.

“We tend to see the finance, banking, and technology sectors hiring more top talent globally,” said Ng. “Market demands have led to the influx of talent from the mainland.”

Data on the Deel platform showed that Hong Kong was the third biggest hiring centre for mainland China based workers, after the US and Singapore. Hong Kong companies have capitalised on the government’s initiatives and are actively ramping up hiring efforts.

As industries pivot their strategy to serve customers in mainland China, companies are also targeting mainland Chinese talent, leveraging on their local expertise and knowledge, said Ng.

There has been a shift in the mindset among mainland Chinese workers, said Jerry Chang, managing director at the recruiting firm Barons & Co.

“A few years ago, it was a lot harder to attract people from the mainland to work in Hong Kong,” said Chang. “But given the better market conditions- relative to the mainland- more workers are attracted to jobs in Hong Kong.”

“Mainland China based companies are sending their team from sales, marketing, and operations departments to work in other markets, including Hong Kong, due to the needs for business expansions,” said Ng.

Elsewhere, high-growth industries like e-commerce, healthcare, supply chain and insurance are especially interesting to mainland China talent who are looking to expand their options, said Benjamin Elms, the managing director at Randstad Hong Kong.

Banks and financial services, including insurance, are seeing the biggest concentration of mainland Chinese talent, he added.

“This strategic move is fuelled by their focus on expanding Asia operations, driven by a growing number of Chinese customers seeking to diversify their financial portfolios,” he said.

Legal professionals in Hong Kong with a strong understanding of the Chinese legal system are also highly sought after, to support commercial expansions in Asia and globally to assist with navigating the increasingly complex regulations, said Elms.