Hong Kong Policy Address - Highlights of talent attraction measures

1. Two-year Top-Talent Pass Scheme: 

•    Eligible talents include those with an annual salary of HK$2.5 million or above in the past 1 year, or those who graduated from the world's top 100 universities with 3 years’ work experience. These two categories of persons can be issued a 2-year permit for development in Hong Kong, with no quota limit.

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•    As for the graduates of the top 100 universities who have not met the work experience requirements, but have graduated within the past 5 years, a 2-year permit can also be issued, with an annual quota of 10,000 people.

2. The Government will cancel the annual quota of the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) for a period of two years, and optimize the approval process

3. Relax measures for the non-local graduates (IANG) - extend the period of stay from 1 year to 2 years. The arrangement will be extended to graduates from the Greater Bay Area campuses of Hong Kong universities on a trial basis for a period of 2 years.

4. Stamp Duty measure for non-HK permanent residents (PR) - Qualified foreign talents who buy property in Hong Kong today or in the future can apply for the refund the stamp duty of the first residential property they have purchased and still hold after they have lived in Hong Kong for 7 years and become a Hong Kong PR. But they are still subject to ad valorem stamp duty at Scale 2 rates. This will bring the stamp duty burden on par with first-time homebuyers for Hong Kong PR.