- Immigration Department approved 34,626 applications, additional 32,649 dependent visas have been issued since talent scheme launch in December 2022
- Most students apply for institutions on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and Sha Tin, principal says; secondary schools see more pupils, but Primary One headcount remains low
The talent recruitment scheme that attracted a large number of professionals has brought along nearly 19,000 children, mostly secondary students, immigration authorities said. Photo: Sam TsangThe talent recruitment scheme that has attracted a large number of professionals to Hong Kong has brought along nearly 19,000 children, according immigration authorities. The education sector says these numbers have contributed in making up for the decline in the local student population.
The Immigration Department told the SCMP it had approved 34,626 applications and granted 32,649 dependant visas between December 28, when the Top Talent Pass Scheme was launched, and August 31.
Among the dependents, 13,775 were the spouses of applicants, another 18,824 were dependent minors and the remaining 50 were the same-sex partners of the professionals.
Lee Yi-ying, a secondary school principal and the chairwoman of the Subsidised Secondary School Council, said the numbers had helped to offset the drop in the city’s student population in recent years due to emigration and a falling birth rate.
“It not only helps our education sector, it also increases the number of youngsters in society,” Lee said.
The nearly 19,000 children were viewed as a major factor behind a recent surge in the number of classes being held by schools.
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The school sector needed to slash 58 Primary One classes in the current term, but the Education Bureau revealed two weeks ago that four Primary One and seven Form One classes had been added after the annual headcount exercise last month.
More than 75 per cent of professionals recruited from outside Hong Kong want their children to study in the city, with more opting for government-funded institutions than private alternatives, a survey conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers last month found.
So Ping-fai, a principal and acting chairman of the Subsidised Primary Schools Council, said that while the education system had the capacity to accommodate the new students, the younger ones were unevenly spread out across the city.
“I heard most of the schools receiving applications from the children of the arriving talent are in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and Sha Tin,” he said. “For those like us in New Territories West, my school did not receive any applications.”
He said this was likely because most of the families could afford to live nearer the city centre.
Most of the children were enrolling in secondary schools and senior forms in primary schools, with only a few studying at the lower level, he added.
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The recruited professionals might not want to bring their children to Hong Kong if they were still young, so schools currently suffering low enrolment and facing possible closure would not benefit from the flow of immigrants as their survival was tied to the number of Primary One classes they could operate, the principal said.
Lee of the Subsidised Secondary School Council said the arriving students seeking places in higher forms were more broadly dispersed.
Kowloon True Light School in Kowloon Tong had admitted some children of the arriving talent, she said.
“We meet the applicants and their parents like the way we handled the applications of transfer students, and the applicants should also finish the written tests,” she said.
“Generally, the children of the talent are quite polite, and they are quite prepared to adapt to the Hong Kong educational environment, like they know they need to learn Cantonese, Chinese traditional characters and more advanced English,” she said.
The Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council, representing semi-private schools, earlier said their members had received numerous applications from the children of arriving professionals.
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The international school sector also noted an uptick in demand. The English Schools Foundation, the city’s largest international school group, announced last month it had introduced a new priority interview category for arrivals coming through the Top Talent Pass Scheme.
To qualify for the programme, applicants must have earned at least HK$2.5 million (US$319,600) over the past 12 months or graduated from one of the world’s top 100 universities and worked for three of the past five years.
Graduates from the world’s top 100 universities in the past five years with less than three years of experience may also apply, but the number of applicants is capped at 10,000 annually.