Face Off: Are Hong Kong’s talent schemes an effective way to attract overseas workers?

Hong Kong has tried many things to attract overseas workers over the last few years. One scheme, the Talent List, was created in 2018 to highlight the most desirable candidates for immigration. It initially included 11 professions but was recently expanded to offer fast track visas to people working in 51 different job types, hoping to entice some 35,000 overseas highly skilled workers to the city annually.

A recent survey from The Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management found that 85 per cent of members across all sectors had reported difficulties filling vacancies over the past six months.

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Many hope the scheme will fill jobs that have been sitting empty. Since the visa process can take as little as a month, it could happen quickly as well. Since the expansion was just announced, we have yet to determine how effective it will be, but confidence remains high.

Furthermore, Chief Executive John Lee announced the Top Talent Pass Scheme during his policy address last year, which grants visas to high earners and graduates from the world’s top 100 universities with at least three years of work experience in the previous five years.

Formally launched in December, the scheme attracted some 27,000 applications by the end of April. Around 17,000 had been approved, and 5,000 people granted visas had arrived.

Hong Kong is an attractive place to live. It boasts a low crime rate and high quality of living, and its location makes it easy to travel around Asia. The Top Talent Pass Scheme has already attracted thousands of people, and now that the Talent List has been expanded to include more job types, there’s no doubt it will bring more of the best and brightest to Hong Kong.

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While the number of job types included in the Talent List work visa scheme has expanded, Hong Kong’s different talent schemes have had limited success in attracting overseas workers.

To start, the job opportunities they make available aren’t exclusive to Hong Kong. The latest expansion brings the list to 51 job types, including doctors and architects. But many countries need people with these professional skills, and it will be hard for the city to stand out as a destination for individuals with these talents. It may also be difficult for people with qualifications from different countries – such as doctors – to meet the registry requirements or pass examinations in Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong is also not the only city on the hunt for talent; last year, Singapore announced its own programme for foreign workers. The five-year visa for high-earning individuals allows them to start, run or work for multiple companies at the same time, which could attract those who want more flexibility.

Aside from career prospects, there are other factors overseas workers must consider about Hong Kong, such as their daily lives and education for their kids.

New immigrants face a very high cost of living, severe housing shortage, and smaller spaces than they may be used to abroad. It would also be difficult for their children to adapt to the city’s school system or try to get a place in an international school.

Meanwhile, the new Top Talent Pass Scheme introduced last October attracted about 20,000 applications by the end of March – about 12,000 applicants, a vast majority from mainland China, were granted two-year work visas. Is two years long enough to seriously make an impact on the city’s labour force, or will we be in the same situation again in two years?

Our government must improve our talent schemes to attract skilled people worldwide to move to Hong Kong long-term.