Professionals recruited through the Hong Kong top talent pass scheme earning median of HK$50,000 a month

Lee added that since the program’s inception, almost 70,000 applications have been received, of which approximately 79% have been approved and 73% have already arrived. Nearly 90% of the skilled individuals originated from China’s mainland.

“The heartening outcome shows that the scheme, which has just entered its first anniversary, has made significant contributions to expanding Hong Kong’s high-quality talent pool,” he said.

The majority of the recent new arrivals were assuming managerial and highly skilled service roles, with a median monthly salary of HK$50,000, according to Lee, who cited a survey done in November by the Labour and Welfare Bureau. He said that a fifth of them earned more than HK$100,000 per month.

Data from the third quarter of last year indicated that the median monthly wage in Hong Kong was HK$20,500.

According to Labour and Welfare Secretary Chris Sun Yuk-han, the survey interviewed nearly 2,000 applicants and their wives who had been in Hong Kong for more than six months.

“The Top Talent Pass Scheme has achieved initial success, attracting many high-quality talented professionals to settle in Hong Kong,” Sun said. “The next step is to retain these talents and enhance competitiveness.”

The minister promised to provide the newcomers with more thorough, one-stop assistance, encompassing information on housing, children’s schooling, entrepreneurship support, and Cantonese study.

Since the end of 2022, over 240,000 applications had been submitted to all of the schemes combined, of which approximately 140,000 had been approved.

In 2023, almost 90,000 professionals came in Hong Kong, which is about three times the yearly goal for all of the programs combined.