EXPATRIATE workers in Hong Kong who assume the Mandatory Provident Fund will not apply to them should think again.
Under the MPF Ordinance, the basic requirement to join an MPF scheme applied to all employees and did not differentiate between expatriate and Hong Kong workers, said Peter Crewe, sales and marketing director of AIA Pension and Trustee Co.
The only exceptions were expats working in Hong Kong for less than 12 months or those who were covered by a home-country retirement scheme. Some expat employees also might fall into exempt categories, which included civil servants, domestic workers and hawkers.
'The majority of expats normally are transferred here and they normally stay in their home-country scheme,' he said. 'But that may not be the case if they are hired on a local contract, such as some teachers and other professionals.' Workers hired under local contract terms might, of course, have chosen to remain in a home-country scheme and would therefore be exempt from MPF.
For workers who remained in an offshore scheme but deferred payments during their time in Hong Kong, the requirements were less clear, Mr Crewe said.
MPF guidelines make it uncertain whether active and contributing members alone are exempt, or whether expats who have deferred contributions to an overseas scheme also can opt out.
The MPF Authority would have to clarify this point, he said.