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Lawmakers have urged the government to expand the criteria for a scheme allowing talent to pursue short-term work in Hong Kong. Photo: Nora Tam

Hong Kong government urged to expand criteria allowing overseas talent to pursue short-term work in city

  • Pilot scheme currently allows overseas talent to apply for two-week work trip in Hong Kong without visa if invited by host organisations from authorised list
  • But lawmaker Duncan Chiu urges government to expand list of host organisations and allow foreign professionals longer stay in city

The government should expand admission criteria for a pilot scheme that allows overseas talent to temporarily work in Hong Kong without a visa, a lawmaker and an adviser on innovation have said, ahead of a relaxation of Covid-19 travel curbs.

The scheme, which rolled out in June, allows overseas professionals from 10 designated industries to take up pro bono or paid jobs in Hong Kong for two weeks without applying for a work visa.

Under the current criteria, talent may qualify if they are involved in large-scale international events, as well as sectors such as innovation and technology, arts and culture, medical and healthcare, sports, higher education, heritage, aviation and the creative sector.

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But lawmaker Duncan Chiu, who represents the technology sector, said the scope of the initiative was too narrow, as only select semi-official bodies approved by the Security Bureau, such as the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, could apply to invite people from overseas to come to the city on a visa-free basis.

“This won’t help to solve the manpower shortage in the industry,” he said, adding that innovation and technology experts from mainland China were among the professionals needed by local start-ups to help develop new software.

Eric Yeung Chuen-sing, an honorary president of the Smart City Consortium, which offers advice to the government on innovation, said the technology sector had not widely benefited from the scheme as it was mainly aimed at helping government-backed institutions host events.

“Attracting talents to come to Hong Kong would require other policies and facilities. For example, tech companies are excited about Hong Kong’s recent shift to the ‘0+3’ policy, even though we are still eagerly hoping for the mainland border to be reopened,” he said.

Hong Kong is set to implement a relaxed “0+3” entry scheme from Monday, with inbound travellers no longer required to undergo hotel quarantine and just three days of medical surveillance at home or in a hotel room.

Yeung, also a founding president of the Hong Kong Esports Association, also said sport clubs might not be interested in the scheme as athletes did not need a work visa anyway, provided they did not receive money from a local host to play in the city.

A spokesman for the bureau in May said individuals seeking to qualify for the scheme must be invited by an authorised host organisation, with proof required that the person possessed much-needed skills in Hong Kong and their work was “conducive to economic development or achieving relevant policy objectives”.

The scheme also covers athletes, coaches and visiting sports professionals, if they are invited by the relevant associations or the Hong Kong Sports Institute.

Insiders revealed the talent admission scheme has failed to attract applicants on the back of Hong Kong’s fifth coronavirus wave. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

But Chiu, who chairs Hong Kong Squash, the governing body of the sport in the city, also suggested granting successful applicants a month-long stay instead of the existing two weeks, citing the recent plans to ease the city’s strict entry regime.

“Local squash players needed sparring partners to come and train with them for at least a month. That’s the time they need to learn from their trainers,” Chiu said.

Sources revealed that the scheme had failed to attract many applications in the four months since its inception, with the launch in June occurring as Hong Kong’s economy was still reeling from the effects of the fifth coronavirus wave.

The Post has contacted the bureau for figures on the number of applications received for the scheme.

‘Hong Kong should strengthen role in attracting top talent to Greater Bay Area’

For those seeking to qualify for visa-free travel in the arts and culture sectors, overseas professionals must receive an invitation from the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Arts Development Council or the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.

Activities sponsored or supported by host groups, but which they did not organise, are excluded from the scheme.

But legislator Kenneth Fok Kai-kong earlier wrote to Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and suggested that the list of host organisations include nine of the city’s major performing arts groups, including the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre and the Hong Kong Ballet.

“The exchange of talent is also crucial as Beijing supports Hong Kong in becoming a centre for arts and cultural dialogue between China and the world … I hope that the bureau can consider the actual needs of the art groups, and include them as host bodies,” he wrote.

In the heritage sector, the government’s Antiquities and Monuments Office was listed as the only host organisation that could invite experts to come to Hong Kong to speak or take part in a ceremony.

But lawmaker Andrew Lam Siu-lo, a former chairman of the Antiquities Advisory Board, said the arrangement was appropriate as the heritage sector was hard to define and could involve numerous institutions and professional guilds.

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