Australia’s got talent: country grabs more than 1,000 Hong Kong top earners with offer of ‘instant PR’
- City is now No 3 after mainland China and India among Australia’s main sources of high-quality immigrants
- Australian scheme targets highly skilled people in 10 fields earning at least A$162,000 a year
Australia has taken more than 1,000 top professionals from Hong Kong over the last three years through a global scheme that began well before the city kicked off its own drive to woo talent.
Those who left the city worked mainly in financial services and fintech, digital technology and health. Hong Kong is now ranked third, after mainland China and India, among Australia’s main sources of top talent.
The country’s ongoing global talent programme, which began in 2019, offers successful applicants instant permanent residence, and is for highly skilled individuals from designated fields earning at least A$162,000 (US$110,000) annually.
Australia offered 15,000 places for the 2021-22 financial year.
Figures obtained by the Post show that from November 2019 to September this year, 1,087 applications by Hong Kong residents were approved, with each taking about two dependents with them.
Australia received more than 2,200 Hong Kong applications during that period, with the number spiking from a dozen to 200 a month after Beijing imposed the national security law in June 2020. The figure has come down steadily this year.
Overall, about 8,500 Hongkongers were granted permanent residence in Australia from June 2020 to June this year via different migration channels, more than double the annual figures before 2020, according to official data last month.
Hong Kong became Australia’s eighth-largest source of immigrants last year, a sharp jump from 23rd place in 2020.
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There has been a wave of emigration from the city to Australia, Britain and Canada, which all eased migration pathways for Hong Kong residents after the national security law was introduced.
Besides emigration, strict Covid-19 pandemic restrictions also drove expatriates away, resulting in the city’s workforce shrinking by about 140,000.
Australia’s talent scheme targets 10 future-focused sectors: digital technology; financial services and fintech; health industries; infrastructure and tourism; education; energy; defence and advanced manufacturing and space; food and agriculture; circular economy; and resources.
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Veteran tourism marketing executive Tabo Chan*, in his fifties, applied last year and now lives in Western Australia with his family.
He said he wanted a better work-life balance after slogging for years in Hong Kong.
“There is not much work pressure in Australia compared with Hong Kong,” he said. “Fresh air, sunshine and beaches are everywhere, and there are tons of outdoor activities.
“With less than A$1 million, you can own your house with a garage for two cars and a garden. That’s not possible in Hong Kong.”
He said he earned more in Australia, but taxes were also higher there.
Two-fifths of the successful Hong Kong applicants were from the financial services and fintech sector, with almost the same proportion from digital technology. Just more than one in 10 were health professionals, while skilled labour in infrastructure and tourism accounted for 4 per cent.
Finance sector legislator Ronick Chan Chun-ying acknowledged that financial professionals had left for Britain and Australia, but argued that as an international financial centre, Hong Kong provided more promising career development and better pay than Australia.
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“It is normal that people come and people go, talent will eventually pick the place that offers opportunities,” he said.
To woo talent, he felt Hong Kong had to make sure it offered sufficient international school places or allowed more schools to provide an international curriculum, as this was something top professionals looked at for their children when deciding where to settle.
Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said the high number of digital technology professionals who had left the city reflected the pandemic trend of working from home or other remote locations.
“Programmers can work from anywhere. Most are still working for Hong Kong companies after emigrating,” he said.
He added that he was not surprised that so many digital technology professionals had left, as most countries were short of programmers.
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In announcing its tailor-made migration scheme for Hongkongers, Australia promised that their applications would have priority.
The latest data showed that Australian officials took only 34 days on average to process a Hong Kong applicant’s expression of interest, the first step in the process, compared with almost 180 days for an applicant from China.
*Name changed at the interviewee’s request
