Top Talent Pass Scheme — Hong Kong's Points-Free Global Talent Visa

Launched in December 2022 amid an emigration wave and post-pandemic talent shortage, the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) lets high earners (annual income of HK$2.5 million or more) and graduates of the world's top universities apply for a Hong Kong work visa without a job offer or quota.

Attract high-value talent to Hong Kong at administrative scale, with renewal conditional on demonstrating local employment or entrepreneurial activity.

The Labour and Welfare Bureau and Immigration Department jointly administer applications, approvals and renewals, and conduct follow-up surveys of arrivals' employment, salary and family outcomes.

By end-December 2024 the scheme had received more than 116,000 applications, approved nearly 92,000, and seen over 75,000 approved talents arrive with their families; more than half of arrivals were under 40, with a median monthly salary of about HK$50,000 (around a quarter earning HK$100,000 or more), and nearly 20% of accompanying spouses also found local employment.

The scheme's central open question is retention rather than attraction: of the first cohort of visas up for renewal, only about 54% of holders applied to extend by July 2025 (7,394 of 13,678), split sharply by category — 77% among the highest earners (Category A) versus 50% among graduate entrants (Category B). The government has extended the renewal window and committed to processing at least 50,000 extension applications a year through 2027, but has not published data on where non-renewers went.