Subject to the terms of the Rules for the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (“New Scheme Rules”), an applicant who satisfies the following criteria will be eligible for applying to the Immigration Department (“ImmD”) for a visa/entry permit for entering Hong Kong and/or remaining in Hong Kong for residence under the New CIES:
- An applicant is aged 18 or above at the time of applying for Net Asset Assessment to Invest Hong Kong (“InvestHK”);
- An applicant must fall into one of the following categories covered by the New CIES: (i) Foreign nationalsNote1, (ii) Chinese nationals who have obtained permanent resident status in a foreign country; Macao Special Administrative Region residents; and Chinese residents of Taiwan;
- An applicant must apply for a Net Asset Assessment to InvestHK: the applicant should demonstrate to the satisfaction of InvestHK that he/she has net assets or net equity to which he/she is absolutely beneficially entitled with a market value of not less than HK$30 million net (or equivalent in foreign currencies) throughout the two years preceding the date he/she lodged the application for Net Asset Assessment under the New CIES;
- An applicant must make the committed investment in Permissible investment assets on or after the launch date of the New CIES. An applicant has met the Investment Requirements if he/she has invested under one of the circumstances specified in 2.1(d)(i)-(iii) of the New Scheme Rules Note2 not less than HK$30 million net (or equivalent in foreign currencies) in Permissible investment assets to which he/ she is absolutely beneficially entitled;
- An applicant must demonstrate that he/she has no adverse immigration record and meets normal immigration and security requirements; and
- An applicant can demonstrate to ImmD that he/she is capable of supporting and accommodating himself/herself and his/her dependants, if any, on his/her own without relying on any return on the Permissible investment assets, employment, self-employment, office, business or public assistance in or carried on in Hong Kong as the case may be. In addition, the entry of dependants will be subject to any other policy applicable to such entry at the time.
Note 1: Nationals of Afghanistan, Cuba, and Democratic People's Republic of Korea are excluded. The list of excluded countries/regions will be reviewed by the Security Bureau (“SB”)/ ImmD from time to time. Stateless persons who have obtained permanent resident status in a foreign country with proven re-entry facilities will be eligible under the New CIES.
Note 2: For more details on Net Asset Requirement and Investment Requirements, please refer to the New Scheme Rules.
Before an applicant submits an entry application for visa/ entry permit under the New CIES to ImmD, he/she is required to first approach InvestHK for verifying whether he/she has fulfilled the Net Asset Requirement. After InvestHK has verified that the applicant has fulfilled the Net Asset Requirement, InvestHK will issue a Certifying Proof for Fulfillment of Net Asset Requirement to the applicant. The applicant is then required to submit an entry application for visa/entry permit to ImmD within the validity period of the relevant certifying proof. If approval-in-principle is given after assessment from the immigration perspectives, ImmD will grant a visa/entry permit to the applicant for entering Hong Kong on visitor status for not more than 180 days for making the committed investment within the period.
Upon the applicant’s completion of the committed investment within the specified investment timeframe, he/she is required to approach InvestHK for verifying whether he/she has fulfilled the Investment Requirements. Upon InvestHK’s verification that the applicant has fulfilled the Investment Requirements, InvestHK will issue a Certifying Proof for Fulfillment of Investment Requirements to the applicant. The applicant is required to submit the relevant certifying proof within its validity period to ImmD, which will in turn resume assessment on his/her entry application. Upon formal approval, permission of stay will normally be granted to the applicant/entrant and his/her dependants (if any) for not more than 24 months on time limitation only, subject to the condition that the applicant/entrant continues to satisfy the requirements of the New CIES throughout this period.
Any entry application from a person who satisfies the eligibility criteria of the New CIES will be accepted, irrespective of whether he/she is residing in Hong Kong or elsewhere.
You can submit your application and upload necessary documents to ImmD online.
Yes. For the requirements of supporting documents, please refer to the following link.
They are relevant certifying proofs issued by InvestHK after the applicant is verified to have fulfilled the Net Asset Requirement and the Investment Requirements respectively.
You will be notified by ImmD of your application result by e-mail. However, if the e-mail address is invalid/incorrect or your e-mail server (e.g. spam filter) blocks or deletes the notification, it will result in failure in delivery of the notification by electronic means. If necessary, please call the Technical Support Hotline at (852) 3128 8668.
You can refer to the New Scheme Rules for details on the Permissible investment assets.
Under the New CIES, InvestHK is the department responsible for verifying the applicant’s fulfillment of Net Asset Requirement, Investment Requirements and Portfolio Maintenance Requirements. You may also visit the website of InvestHK for more details.
You can refer to the New Scheme Rules for details on the requirements.
Under the New CIES, InvestHK is the department responsible for verifying the applicant’s fulfillment of Net Asset Requirement, Investment Requirements and Portfolio Maintenance Requirements. You may also visit the website of InvestHK for more details.
No.
An entrant should understand that even if he/she has continuously satisfied the financial requirements and have been approved of extension of stay in accordance with the New Scheme Rules for not less than seven years, it does not constitute any implication or acknowledgement from ImmD that he/she has fulfilled the ordinary residence requirement and other requirements under the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115 of the Laws of Hong Kong) for acquiring the right of abode. Any person claiming to be a Hong Kong permanent resident under the Immigration Ordinance may submit, in accordance with established procedures, application for verification of eligibility for permanent identity card to ImmD, if he/she meets the requirement of “having ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years” under the law and other relevant provisions of the Immigration Ordinance.
If an entrant has successfully become a Hong Kong permanent resident, he/she will be free to dispose of the Permissible investment assets under the New CIES subject to the terms and conditions of the underlying investments.
An entrant may not be able to fulfill the continuous ordinary residence requirement in Hong Kong even after he/she has fulfilled the Portfolio Maintenance Requirements under the New CIES for not less than seven years. The entrant may apply for and, if approved, obtain unconditional stay (which permits entry and stay in Hong Kong without being subject to any conditions or limit of stay) following the end of the seventh year that he/she has been approved of extension of stay in accordance with the New Scheme Rules. After obtaining unconditional stay, he/she will be free to dispose of the Permissible investment assets under the New CIES subject to the terms and conditions of the underlying investments.
An entrant is allowed to take up employment, be an office-holder, self-employed or join in or establish a business in Hong Kong.
Non-permanent residents of Hong Kong (including entrants admitted under the New CIES and their dependants), irrespective of their nationality and type of travel document held, do not require a re-entry visa/entry permit to enter Hong Kong provided that they return within the currency of their permitted limit of stay and that the circumstances upon which they have acquired their residential status remain unchanged. Please click here for details.
Yes. An applicant/entrant under the New CIES may apply to bring in his/her spouse or the other party to a same-sex civil partnership, same-sex civil union, “same-sex marriage”, opposite-sex civil partnership or opposite-sex civil union entered into by him/her in accordance with the local law in force of the place of celebration and with such status being legally and officially recognised by the local authorities of the place of celebration Note3, and unmarried dependent children aged under 18 years. In addition, the entry of dependants will be subject to any other policy applicable to such entry at the time.
The length of stay of such dependants will normally be linked to that of the applicants/entrants (i.e. their sponsors). Any subsequent applications for extension of stay will be considered only when the dependants continue to meet the eligibility criteria for entry for residence as dependants (including that there is no change in circumstances which would have otherwise resulted in loss of sponsorship for the dependants, e.g. change in marriage relationship between the dependent spouse and the sponsor, or death of the sponsor) and the sponsor remains a bona fide Hong Kong resident living in Hong Kong. These dependants are not prohibited from taking up employment or study in Hong Kong under the existing policy.
Note3: For the avoidance of doubt, the terms “civil partnership” and “civil union” above mean a legal institution of a nature which is akin to spousal relationship in a marriage. The same-sex civil partnership, same-sex civil union, “same-sex marriage”, opposite-sex civil partnership and opposite-sex civil union entered into in accordance with laws outside Hong Kong are limited to only relationships which are legally and officially recognised in the places of celebration. Such relationships normally have the following features: (a) the entering into and dissolution of the relationship are governed by legislation of the place where it is entered into; (b) the relationship requires registration by the competent authority specified by the legislation of the place where it is entered into; (c) the registration is evidenced in a written instrument issued by the competent authority; and (d) parties to the relationship have a mutual commitment to a shared life akin to spouses to the exclusion of others on a permanent basis. Such relationships do not include de facto spouse, partners in cohabitation, fiancé/fiancée, etc.
No. If you wish to apply for admission under the New CIES, you can submit an application for yourself and your accompanying dependants altogether through the online application service. You can submit applications for a maximum of eight accompanying dependants in a single online application.
Yes. Please click here for relevant information.
Under the prevailing policy, they are allowed to take up employment or study if they are permitted to reside in Hong Kong as dependants under the New CIES.
