How To Start A Business In Hong Kong As A Foreigner – How We Got Here
Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Musing / 4 responses
I recently gave a talk at Campfire Collaborative Space on the topic of how to start a business in Hong Kong as a foreigner, which in essence is the journey of getting a Business Investment Visa as an Entrepreneur after the implementation of the Enhancement Measures in 2015 and the Audit Commission Report Number 66 from 2016.
PRACTICE UPDATE: How the content must now be read in light of current ImmD policy:
Historically, this contextual installment charted the evolution of Hong Kong’s entrepreneur visa policy—tracing the journey from the early discretionary practices of the 1990s and 2000s through the 2015 Enhancement Measures and the pivotal Audit Commission Report No. 66 in 2016. The Geeza unpacked how ImmD had progressively attempted to formalize the “substantial contribution to the economy” test while continuing to maintain broad, commercial pragmatism. Even as the department introduced formal guidelines around business turnover, financial resources, job creation, and the introduction of new technologies, the operational reality on the ground remained remarkably accommodating: case officers retained generous discretionary latitude, enabling lean startups, sole practitioners, and bootstrapped founders with modest capital of a few hundred thousand dollars, serviced desks, and phased projections to secure residence and establish roots.
The game has changed from an era of evolutionary administrative leniency into an uncompromising institutional reset. The policy trajectory that began with the 2015 and 2016 reviews has culminated in a post-April 2026 regime that completely sweeps away historical flexibility in favor of hard-substance metrics aligned with TTPS Category A operational scale (~HKD 2.5M enterprise scale). ImmD no longer treats entrepreneur policy as an adaptive framework for nurturing raw commercial ambition. Today, history offers zero comfort to undercapitalized founders: the enterprise vehicle must empirically substantiate HKD 1.5M–2.0M in deployed corporate bank liquidity, an executed commercial lease for exclusive physical premises (“four walls”), and active MPF payroll for 2–3 local permanent residents right at inception. The historical narrative of gradual bureaucratic adjustment has ended; without admission into an accredited government incubator or immediate enterprise hardware, the investment as entrepreneur route is firmly closed.
In this segment I share my 25 years of experience of doing immigration in Hong Kong and thus allow you to understand how things have changed over the past 5-6 years.
The Rest of the Talk
Introduction
How We Got Here
Must Have Resources
The Startup Visa
Business Investment As An Entrepreneur (Visa)
Three Elements To Approval
Have You Got Enough Money?
Is Your Business Sustainable?
A Properly Set Up Office
How About Local Jobs?
Economic Sector Advantages
Hiring Yourself
D-I-Y Application
Important Materials Referenced In The Presentation
10 Must-Have Resources for Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application
Accredited Startup Programmes in Hong Kong
Hong Kong Visa Handbook Free Kits
Your Questions Answered
More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting
What type of visa do you think you need for Hong Kong?
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Do I automatically qualify for a Hong Kong dependant visa if my partner has a work or investment visa here?
Married to a PHKID card holder overseas – the Hong Kong visa situation for the foreign national spouse
How to cure your Hong Kong vise extension headache and make sure it gets approved the very first time!
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The Hong Kong Visa Geeza (a.k.a Stephen Barnes) is a co-founder of the Hong Kong Visa Centre and author of the Hong Kong Visa Handbook. A law graduate of the London School of Economics, Stephen has been practicing Hong Kong immigration since 1993 and is widely acknowledged as the leading authority on business immigration matters here for the last 24 years.
