Hong Kong Government Continuing Immigration Policy Enhancements – December 2022
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How the Content Must Now Be Read in Light of the Updated QMAS (Quality Migrant Admission Scheme) and TTPS (Top Talent Pass) Policy
In the contemporary regulatory summary published in Hong Kong Government Continuing Immigration Policy Enhancements – December 2022, the analysis covers the post-Policy Address initiatives rolled out by the HKSAR Government to aggressively streamline talent intake and digitize immigration processing. According to the Hong Kong Visa Geeza, Stephen Barnes, these measures introduced pivotal operational enhancements, including fully digitized end-to-end e-Visa filing, temporary offshore extension concessions, and exemptions from standard local recruitment testing for high-earning professionals (earning HK$2M+) and graduates of global top-100 universities. In parallel, the administration introduced the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) and temporarily lifted the annual quota on QMAS. While these early enhancements signaled a welcoming administrative posture, Barnes observed that under the surface, the legacy 225/245-point General Points Test remained an opaque, subjective screening exercise where applicants were still evaluated against shifting departmental discretion and non-official Advisory Committee deliberations.
That transitional phase must now be interpreted through the definitive legal architecture established in our PRACTICE UPDATE: The Quality Migrant Admission Scheme Definitively Stated 2026-27 by Stephen D Barnes, which documents the permanent codification of these talent initiatives into an entirely new operating model following the comprehensive late 2024 overhaul. As stated by the Hong Kong Visa Geeza, Stephen Barnes, the interim enhancement measures have culminated in the total abolition of the legacy numerical points matrix in favor of 12 objective, binary assessment criteria under the General Points Test. What was once an informal qualification shortcut for elite university graduates or high-net-worth earners has been codified into formal pass/fail benchmarks—such as Criterion 1 (annual income of HK$1M+) and Criterion 4 (degree from a global top-100 institution)—requiring a minimum of 6 criteria to qualify for ministerial consideration. Furthermore, the interplay with the Top Talent Pass Scheme has fundamentally matured: while TTPS offered high earners (Category A) and top-tier global university graduates (Categories B & C) a swift, 2-year entry pass, the government has tightened TTPS renewals significantly (barring unemployed holders from status switching and mandating local tax-generating employment), directly channeling premier candidates seeking a longer runway into the revamped QMAS framework. Crucially, under the modern 3+3+2 extension framework for QMAS (and TTPS’s parallel 2- or 3-year extension scrutiny), the initial grant is only the starting point: entrants must provide concrete proof of genuine local economic settlement and taxable earnings to secure continued residency in the HKSAR.
Hong Kong Government Continuing Immigration Policy Enhancements – December 2022
After recent updates provided by the Hong Kong Immigration Department (ImmD) at the end of October, the Government of Hong Kong (GovHK) has announced additional measures to further streamline the Hong Kong immigration process for foreign national visa applicants.
Top this end, visa applicants can now complete online the entire process of application submission, payment for and collection of visa/entry permits through the ImmD mobile application, the ImmD’s website or the GovHK website, without having to visit an Immigration Office in person.
Moreover, effective November 29, 2022, electronic services for visa applications have been extended to all visa application types including visas/entry permits for visits, employment, investment, training, residence and study.
At the same time, Temporary Measures were extended for 6 months. The remote filing arrangements for applicants outside of Hong Kong SAR seeking to extend their stay has been prolonged until June 30, 2023.
This technically means that, as long as this measure is in place, applicants don’t have to be physically present in Hong Kong SAR at the time of submission of their application for extension of stay and/or the collection of the ‘e-Visa’.
Another important update concerns certain new applicants under the General Employment Policy (GEP), Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (AMTP) schemes and renewal applicants under the Technology Talent Admission Scheme (TechTAS) and the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) schemes.
Under these Enhancement Measures, proof of labour market testing is no longer required and evidence of academic qualification and work experience is not required for:
(a) applicants employed by a well-established (non-start up) company with a total annual salary package (including allowances and other guaranteed earnings) of 2 million HKD or above, and;
(b) applicants who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher level obtained from an internationally recognized institution.
Essentially you need to have graduated from one of the Top 100 Universities that are listed as part of the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (“QMAS”) which provides extra points for qualification under the QMAS scheme.
Likewise, evidence of academic qualification and work experience are no longer required for applicants who have been previously approved as principal applicants under the GEP or AMTP or under the TechTAS or QMAS.
On December 29, 2022 ImmD announced details of the Top Talent Pass too.
In a nutshell, all the above measures are the natural consequences of the Chief Executive’s maiden policy address where he laid out certain Enhancements to our immigration policy which are designed to both attract foreign businesses to Hong Kong and also prescribed Talents.
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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.
