Hong Kong tries to lure back top talent scared away by city’s crackdown on freedoms

Lee announces raft of proposals, including tax rebates and relaxed measures for hiring foreigners

Hong Kong’s leader has announced a new visa programme in a bid to attract global talent to the city as it struggles with plugging a brain drain and a shrinking workforce.

John Lee, Hong Kong’s chief executive, unveiled the new “Top Talent Pass Scheme” on Wednesday that will allow those earning an annual salary of 2.5 million Hong Kong dollars ($318,472) or above and graduates from the world’s top universities to work or pursue opportunities in the city for two years, the Associated Press reported.

Mr Lee said that, over the last two years, the workforce in the city has reduced by about 140,000 people.

“We must be more proactive and aggressive in competing for enterprises and competing for talent. Apart from actively nurturing and retaining local talent, the government will proactively trawl the world for talent,” he added.

Because of the controversial national security law introduced after massive pro-democracy protests spurred in 2019, strict Covid restrictions during the pandemic and an ongoing disturbing political climate in Hong Kong, thousands have fled the metropolis for better pastures.

Now, the city is trying to attract talent back in a bid to stop the brain drain.

Mr Lee also announced a raft of proposals, including tax rebates and relaxed measures for hiring foreigners.

He emphasised the need for Hong Kong to relaunch itself and quoted Chinese president Xi Jinping, who said Beijing would help Hong Kong “resolve deep-seated issues and problems in economic and social development” and consolidate its “international position” in finance, trade and other areas.

“We are now embarking on a new chapter for further prosperity and this is a new phase for Hong Kong,” he said. “Hong Kong has emerged from the chaos to order, and now we’re moving from order to prosperity.”

According to the new visa programme, foreign home buyers can receive a partial refund of stamp duty – a tax levied on property transactions – on their first residential property purchase when they become permanent residents, news media reported.

The new visa programme also comes after government data revealed the city’s population in mid 2022 dropped by 1.6 per cent, or 113,200 from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, last month, Singapore overtook Hong Kong in a ranking of global financial centres.

In August, the country announced a new visa that allows skilled, high-earning foreign talent to work for multiple firms at the same time, instead of just one employer.

Additional reporting by agencies