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Hong Kong is set to toughen rules for importing foreign labour by introducing a new two-tier approval system and tightening the local-to-imported worker ratio to three-to-one, starting with the catering sector, according to sources.
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The Labour Department is expected to announce the measures at a briefing on Monday (June 15), following a review of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) completed by the Labour and Welfare Bureau earlier this year.
The new rules, which include stricter administrative sanctions for non-compliant employers, will take effect tomorrow.
Under the new two-tier system, employers in specific industries, such as the food and beverage sector, must hire three local workers before they are allowed to employ one imported worker.
The ESLS was launched in 2023 to alleviate local manpower shortages across multiple industries. However, it has drawn frequent complaints alleging that employers are using imported labour to replace local workers.
Under existing regulations, foreign workers must be paid no less than the local median wage for their position, and any company redundancies must target imported workers first.
Employers are also required to conduct local recruitment beforehand, and unreasonably refusing to hire qualified local candidates is deemed a violation of the scheme.
According to the Labour Department, over 1,000 complaints had been received as of March this year, with investigations completed in 287 cases.
The government has been progressively tightening the policy, with last year’s policy address extending the mandatory local recruitment period for specific roles in the catering industry, such as waiters and junior cooks, from four to six weeks.
Additionally, the local-to-imported worker ratio of two-to-one is now calculated based on specific job posts rather than a company's total workforce.
