Talent visa scheme casts a wider mainland net

Talent from Beijing and Shanghai will be allowed multiple entries into Hong Kong under a talent visa scheme and can stay in the city for up to 30 days from May 6, as a lawmaker believes the arrangement will boost academic exchanges with the mainland.

The National Immigration Administration also said the exit endorsement for talent scheme - launched in February last year and limited to Greater Bay Area cities - will be expanded to cover Beijing and Shanghai starting next Monday.

Talent from six categories - outstanding, scientific research, education, health care, legal, and "others" - can apply for the exit endorsement with a validity period of five years, three years or one year.

They can enter Hong Kong multiple times within the period and stay for no more than 30 days per visit.

Wang Ling, deputy head of the National Immigration Administration's entry-exit administrative department, said the expansion will inject new vitality into the innovative development in the mainland and Hong Kong and can support the development of Hong Kong into an international innovation hub.

She added that Beijing, Shanghai and the GBA are major places with high-level professionals, with the arrangement facilitating the free flow of talent and new technologies.

The mainland authority will continue to monitor the arrangement's implementation and may expand the scheme again at appropriate times.

The stay period for business visitors to Hong Kong will be doubled to 14 days, from seven, starting on May 6.

"The extension will facilitate businessmen's long-term business activities and help them look for opportunities and conduct negotiations," Wang said.

"The new policy can benefit more than 100 million private businesses across the country, as well as businessmen from more than 30,000 enterprises that have applied for a business visa multiple times."

The Hong Kong government welcomed the new policy yesterday, saying that the longer stay for businessmen responded to the needs of the business sector in both the mainland and the city and will promote business exchanges.

The expansion of the talent visa will also "reinforce Hong Kong's unique role as the country's international talent hub and the gateway for talent in the GBA," it added.

"As of mid-April 2024, more than 18,000 visitors endorsed under the scheme have been recorded. Expanding the talent exit endorsement to Beijing and Shanghai will attract and bring more mainland talent to Hong Kong for exchanges."

Lawmaker Jesse Shang Hailong expects that Hong Kong will see a surge in the applications for the talent visa.

And this can boost academic exchanges as there are many top universities in Beijing and Shanghai such as Peking, Tsinghua and Fudan universities.

He added: "Some research projects at universities cannot be finished [within a short time] and researchers have to travel between Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong."

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com