Hong Kong is keen on ensuring that local workers get priority in securing jobs and will not tolerate abuses in labor importation programs, Labor Secretary Chris Sun Yuk-han said Wednesday.

Answering a query at the Legislative Council, Sun noted that the number of arrested employers of illegal workers has gone up in the last three years while stricter requirements have led to a marked decrease in the applications for labor importation from the food and beverage services industry.

“The government does not condone any act of violation,” Sun said.  

The number of arrested employers of illegal workers went up from 502 in 2023 to 513 in 2024, and 569 in 2025. 

The authorities arrested 1,264 illegal workers last year, 1,268 in 2024, and 1,304 in 2023, Sun said, adding that many of the arrested illegal workers were employed in the catering or renovation industries.  

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Over the past three years, the majority of the convicted illegal workers were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from six days to 23 months, while the majority of the convicted employers were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 28 days to 19 months, or ordered to pay fines ranging from HK$1,000 ($128) to HK$100,000.

Sun said that, under new requirements introduced on Sept 10, 2025, employers applying to import waiters and junior cooks under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) must join a job fair specified by the Labour Department once a week during the local recruitment period, and conduct job interviews on the spot.

An employer applying to import a waiter and a junior cook should also have already employed two local full-time waiters or waitresses and two local full-time junior cooks.

“Since the implementation of the above new requirements in September, the number of applications for labour importation from the food and beverage services industry has dropped markedly from a monthly average of nearly 370 applications between June and August 2025 to about 260 applications after September,” Sun said.

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He said the number of importation approvals for waiters and junior cooks have also decreased from monthly averages of nearly 610 and 560, respectively, between June and August 2025 to about 560 and 310.

“The new requirement of attendance at job fairs has enhanced the transparency of vacancy information and made it easier for local job seekers to apply for jobs on the spot at job fairs, thereby facilitating employment matching in the local labor market and encouraging the industry to take on suitable local job seekers,” Sun said.

As of December 31, 2025, the Labour Department has received a total of 832 complaints relating to the ESLS, including suspected displacement of local employees with imported workers.

During the same period, the department imposed administrative sanctions on 24 employers who violated ESLS requirements, the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, occupational safety and health legislation, or the Immigration Ordinance.

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The sanctions included withdrawing the approvals for importing labor granted to 22 employers under the ESLS and refusing to process their subsequent labor importation applications in the following two years.