Pedestrians cross a busy intersection in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong on Jan 4, 2022. (PHOTO / AFP)

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has upped the stakes in attracting talent from all over the world with a string of measures unveiled in Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s second Policy Address delivered on Wednesday.

The steps include expanding the Top Talent Pass program; setting up an office of the Hong Kong Talent Engage plan; easing visa policies for citizens of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as employment policies for non-local students studying in the SAR; and doubling the quota for non-local students at publicly-funded universities.

The increased quota for non-local students is aimed at drawing more of them from the Chinese mainland and overseas, particularly those from countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative

The increased quota for non-local students is aimed at drawing more of them from the Chinese mainland and overseas, particularly those from countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

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In the 2022-2023 academic year, Hong Kong has about 14,000 non-local students at higher educational institutions, accounting for about 20 percent of locally-funded places. Among them, 60 percent are from the mainland.

The new 40-percent quota would not be used up in the short term, according to a government source, as supporting facilities and faculties like classrooms and dormitories remain insufficient. The source said this would not undermine the admission of local students.

In a bid to entice professionals from BRI countries and regions, the government will introduce visa programs for Vietnamese talents seeking employment in Hong Kong, and relax the application process for multiple-entry visas for Vietnamese nationals coming to the city for business and tourism.

This visa incentive specifically targets high-end talents in business, allowing them to apply for visas for two years or more, with unrestricted entries to the SAR, and each visit limited to 14 days.

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Besides Vietnam, talents from Laos and Nepal will have their employment, training and education opportunities at universities funded by the University Grants Committee extended.

From next month, full-time non-local research postgraduates studying in Hong Kong can seek part-time work without the previous maximum limit of 20 hours per week. According to an official source, more than 35,000 eligible non-local students are expected to benefit from the policy during the two-year pilot program.

The initiative’s goal is to align students’ studies with real-world practicalities and strengthen Hong Kong’s attractiveness as a destination for non-local students. Moreover, students can now skip the internship arranged by their educational institutions, the source said.

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The list of eligible universities under the Top Talent Pass program will be expanded next month to include eight top-tier mainland and overseas institutions, bringing the total to 184 so far. Wuhan University, Xi’an Jiaotong University and the Harbin Institute of Technology from the mainland are among the eight new educational institutions joining the program.

The talent pass list will also cover graduates of the top 10 universities of the Academic Ranking of World Universities published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in the past 5 years, as well as the top five institutions in the “Hospitality and Leisure Management” category of the QS World University Rankings.

By late last month, Hong Kong had approved more than 100,000 out of 160,000 applications under various talent initiatives rolled out or updated in the past year. About 60,000 of the successful applicants have arrived in the city.

To provide support and follow-up services for incoming talent to meet their needs, the government will establish the Hong Kong Talent Engage office by the end of this month.