Hong Kong top talent scheme applications fall 20% as candidates warned

Hong Kong’s top talent scheme received nearly 20 per cent fewer applications last year, authorities revealed on Monday, as the city’s immigration chief warned that residency would be revoked if false information was used in applications.

Director of Immigration Benson Kwok Joon-fung’s warning was not the first issued by authorities over the Top Talent Pass Scheme, after some agencies were found to have claimed they could use forged records to secure a visa for applicants.

Kwok said the Immigration Department had approved around 140,000 applications across all its talent schemes last year, around 4,000 more than in 2023.

But department data showed the number of applications for the Top Talent Pass Scheme dropped 18.5 per cent from 62,873 in 2023 to 51,223 last year.

Some 41,057 of last year’s were approved, representing 80 per cent of applications.

Kwok warned that the department could rescind residency granted to applicants of talent schemes if officers discovered that they had used false documents.