The Hong Kong Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) is designed to attract highly skilled or talented individuals to settle in Hong Kong. It has an annual quota of 1,000 and requires passing five rounds of selection to obtain entry eligibility. Lai Tung-kwok, the then-Secretary for Security, once revealed to the Legislative Council that due to the strict approval process, since the Hong Kong government launched the QMAS in 2006, the number of quality migrants approved to come to Hong Kong each year has been less than 400 over the past many years, far below the annual quota of 1,000.
All applicants must first meet the basic eligibility requirements before they can be awarded points under one of the two points-based tests set by the scheme to compete for the quota with other applicants. The two points-based tests are the "General Points Test" and the "Achievement-based Points Test." Successful applicants may bring their spouse and unmarried dependent children under the age of 18 to Hong Kong, provided that they are able to support their dependents' living and accommodation in Hong Kong without relying on public assistance.
Is it really difficult to pass the Hong Kong Quality Migrant Admission Scheme?
When mentioning the QMAS, the most frequently asked question I receive is: Is it difficult to apply for the QMAS? To this question, I can only tell you: it is not difficult if you say it is not, and it is difficult if you say it is.
It is not difficult because the threshold for the QMAS is not high, and it is easy for ordinary people to meet the Immigration Department's screening standard of 80 points.
It is difficult because the QMAS offers 1,000 places globally each year, but this quota has never been fully utilized. To date, the highest number of places used was in the past year of 2017, with a total of 411 people approved. According to statistics from third-party institutions, the annual pass rate of the Hong Kong QMAS is only around 20%.
In fact, the Hong Kong QMAS is divided into two scoring mechanisms: the Achievement-based Points Test and the General Points Test. The celebrities we are familiar with basically moved to Hong Kong under the Achievement-based Points Test, such as Li Ning (sports) and Sun Li (arts) mentioned earlier. The General Points Test is suitable for ordinary professionals; after being evaluated on dimensions such as age, academic qualifications, work experience, and language proficiency, those who score over 80 points have a chance to pass.
It was not until 2013 that people gradually realized that the QMAS was also suitable for ordinary people, and the number of applicants increased year by year, reaching 2,341 in 2014. In 2015, the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme for high-net-worth individuals in Hong Kong was suspended, and the QMAS officially entered its golden age.
What conditions are required to apply for the Hong Kong Quality Migrant Admission Scheme?
You only need to meet one of the following two points-based tests to apply:
General Points Test:
1. Aged 18 or above
2. Bachelor's degree or above
3. Good proficiency in Chinese (Putonghua or Cantonese) or English
4. Proof of assets over 100,000 RMB
5. No criminal record
6. Score of 100 or above
7. Meet one of the following advantages, specifically as follows:
(1) Graduated from a top 100 university in the world (official ranking)
(2) 2 years or more of multinational work experience (working outside of nationality)
(3) Employed by a Fortune Global 500 company (official ranking)
(4) Undergraduate degree or above obtained through overseas study (studying outside of nationality)
(5) Professional talent: Holding international certificates or national professional qualification certificates of level 3 or above, or patent invention certificates (patent certificates must be for inventions or utility models).