Hong Kong · Residency by investment
New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme
Relaunched on 1 March 2024, after the original CIES was suspended in January 2015. It has been refined twice since. From 17 September 2025, the residential property transaction-price threshold fell from HKD 50m to HKD 30m. From 1 March 2026, investments may be held through a wholly-owned FIHV managed by an Eligible Single Family Office.
The unconditional-stay alternative is the detail that matters most, and it is almost never explained properly. An investor who cannot spend seven years genuinely living in Hong Kong can still obtain unconditional stay at year seven, simply by maintaining the HKD 30m. That gives permanent freedom from visa conditions without the Right of Abode. It is a materially different outcome, and for many families a more realistic one.
Qualifying routes
HKD 27m spread across SEHK-listed equities, debt securities, SFC-authorised collective investment schemes and subordinated debt of authorised institutions. Certificates of deposit are capped at HKD 3m. Private LPFs and OFCs are capped at HKD 10m in aggregate.
Real estate counts toward the HKD 27m, but only up to an aggregate cap of HKD 15m, and residential property within that is capped at HKD 10m. Residential must be a single property with a transaction price of at least HKD 30m, or HKD 50m for transactions completed before 17 September 2025.
A mandatory HKD 3m goes into the government's CIES Investment Portfolio, managed by the Hong Kong Investment Corporation to support innovation and technology.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- 30M HKD
- Total landed cost
- The committed investment is HKD 30m, roughly USD 3.8m. Of that, HKD 3m is effectively locked in a government-directed portfolio. Legal and advisory fees typically run HKD 300k-800k, plus stamp duty if you buy property.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 6–12 months (The process runs in two stages. First, a Net Asset Assessment by InvestHK. Then an application to the Immigration Department. Investments must be made within the prescribed windows around approval-in-principle.)
- Physical presence
- There is no formal minimum stay to renew the visa. But the Right of Abode at year 7 requires seven years of CONTINUOUS ORDINARY RESIDENCE, meaning you genuinely make Hong Kong your habitual home. This is the real constraint.
- Family
- SpouseUnmarried dependent children under 18
- Permanent residency
- The Right of Abode requires 7 years of continuous ordinary residence. There is an alternative path. After 7 years of maintaining the investment, entrants may apply for unconditional stay without meeting the ordinary residence test.
- Citizenship
- Chinese nationality is not conferred by CIES. Naturalisation as a Chinese national is available in principle, but it is rarely granted and requires close ties to China.
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted. You would have to renounce.
- Requirements
- Aged 18 or above at the time of applying for Net Asset AssessmentNet assets or net equity of at least HKD 30m held throughout the six months preceding the Net Asset Assessment application. This is relaxed from the original two-year requirement.Foreign national, or Chinese citizen with permanent residence abroad, or Macao resident, or Taiwan residentNo adverse immigration record, and satisfies normal security requirementsAble to support self and dependants without relying on investment returns or employment
- The Right of Abode requires seven years of continuous ordinary residence, and Immigration assesses this substantively. Nominal presence, a token address and a few weeks a year will not do it. Many CIES investors will end up with unconditional stay rather than the Right of Abode, and should plan for that from the outset.
- The investment must be maintained above HKD 30m throughout. You cannot take profits below that line, and portfolio drawdown alone can put you in breach. Mark-to-market risk is, in effect, your compliance risk.
- Residential property is capped at HKD 10m of qualifying value, even though the property itself must cost at least HKD 30m. The property allowance is far smaller than the headlines suggest, and it is not a route to house the family's capital.
- The mandatory HKD 3m CIES Investment Portfolio is directed capital. You do not control it, and you cannot count on its returns to support yourself.
- Nationals of Afghanistan, Cuba and North Korea are excluded. Chinese citizens must hold permanent residence in a foreign country to qualify.
- The real risk here is the political and legal-autonomy trajectory since 2020, and no financial model captures that. Families should think through how a Hong Kong nexus interacts with sanctions exposure, banking access and their home country's stance toward China.
- Hong Kong is a full CRS participant and exchanges information with the mainland.