Hong Kong · Talent & extraordinary ability
Top Talent Pass Scheme
Launched 28 December 2022 and still open. It was refined for 2026. The eligible-university list expanded from 186 to 200 institutions, effective 1 January 2026. Category A first visas were extended from two to three years. From 1 March 2026, renewals may be lodged three months early.
Category A is the most underrated instrument in Asian residence planning. If you earned HKD 2.5m (about USD 320k) last year anywhere in the world, you get a three-year Hong Kong visa with no job offer, no quota, no investment and a fee of about USD 150. Nothing else in the region comes close on cost per unit of optionality.
Qualifying routes
Annual income of HKD 2.5m or above in the year before application. No quota. The first visa is now three years.
A degree from a listed eligible university, plus at least three years' work experience in the past five years. No quota.
A degree from a listed eligible university, with less than three years' experience. Annual quota of 10,000, on a first-come, first-served basis.
The facts
- Minimum
- 2.5M HKD
- Total landed cost
- HKD 600 application fee plus HKD 600 visa fee. No investment required.
- Route type
- By qualification
- Timeline
- 1–2 months (The Immigration Department targets around four weeks.)
- Physical presence
- There is no formal minimum, but renewal requires that you have secured employment or established a business in Hong Kong. The Right of Abode requires seven years of continuous ordinary residence.
- Family
- SpouseUnmarried dependent children under 18
- Permanent residency
- 7 years of continuous ordinary residence.
- Citizenship
- Not conferred. Chinese naturalisation is a separate process and is rarely granted.
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted. You would have to renounce.
- Requirements
- Category A: HKD 2.5m or more in annual income in the preceding year, evidenced by tax records.Category B or C: a degree from a university on the current eligible list (200 institutions from 1 January 2026).A good education background, with no security or criminal concerns.Able to support yourself and any dependants.
- The first visa is a one-shot deal. Renewal requires that you have actually secured employment or established a business in Hong Kong. TTPS is an entry ticket, not a standing right of residence.
- The eligible-university list is revised annually, and institutions move on and off it. Qualification is assessed at application against whichever list is current at the time.
- Category C's 10,000 quota is first-come, first-served, and it has been exhausted in past years.
- The HKD 2.5m income must be evidenced with tax documents from the assessing jurisdiction. Self-declared or opaque income structures will not pass.
- The seven-year ordinary residence clock only runs while you genuinely live in Hong Kong.