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Following is a question by the Hon Tam Heung-man, and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (November 23):
Question:
Some accountants have relayed to me that there is a serious shortage of professionals in the accounting profession. Regarding the admission of professionals in various professions, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the numbers of professionals admitted to work in Hong Kong through various channels, which include the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, in the past two years, and details of their places of origin and the professions they worked in;
(b) whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of the existing policy for the admission of professionals; if it has, of the review results; if not, when such review will be conducted; and
(c) whether it will consider formulating new measures for admission of talents, or reviewing the existing policy in this regard; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) At present, persons from overseas may apply for entry into Hong Kong for employment under the General Employment Policy (GEP).
As for Mainland residents, they may apply for entry into Hong Kong for employment under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP) which has been implemented since July 2003. In addition, the existing policy allows Mainland students who have graduated from locally accredited full-time programmes at degree and above levels in or after 1990 to apply to work in Hong Kong. Chinese citizens who have resided overseas for one year or more may apply from overseas to enter Hong Kong for employment.
In the past two years (November 2003 - October 2005), the number of persons from overseas and the Mainland who were approved to enter Hong Kong for employment was 47,972, of which 39,458 were under GEP, 7,665 were under ASMTP, 365 were Mainland students who have graduated from locally accredited full-time programmes at degree and above levels and 484 were Chinese citizens who had resided overseas for one year or more.
The nationality and sectors/professions of the above persons are set out at the Annex of the text of my reply which has been provided to Members.
(b) The GEP has been implemented for years and has received positive responses. In recent years, the annual number of applications received ranged from 15,000 to 20,000. As for the ASMTP, a total of 10,055 applications were received from its implementation on July 15, 2003 up to the end of October 2005, representing an annual average of 3,000 to 4,000 applications. According to the available statistics, the ASMTP is better suited to the needs of the Hong Kong economy, as compared to similar schemes it has replaced (i.e. the Admission of Talents Scheme and the Admission of Mainland Professionals Scheme). We are conducting a review on the effectiveness of the scheme. Preliminary findings indicate that every admitted professional will help create an additional 1.8 posts for his/her company. At the same time, the companies concerned consider that the admitted professionals will increase efficiency/productivity of the company, broaden its business profile and foster collaboration between Hong Kong and the Mainland, etc.
(c) In October, the Chief Executive announced in the Policy Address that we are considering introducing a new admission scheme next year. Under the scheme, a certain number of talented people from the Mainland and overseas who meet specified eligibility criteria will be allowed to stay in Hong Kong for a certain period of time, without the requirement of securing an offer of local employment beforehand. During their stay, they can decide whether they want to develop their career in Hong Kong on a long-term basis. We are formulating details of the scheme which we hope to introduce in the first half of 2006 with a view to attracting more talent to come to Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Issued at HKT 14:25
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