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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Stephen Lam, (in the absence of Secretary for Security) to a question by the Hon James To in the Legislative Council today (April 16):
Question:
Regarding the various admission schemes for mainland people, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) in each of the past five years, of the respective numbers of mainland people who were granted visas to work or reside in Hong Kong under the Admission of Talents Scheme, the Admission of Mainland Professionals Scheme, the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals and the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, as well as the number of overseas Chinese nationals who were employed to work in Hong Kong as professionals; of the total number of these people in the past five years and, among them, the number of those who had already left Hong Kong, broken down by age groups each covering five years;
(b) of the number of dependants who came to Hong Kong with these people in the past five years; and, among these dependants, the respective numbers of those who have already left Hong Kong and those who are still staying in Hong Kong and are engaged in jobs, broken down by their education attainment and age groups (each covering five years);
(c) whether it has assessed the average number of local employment opportunities created by each of these people; and
(d) whether it has assessed the impact of the authorities' allowing these people to bring in their dependent children to study in Hong Kong on the opportunities for local young people to enter universities, as well as the impact of granting visas to mainland people aged under 30 to work in Hong Kong under the above schemes on the employment opportunities of local university graduates; if it has, of the details; if not, whether it will make the relevant assessment?
Reply:
Madam President,
Regarding the breakdown figures of the various admission schemes, our reply is as follows:
(a) The numbers of Mainlanders and overseas Chinese nationals who were allowed to come to work or reside in Hong Kong in the past five years are as follows:
Scheme Year
------ ----
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Admission 1428* 3745 4029 5031 6075
Scheme for
Mainland
Talents
and
Professionals
Overseas 205 264 235 346 437
Chinese
Nationals
entering
Hong Kong
to take up
employment #
Quality Not Not Not 21 151
Migrant Applicable Applicable Applicable
Admission
Scheme ^
----- ----- ----- ----- ---- ----
Total 1633 4009 4264 5398 6663
* The Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals was introduced in July 2003 to replace the Admission of Talents Scheme and the Admission of Mainland Professionals Scheme. The above figure of 1,428 Mainlanders allowed to come to Hong Kong for work under the new scheme in 2003 includes 78 allowed to come under the two previous schemes in the same year.
# The arrangement for overseas Chinese nationals entering Hong Kong to take up employment is applicable to holders of Peopleˇ¦s Republic of China passport who do not have permanent residence overseas but are residing overseas at the time of application and have lived overseas for at least one year immediately before an application is submitted.
^ The Quality Migrant Admission Scheme has been implemented since June 2006.
The Immigration Department does not keep statistics on the number of people who were allowed to come to Hong Kong under the above arrangements but then left. For breakdown figures of each type of approved entrants by age groups as mentioned in the question, only those in respect of the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme are kept:
Approved Entrants under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme
------------------------------------------------------------
Age Year
--- ----
2006 2007
---- ----
50 or above 0 0
45 - 49 2 6
40 - 44 1 32
35 - 39 8 35
30 - 34 7 54
25 - 29 2 22
20 - 24 1 2
Under 20 0 0
----- -- ---
Total 21 151
(b) The numbers of people who were allowed to come and stay in Hong Kong as dependants (i.e. spouses and unmarried dependent children below the age of 18) of the above Mainlanders and overseas Chinese nationals in the past five years are as follows:
Scheme Year
------ ----
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
--- ---- ---- ---- ----
Admission 253* 528 638 897 1347
Scheme for
Mainland
Talents
and
Professionals
Overseas 62 64 51 63 80
Chinese
nationals
entering
Hong Kong
to take up
employment
----- --- --- --- --- -----
Total 315 592 689 960 1427
* The figure of 253 dependants allowed to come to Hong Kong in 2003 includes 47 dependants of applicants admitted under the two previous schemes in the same year.
As regards the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, a total of 205 dependants of 212 successful applicants (including 172 Mainlanders and overseas Chinese nationals) were allowed to come to Hong Kong in 2006 and 2007.
The Immigration Department does not keep information on the education attainment and age profile of these dependants; and whether the dependants have already left Hong Kong or are still in Hong Kong, etc.
(c) The pace of job creation in private enterprises hinges on various factors, including the rate of economic growth, the human resources policies of the enterprises, the demand and supply in the local labour market, etc. Therefore, it is difficult for the Government to assess the number of local employment opportunities created by Mainlanders admitted under the various admission schemes. That said, the Government recently conducted a questionnaire survey with the local employers who have successfully sponsored Mainland talents to come to Hong Kong under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals. According to the survey findings, the employers concerned estimated that arising from every Mainland talent admitted, on average about 1.2 new posts for local people were created in their companies.
Moreover, those employers generally consider that the talent admitted could help raise work efficiency, improve customer relations, tap new markets and expand their business profile, in addition to strengthening networks between Hong Kong with the Mainland. Such spin-off benefits could help increase the overall production capacity of our economy and promote economic growth, thereby creating more jobs in the local labour market.
(d) The future population structure of Hong Kong is affected by a number of factors, including the local birth rate, the number of immigrants and emigrants, etc. As such, the Government has difficulty in assessing the impact of the entry of accompanying dependent children into Hong Kong on the opportunities for local young people to enter universities.
According to the graduate employment surveys conducted by the institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC), the unemployment rate of graduates of full-time UGC-funded programmes in the 2005/06 academic year was 1.4%, which was lower than those of the 1.6% and 2.0% in the 2004/05 and 2003/04 academic years respectively (the relevant figures were calculated as at the 31st of December following the end of those academic years). These figures show that with the sustained economic development, the employment situation of local university graduates has been improving and unaffected by the increasing number of Mainland professionals allowed to come to work in Hong Kong in recent years. The Government will continue to keep in view the employment situation and endeavour to facilitate economic development in order to facilitate the market to create more job opportunities.
Ends/Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:16
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