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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Dr Hon David Li in the Legislative Council today (March 3):
Question:
At the meeting of the Legislative Council Panel on Security on January 5, 2010, the Government presented a paper on the latest position of the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme and Quality Migrant Admission Scheme. Information on the contributions made by the successful applicants after their resettlement in Hong Kong was not provided in the paper. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it collects statistical data on the new immigrants approved under the aforesaid two schemes relating to the years after their resettlement in Hong Kong; if so, of the nature of such data;
(b) for those applications approved prior to 2009 under each of the two schemes, of the respective average number of days the principal applicants spent in Hong Kong in 2009, and the respective number of principal applicants who were absent from Hong Kong for all of 2009;
(c) of the breakdown by age at the time of approval of the principal applicants in the applications approved under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme in 2008 and 2009 (set out in the table below); and
Age Total number of principal applicants
--- ------------------------------------
number percentage
------ ----------
18-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-50
51 or above
-----------
Total
(d) of the respective value of the total investment in local real estate made by applicants approved under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme in 2008 and 2009, broken down by type of real estate (commercial, industrial or residential), and their respective share in the value of the total transactions of such type in that year?
Reply:
President,
(a) The Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) was launched in June 2006. Successful applicants started to come to Hong Kong in end-2006. We will conduct a questionnaire survey on their adapting to life in Hong Kong when they apply for extension of stay after one year. The relevant survey result is at Annex.
The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES) was launched in October 2003. The Immigration Department (ImmD) has not conducted relevant survey on the successful applicants under the scheme.
(b) Prior to 2009, there were 886 successful principal applicants under the QMAS quota. During the same period, 3,347 principal applicants came to Hong Kong through CIES. In general, entrants under the two schemes are allowed to remain in Hong Kong for one year and two years respectively. They have to fulfil the approving criteria under the relevant scheme, such as securing gainful employments, continuing to hold the relevant investments, etc. when applying for extension of stay.
ImmD does not compile statistics on the actual number of days the principal applicants under QMAS and CIES spend in Hong Kong in a particular year.
(c) ImmD does not possess detailed statistics on the age of the principal applicants under CIES. However, based on the analysis of the cases approved in December 2009 (see table below), over 70% of the principal applicants are between the age of 35 and 50 -
Age Number of persons Percentage
--- ----------------- ----------
18-24 10 3.6%
25-29 15 5.4%
30-34 23 8.3%
35-39 70 25.3%
40-44 75 27.1%
45-50 54 19.5%
51 or above 30 10.8%
----- --- -----
Total 277 100%
(d) The total value of the investment in local real estate made by persons admitted under CIES in 2008 and 2009, and the respective percentage share in the total value of all transactions are as follows:
Total value
(in million
Hong Kong
dollars)
-----------------
2008 2009
---- ----
Residential $3,030 $5,256
properties [0.9%] [1.2%]
Non-residential Commercial $132 $273
properties Industrial $42 $89
---------- ---- ----
Total $174 $362
[0.3%] [0.4%]
----- ------ ------
Total $3,204 $5,618
[0.8%] [1.1%]
Ends/Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:58
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