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    Following is a question by the Hon James Tien and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (April 27):

Question:

    It has been reported that due to manpower shortage in the Government, there is a heavy backlog of applications made under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, causing delays in processing such applications.  Also, there has been little external publicity of the Scheme.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the number of those applications, since the launch of the above Scheme in October 2003, the processing time of which has failed to meet the target set in the Performance Pledge, their percentage in all the applications received, as well as the total amount of investments involved;

(b) of the number of officers responsible for vetting and approving the applications, and the reasons for the delays in such work; and

(c) whether it will step up the publicity of the Scheme; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) When launching the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (the Scheme) in October 2003, the Immigration Department had not set any specific performance target for the Scheme because time was needed for a better assessment on the number of applications, the complexity involved in vetting individual applications (including the reported financial position and assets) and the workload arising from monitoring the switch of assets.  Nevertheless, since the launch of the Scheme, the Immigration Department has internally adopted the Performance Pledge for "Other Entry Visas and Permits" as the benchmark in processing applications received under the Scheme (i.e. 90 per cent of the applications will be finalised within six weeks upon receipt of all necessary documents).  So far, the Department has been able to achieve this benchmark.

(b) The Other Visas and Permits Section of the Immigration Department is responsible for processing applications made under the Scheme.  Four Immigration Officer Grade staff and one civilian staff are tasked to process such applications.  The existing manpower is sufficient to cope with the present workload and there is no delay in the processing of applications.  Where necessary, the Department will flexibly deploy additional manpower to process applications according to the actual situation.  Since the launch of the Scheme, the Immigration Department has received 764 applications.  Except for 145 that are still being processed, the processing of all other applications has been completed.  Among these, 371 have been granted "Formal Approval" while 122 were granted "Approval in Principle" (i.e. approval has been granted for these applicants to enter Hong Kong to make the required investment).

(c) Immigration Department has been promoting the Scheme through various channels, including issuing press releases to the media, holding press conferences and introducing the Scheme to related trades (the banking and financial sectors, a number of estate agents etc.) from time to time.  The Government will continue to promote the Scheme when suitable opportunities arise, such as during duty visits by Government officials and promotion events held by the Trade Development Council and InvestHK.  Last December, the Immigration Department's representatives participated in the "Style Hong Kong - Dubai" exhibition held by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council in Dubai to promote the Scheme to visitors to the exhibition.  Details of the Scheme and application forms can be downloaded from the Immigration Department's website.  They are also available at the Department's Headquarter and branch offices, overseas Chinese Diplomatic and Consular Missions as well as overseas Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices.

Ends/Wednesday, April 27, 2005

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