LCQ11: Facilitating re-domiciliation of non-Hong Kong-registered enterprises to Hong Kong
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Question:
The Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2024, which was passed on May 14 this year, seeks to introduce a company re-domiciliation regime (the Regime) that enables overseas-registered enterprises to transfer their domicile to Hong Kong without having to undergo winding-up procedures in their original domicile while preserving their legal identities. The Amendment Ordinance took effect on May 23 this year, and the Regime opened for applications on the same day. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of enquiries and applications received by the authorities from overseas enterprises regarding the Regime between May 23 and June 30 this year; the following information on such overseas enterprises applying for re-domiciliation to Hong Kong: (i) nature of business, (ii) company assets and scale, and (iii) original domicile;
(2) whether it has estimated the average processing time from receipt of an application for re-domiciliation from an overseas enterprise to formal approval of the enterprise to establish a presence in Hong Kong (i.e. the successful transfer of its domicile to Hong Kong);
(3) whether any overseas enterprises have successfully established a presence in Hong Kong through the Regime to date; if so, of the number of such enterprises, the nature of their business, their company assets and scale, as well as their original domicile; and
(4) whether it will formulate a promotional plan to promote the Regime through Invest Hong Kong and overseas economic and trade offices to attract more overseas enterprises to apply for re-domiciliation to Hong Kong; if so, of the details of the plan (including the resources involved); if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The company re-domiciliation regime commenced on May 23, 2025. A company incorporated outside Hong Kong may apply to the Companies Registry (CR) for re-domiciliation to Hong Kong. The regime reduces the need to go through complicated and costly judicial procedures, and enables a re-domiciled company to maintain its legal identity as a body corporate, thereby ensuring business continuity. An applicant for company re-domiciliation is required to fulfil requirements concerning company background, integrity, member and creditor protection, solvency, etc.
My consolidated reply to the four parts of the question is as follows:
After the implementation of the re-domiciliation regime, two international insurance groups immediately announced their plans to re-domicile to Hong Kong, which is the best testament to the regime's effectiveness in enhancing companies' operational efficiency. As at July 11, 2025, the CR received 265 enquiries relating to re-domiciliation. The total number of visits and downloads at the thematic section of the CR's website exceeded 22 000 and 42 000 respectively, reflecting the positive market response to the new company re-domiciliation regime in Hong Kong. As it takes time for companies planning to re-domicile to Hong Kong to prepare the application documents, and to fulfil the requirements of their place of incorporation and other relevant jurisdictions for the proposed re-domiciliation, the CR has not yet received any formal application for re-domiciliation to Hong Kong from non-Hong Kong enterprises. At the same time, some financial institutions and enterprises have contacted the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and expressed that they are preparing to apply for re-domiciliation to Hong Kong. According to the enquiries received by the CR, most of the companies interested in re-domiciliation are from offshore economies such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
The FSTB, the CR and financial regulators will actively provide appropriate support to applicants to assist with their re-domiciliation. Under normal circumstances, the CR will complete the approval process within two weeks after an applicant has submitted all the required documents and information. On the day of issuance of a certificate of re-domiciliation, the applicant becomes a re-domiciled company and is regarded as a Hong Kong-incorporated company from the same date. The re-domiciled company is then required to complete the deregistration procedures at its place of incorporation within 120 days. The re-domiciled company may make an application to the CR to extend the 120-day period subject to any conditions the Registrar of Companies considers appropriate.
The CR has set up a thematic section on its website, containing the Guide on Company Re-domiciliation, application form and frequently asked questions. The FSTB, in conjunction with the CR and the Inland Revenue Department, has proactively reached out to professional organisations and chambers of commerce, and organised briefings to introduce the content, application details and taxation arrangements of the company re-domiciliation regime. We will continue to work with Invest Hong Kong, the Economic and Trade Offices and the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited to conduct external publicity and promotion with a view to attracting major Hong Kong-listed companies and other companies registered outside Hong Kong to make good use of the company re-domiciliation regime, and to maximising the regime's benefits of attracting more companies, capital and talents to Hong Kong, thereby contributing to the development of the local economy. The publicity work is currently undertaken by the FSTB and the relevant departments respectively with their existing staff establishment.
Ends/Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:30
Issued at HKT 12:30
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