Exclusive | Why did only 1 in 7 on Hong Kong’s visa plan for non-local graduates take up residency?
Figures obtained by the Post spark calls for proactive attitude to keeping qualified young workers in the city
Only one in seven non-local graduates on a scheme allowing them to remain in Hong Kong after their studies has taken up residency in the past decade, with others citing high living costs, limited job prospects and cross-border tensions as deterrents.
The figures, obtained by the Post, have prompted members of the new, high-level Human Resources Planning Commission to call on the government to be more proactive in attracting people to work and live in the city.
Under the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG), launched in May 2008, university graduates from outside the city get a year of unconditional stay. Without the scheme its participants, 90 per cent of whom are from mainland China, would need to leave Hong Kong upon completing their studies, unless they get a job.
While they need to have a job to apply for visa renewal every two years, they do not have to report to the Immigration Department if they lose or change their job before their visa expires. They can apply for permanent residency after seven years in the city, including time spent studying.
The Audit Commission criticised the department in 2016 for failing to periodically compile statistics on IANG visa holders obtaining right of abode and their length of stay, saying the numbers were “key indicators of the entrants’ willingness to work or stay in Hong Kong”.
The department initially said such figures were “not readily available”, and only compiled the data after the Post requested it through the Code on Access to Information, which lists the scope of information the public can obtain.