Hong Kong Relocation Document Checklist for Five Visa Routes

Conclusion: Preparing documents for relocation to Hong Kong should not involve lifting one route’s checklist wholesale and applying it to another. The five routes begin with shared identity and travel documents, then require additional exception materials depending on the TTPS category, the applicant’s status, the employer, the investment, or the dependant relationship. This article offers only a horizontal comparison of policy documents; it does not constitute case-specific legal or tax advice, nor does it promise an approval outcome or processing time.

Common Baseline Documents Across the Five Routes

Conclusion: The Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) Category A/B/C, the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS)/General Employment Policy (GEP), the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG), the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (New CIES) and dependants all share a common baseline of the applicant’s recent photograph, valid travel document and Hong Kong Identity Card (HKID) (if any). The detailed items for each route should be verified separately against the official pages for the TTPS, GEP, IANG, New CIES and dependants.

Conclusion: In addition to the recent photograph and identity card, the travel document must usually also show personal particulars, date of issue and date of expiry, as well as details of any visa permitting return to the place of origin (if applicable). If the applicant is currently staying in Hong Kong, they must upload, as required by the relevant form, the most recent arrival stamp, landing slip, extension of stay label or electronic visa shown on the inside pages of the valid travel document (if applicable).

Conclusion: Where a mainland resident has not been issued a travel document, the TTPS, GEP and IANG expressly permit submission of the People’s Republic of China Resident Identity Card. The common baseline represents only the shared starting documents and does not mean the five routes may use the same set of academic qualification, income, employer or referee documents.

Top Talent Pass Scheme: Category A, B and C Cannot Be Applied Interchangeably

Conclusion: TTPS Category A/B/C share formal academic transcripts, graduation certificates or a confirmation letter issued by the degree-awarding institution, as well as authentication documents for the bachelor’s qualification. Category-specific exceptions must be verified item by item against the official TTPS information page.

• The specific document for Category A is proof of annual income. The applicant must prove that, in the year immediately preceding the application, their annual income from employment and/or the company(ies) they own reached HK$2.5 million or above, or submit proof of an equivalent amount in foreign currency.
• The specific exception for Category B is that the annual income proof required for Category A need not be submitted. This does not mean Category B requires no documents; Category B must still submit the applicable documents as set out in the official columns, and use the shared academic proof common to Category A/B/C.
• The additional academic requirement for Category C is a formal bachelor’s degree graduation certificate and academic transcript. The supporting document must show that the applicant holds a bachelor’s degree awarded by an institution listed in the Aggregate List of Eligible Universities.

Conclusion: Mainland residents applying for the TTPS also require a consent letter for working in Hong Kong, which must be issued by their current employer or the relevant mainland authority and use the appendix to the TTPS entry guide; this document applies only to mainland residents. Official TTPS information page

Quality Migrant Admission Scheme/General Employment Policy: Shared Documents Do Not Mean Shared Scrutiny

Conclusion: The recent photograph, valid travel document and HKID (if any) for the QMAS/GEP are the same as the TTPS basic document set, but the remaining supporting documents must be verified against the application category listed on the official GEP page. The specific requirements in the document columns should be read in conjunction with the official notes for the online application form ID C 1026.

Conclusion: The QMAS/GEP does not provide for a sponsor document of the kind found in the dependant route, nor is it the New CIES, so the InvestHK certificate or dependant documents cannot be added to its checklist; likewise, the specific documents for TTPS Category A/B/C or IANG apply only within their respective official columns and cannot be borrowed simply because the names sound similar.

IANG: Documents on Academic Qualification, Location, Employer and Accompanying Dependants

Conclusion: The academic proof for an IANG applicant must show that they have completed a full-time, locally accredited programme in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification. Mainland residents must additionally submit a consent letter for working in Hong Kong issued by their current employer or the relevant mainland authority, using the appendix to ID 991. Official IANG information page

Conclusion: IANG also imposes additional documents based on the applicant’s place-of-residence status. Macao SAR residents must submit a Macao Resident Travel Permit to the Hong Kong SAR and a Macao Identity Card; Taiwan residents must submit a Taiwanese household registration transcript and a Taiwan Identity Card; Chinese citizens holding a PRC passport and residing overseas must submit proof of overseas residence. Official IANG information page

Conclusion: Employer documents are the core exception for IANG. The employer must upload an employment contract or letter of appointment signed with the applicant and stating the post, salary, other benefits and employment period, as well as the Business Registration Certificate and proof of the company’s financial standing, such as the most recent audited financial report, profit and loss account, or profits tax return. Official IANG information page

Conclusion: A detailed business plan applies only to a new company established within the past 12 months, and must cover the source of funds, estimated amount of injection, the nature/mode of business activities, projected turnover, sales volume, the gross profit and net profit for the coming year, and the local jobs to be created. Official IANG information page

Conclusion: The IANG employer documents include specified exemptions. If the hiring company is already listed on the Main Board or GEM of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, or the employer has, within the 24 months immediately preceding the submission, had a non-local employee successfully granted an employment or training visa/entry permit, the relevant documents covered by footnotes in the official table may be omitted; however, the employment contract or letter of appointment is a separately specified document, and the exemption should not be understood as cancelling the entire set of employer documents. Official IANG information page

Conclusion: If IANG documents are not in Chinese or English, they must be accompanied by a Chinese or English translation certified as a true copy by a sworn translator, court translator, certified translator, registered translator, expert translator or official translator. Important notes for IANG

New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme: The Two InvestHK Certificates Are Separate Hurdles

Conclusion: The New CIES is categorised by status rather than by TTPS-style academic qualification or income, and applies to foreign nationals, Chinese nationals who have acquired permanent resident status in a foreign country, Macao SAR residents or Taiwanese Chinese residents. Applicants must check against the official New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme page whether they meet one of these.

Conclusion: The most distinctive documents for the New CIES are the two InvestHK certificates that must be obtained in sequence — namely the Certificate of Compliance with the Net Asset Requirement and the Certificate of Compliance with the Investment Requirement. Both certificates are mandatory documents for the same application and cannot be replaced by the academic, income or employer documents of other routes. Official certificate document list for New CIES

Conclusion: The New CIES also expressly stipulates the validity period for the certificate of no criminal conviction. The certificate must be issued by the police or public security authority of the country/territory where the applicant has ordinarily resided in the past 12 months; if the date of issue is more than 6 months before the application date, it will not be accepted. Official certificate document list for New CIES

Conclusion: Among the five routes described above, the New CIES is the only one whose webpage expressly states that “a certificate issued more than 6 months before the application date will not be accepted”. This time limit cannot be extended by analogy to dependants or other visas; the fact that other pages do not state the same limit does not mean the New CIES’s 6-month rule may be borrowed. Official New CIES page and official dependants page

Dependants: Applicant Documents and Sponsor Documents Must Be Kept Separate

Conclusion: Apart from the recent photograph, valid travel document and HKID (if any), the distinctive document for a dependant application is proof of the sponsor’s identity and stay. If the sponsor is not a Hong Kong permanent resident, they must submit a valid travel document showing personal particulars, date of issue, date of expiry and the current Hong Kong visa/entry permit/extension of stay label; where the sponsor is a Hong Kong permanent resident, the Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card is submitted per the official list. Official dependants information page

Conclusion: Where an IANG applicant brings dependants to Hong Kong, each dependant must upload a recent photograph, valid travel document, and proof of relationship with the employment applicant coming to Hong Kong. Examples of proof listed officially include a marriage certificate, birth certificate, family photographs, family correspondence with its envelope, household register and the one-child privilege certificate (if applicable). IANG dependant document list

Conclusion: A dependant applicant must still meet the general entry requirements, including holding a valid travel document permitting return to the country of origin or nationality, having no criminal record, entry that would not pose a security or criminal concern to Hong Kong, and not being likely to become a burden on Hong Kong. General entry requirements for dependants

Processing Commencement, Reference Timeframes and Fees

Conclusion: The official processing timeframe does not start counting from the date of submission. Both the TTPS and the GEP expressly provide that the Hong Kong Immigration Department will only begin processing once it has received all required documents and the relevant application fee; if these are not complete, processing cannot begin. TTPS and GEP

The official reference processing timeframes for the five routes are as follows:

• Top Talent Pass Scheme: Generally about four weeks after all required documents and the relevant application fee are received (official page).
• Quality Migrant Admission Scheme/General Employment Policy: Generally about four weeks after all required documents and the relevant application fee are received (official page).
• IANG: Generally about two weeks for current-year graduates; generally four weeks for non-current-year graduates (official page).
• New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme: The official webpage does not list a unified processing timeframe (official page).
• Dependants: Generally about six weeks after all required documents and the relevant application fee (if applicable) are received, which differs from the other routes (official page).

Conclusion: The “generally about” figures above and the approximate IANG figures are merely reference values for processing, not a promise of approval. The Immigration Department may still, where necessary, require the applicant to submit further proof and information; even if prepared according to the checklist, this does not mean the documents are fixed from then on. Important notes for TTPS and Important notes for GEP

Conclusion: Applicants should verify the current fee against the Hong Kong Immigration Department fee table and the individual route pages before submitting, and should not rely on amounts listed in other sources. The fee table stipulates that the application fee paid is non-refundable under any circumstances. Hong Kong Immigration Department fee table

Summary: The safest document structure is “shared baseline documents + the chosen route’s exception documents + verification of fees and timeframes against the official pages”. The TTPS must be split by Category A/B/C; IANG must handle the applicant, employer and accompanying dependant documents separately; the New CIES requires the InvestHK certificates to be obtained in sequence; and dependants must not omit the sponsor documents.

— migration.hk Editorial Team