China’s National Immigration Administration (NIA) has issued Announcement No. 3 of 2026, replacing the long-criticised points-based quota system used to approve One-Way Permit (OWP) applications from mainland residents who wish to take up permanent residence in Hong Kong or Macau. Effective 1 July 2026, officials will judge applications against four clear family-reunification categories rather than a hidden algorithm that assigned each applicant a numeric score. Couples separated for at least three years, minors joining parents, adult children who need to care for elderly parents, and seniors with no children on the mainland may now qualify once annual settlement quotas become available.
![China standardises approval criteria for mainland residents settling in Hong Kong or Macau]()
Individuals and employers who need hands-on help assembling the required paperwork or managing ancillary visas for cross-border moves can turn to VisaHQ, whose China desk offers streamlined online application tools, document review, and courier services for both mainland and Hong Kong travel paperwork. The service keeps pace with the latest NIA policies and provides personalised guidance in English and Chinese; details are available at https://www.visahq.com/china/
The new language eliminates the opaque half-yearly “cut-off points” that created uncertainty for families and often fuelled allegations of unfair treatment. The OWP is the only legal route for ordinary mainland residents to obtain permanent residence in Hong Kong or Macau, making the policy crucial for thousands of cross-border families and their employers. Simpler rules should shorten processing times and reduce litigation risk for companies that rely on cross-boundary commuting staff, particularly in the Greater Bay Area where daily workforce flows already top 600,000 crossings. Immigration lawyers note that the NIA kept the annual settlement quota unchanged at 75,000 but expect a rise in approval rates because applicants will be filtered by binary eligibility tests rather than relative point rankings. Multinationals are being advised to update mobility handbooks and to counsel employees on the documentary evidence—such as marriage certificates and parents’ Hong Kong or Macau ID cards—now expressly required under the four categories. The NIA’s 12367 hotline and local Public Security Bureau exit-entry offices will field case-specific questions. Observers say the move aligns with Beijing’s broader agenda of reducing administrative discretion, unifying legal standards across jurisdictions, and fostering deeper integration of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area economy.
Individuals and employers who need hands-on help assembling the required paperwork or managing ancillary visas for cross-border moves can turn to VisaHQ, whose China desk offers streamlined online application tools, document review, and courier services for both mainland and Hong Kong travel paperwork. The service keeps pace with the latest NIA policies and provides personalised guidance in English and Chinese; details are available at https://www.visahq.com/china/
The new language eliminates the opaque half-yearly “cut-off points” that created uncertainty for families and often fuelled allegations of unfair treatment. The OWP is the only legal route for ordinary mainland residents to obtain permanent residence in Hong Kong or Macau, making the policy crucial for thousands of cross-border families and their employers. Simpler rules should shorten processing times and reduce litigation risk for companies that rely on cross-boundary commuting staff, particularly in the Greater Bay Area where daily workforce flows already top 600,000 crossings. Immigration lawyers note that the NIA kept the annual settlement quota unchanged at 75,000 but expect a rise in approval rates because applicants will be filtered by binary eligibility tests rather than relative point rankings. Multinationals are being advised to update mobility handbooks and to counsel employees on the documentary evidence—such as marriage certificates and parents’ Hong Kong or Macau ID cards—now expressly required under the four categories. The NIA’s 12367 hotline and local Public Security Bureau exit-entry offices will field case-specific questions. Observers say the move aligns with Beijing’s broader agenda of reducing administrative discretion, unifying legal standards across jurisdictions, and fostering deeper integration of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area economy.
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