Hong Kong’s government has announced a major expansion of two signature immigration facilitation schemes that will take effect on 1 October 2026. The first programme—the Immigration Facilitation Scheme for Visitors Participating in Short-term Activities in Designated Sectors (STV Scheme)—lets overseas professionals enter the city as visitors for up to 14 days and legally receive remuneration while they deliver tightly defined work such as speaking at conferences, competing in sporting events or conducting academic research. After a year-long review, officials have added “social welfare” as the 18th designated sector and have accredited more than 40 new host organisations across the finance, higher-education and mega-events sectors. In practice, this means that social-work researchers, NGO specialists and care-services consultants can now fly in at short notice without first securing an employment visa—an important win for global charities and corporates that run regional CSR programmes out of Hong Kong. The second initiative—the Immigration Facilitation Scheme for Invited Persons—originally covered only Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nationals. From next month the geographic scope jumps to Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) and the entire Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). All Hong Kong bureaux and departments, not just five economic policy arms, will be authorised to issue invitation letters. Invited guests benefit from streamlined e-visa processing, relaxed e-Channel enrolment rules and a single online portal that eliminates repeat data entry. Since its pilot launch in June 2022, the STV Scheme has welcomed more than 56,000 foreign professionals to some 9,500 short-term engagements ranging from the Asian Financial Forum to the Hong Kong Sevens. Officials argue that enlarging the scheme will help the city win marquee events and strengthen its position as the region’s business-services hub just as competition intensifies from Singapore and Dubai. For companies, the key takeaway is operational speed: HR teams can move specialists into Hong Kong within days rather than weeks, eliminating costly project delays. Practical tips: (1) Check that your Hong Kong entity is listed as an “authorised organisation” on the Immigration Department website; (2) issue the government-prescribed invitation letter before the traveller books flights; (3) remind staff that the 14-day limit is calculated per trip—not cumulatively—and overstays will jeopardise future entries. Multinational employers should also review payroll policies; while honoraria are allowed, normal salary payments must still comply with Inland Revenue reporting rules.
Source: news.gov.hk
