HONG KONG - Hong Kong's Top Talent Pass Scheme has received enthusiastic responses with nearly 92,000 applications approved as of the end of 2024, Secretary for Labor and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Wednesday.

Replying to a query at the Legislative Council, Sun said that till the end of December last year, the authorities had received a total of over 116,000 applications under the program. More than 75,000 of the applicants approved have arrived in Hong Kong with their families.

Launched in end-2022, the TTPS seeks to attract individuals of different professions with high income or full-time bachelor's degree from top universities or institutions to pursue a career in Hong Kong.

Based on follow-up surveys conducted by the Labour and Welfare Bureau, more than half of the incoming talents have been in employment, mainly taking up managerial and professional jobs with median monthly employment earnings of about HK$50,000 ($6,400), Sun said.

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He added that the monthly employment earnings of about a quarter of the talents reach HK$100,000 or above and nearly 20 percent of their spouses have also taken up employment, mostly in high-skilled jobs.

“Based on these survey results, the TTPS entrants and their spouses contribute directly to Hong Kong's economy. More than half of them are aged under 40, with many bringing their young children to settle in Hong Kong,” Sun said.

“This adds new impetus to the local labor force and brings about positive impact on Hong Kong's demographic structure,” he added.

The HKSAR government earlier put the program's direct contribution at an estimated HK$34 billion ($4.35 billion) per year to the local economy, or about 1.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), according to Sun.

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Eligible talents are not required to secure employment offers in Hong Kong before applying for visas through the TTPS. But upon the expiration of their first visa, the talents will have to be employed, or have established or joined in business in Hong Kong so that they can apply to extend their stay in the city.

Sun said the first batch of visas under the TTPS has just started to expire at the end of last month but there is still insufficient data for meaningful analyses.