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Hong Kong.

How Hong Kong sells residence for investors (golden visa): 2 programmes, 1 of them open today. Every number and rule below links to the document it comes from.

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78
prices and rules
17
events
70
documents and articles
Residence·Closed·2003–2015

Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES)

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Official name: Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES; 資本投資者入境計劃)

Lowest price when it closed: HK$10 million

Threshold on the day the scheme was suspended (15 Jan 2015): HK$10m in permissible financial assets; real estate no longer counted after 14 Oct 2010. Covers spouse and minor children.

Notes from the research

Residence (not citizenship) for people who invest in Hong Kong without running a business there; run by the Immigration Department under the 'Rules for the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme' (ID(E)968); no law establishing it was found. Threshold HK$6.5m in property and/or financial assets from 27 Oct 2003; HK$10m in financial assets only from 14 Oct 2010. Open to foreign nationals, Macao and Taiwan residents, stateless persons and Chinese nationals holding permanent residence abroad (not Mainland residents). Two steps: approval-in-principle (enter as a visitor to invest within six months), then formal approval and two-year permissions to stay, renewed if the investment is kept. After seven years' continuous ordinary residence investors and dependants could apply for the right of abode (permanent residence) under the Basic Law. Suspended 'until further notice' from 15 Jan 2015; applications already received were still processed and all were finalised in October 2023. The large majority of applicants were Chinese nationals with foreign permanent residence; of those formally approved to end-2007, the largest groups held permanent residence in Gambia (414 of 1,114), Canada, New Zealand, Nauru, Australia, the Philippines, Niger and Guinea-Bissau (LCQ12, 2008).

Approvals-in-principle outstanding (stock)
01k2k3k200420062008201020122014201620182020

Prices and rules

Rules while it was open

What is measured

  • Applications received128
  • Investors approved, not counting family members123
  • Investment by programme investors107
  • Approvals-in-principle outstanding (stock)55
  • Investor visas issued39
  • Applicant share12
  • Applications approved9
  • Applications turned down7
  • Applications pending6
  • Dependants approved4
  • Share of programme investment by asset class or route4
  • Investor residence renewals refused4
  • Permanent residence (settlement) grants to programme participants4
  • Programme real-estate purchases as a share of all property transactions3
  • Staff working on a programme2
  • Average investment per investor (or per property)2
  • Programme cases meeting a stated condition (review of files)1
  • Processing time1
  • Share of applications by processing-time band1
  • Programme migrants counted in a study1
  • Investment intended (pipeline)1
Residence·Open·since 2023

New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Official name: New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (New CIES; 新資本投資者入境計劃)

Lowest price for one person: HK$30 million

HK$30m in total: at least HK$27m in permissible assets (real estate counts for at most HK$10m) plus HK$3m in the CIES Investment Portfolio. Applicant also needs HK$30m net assets.

Notes from the research

Residence for investors of at least HK$30m: HK$27m in permissible financial assets and/or real estate (real estate counts for at most HK$10m; residential only for single properties of HK$50m+ from 16 Oct 2024) plus HK$3m in the CIES Investment Portfolio managed by the Hong Kong Investment Corporation. Approved by the Executive Council on 19 Dec 2023; no law establishing it was found. The launch date is the date of that Executive Council order, which states no date of effect (the LegCo brief only aims to launch the scheme and invite applications in mid-2024); applications opened on 1 Mar 2024 (separate event). InvestHK verifies net assets (HK$30m, held two years before applying until Feb 2025, six months from 1 Mar 2025) and the investment; ImmD grants approval-in-principle (180-day visitor stay to invest), then formal approval: 2 years' stay, then 3-year extensions. After seven years' continuous ordinary residence applicants and dependants may apply for permanent residence; those who keep the investment seven years without meeting the residence test may apply for unconditional stay. Eligible: foreign nationals (except Afghanistan, Cuba, North Korea), Chinese nationals with foreign permanent residence, Macao residents, Chinese residents of Taiwan. Official figures are cumulative press-release totals; the only country breakdowns found (May 2024, March 2025) are led by Guinea-Bissau and Vanuatu.

Prices and rules

Ways in that apply today (minimum amounts)

What is measured

  • Applications received94
  • Investment by programme investors36
  • Applications approved28
  • Share of programme investment by asset class or route18
  • Eligibility applications approved11
  • Investment eligibility certificates issued9
  • Enquiries received by the programme8
  • Applications approved in principle2
  • Share of applications by status2
  • Change in applications received (percent, as stated)1
  • Applications turned down1
  • Payments out of a CBI-financed account or fund1
  • Processing time1
  • Investment intended (pipeline)1
  • Investor residence permits renewed1
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Timeline

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Sources

The 70 documents behind this page

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