The Quality Migrant scheme

The Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) is for highly skilled people or quality migrants who want to settle in Hong Kong. You do not need to have been hired by a local employer when you apply. These notes cover the basic requirements, the 2 assessment tests, the 12 criteria of the General Points Test and the current threshold, how selection works, and what an extension requires after approval. They follow the Immigration Department webpage on the scheme, the assessment mechanism page, and the frequently asked questions, checked 18 October 2026.

What the scheme is for

1. The scheme is meant to attract highly skilled people or quality migrants to settle in Hong Kong. You do not need a local employer's appointment when you apply.
2. You may bring a spouse. That includes a civil partner, or a similar relationship that is lawful in the place where it was formed and is officially recognised. You may also bring unmarried dependent children under 18. You must be able to pay for the dependants' living expenses and accommodation yourself, without public assistance.
3. The scheme does not apply to nationals of Afghanistan, Cuba, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
4. You may have only 1 application at a time, and you may choose only 1 assessment test.

4 basic requirements

You must meet all 4.

1. Age: 18 or above when you file.
2. Financial requirement: you can, on your own, meet your living and accommodation costs in Hong Kong, and those of your dependants, while you are in Hong Kong, without public assistance.
3. Good character: no criminal record, and no adverse immigration record, in Hong Kong or anywhere else.
4. A basic academic qualification: generally a university degree awarded by a recognised university or tertiary institution. In a special case, documented good technical qualifications, proven professional ability, and/or experience and achievements may also be considered.

If you cannot produce satisfactory documents to show that you meet the basic requirements, the application is refused at once and is not taken further.

The 2 assessment tests

1. The General Points Test has 12 criteria. They cover 6 areas: age, academic qualifications, language, work experience, annual income, and business ownership. There is a threshold you must clear before you can file.
2. The Achievement-based Points Test is for a person with exceptional talent or skill, who has received an award for outstanding achievement, or whose work is recognised by peers in the field, and who has made a significant contribution to the development of that field. The department states that this test sets a very high requirement.

The 12 criteria of the General Points Test

The points below follow the official text.

Age

1. Whether you are aged 50 or below.

Academic qualifications

1. Whether you hold a master's degree or a doctoral degree awarded by an eligible university.
2. Whether that master's degree or doctoral degree is in a STEM subject, meaning science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.

Language

1. Whether you have a good command of 2 languages, in writing and in speech.
2. Whether you have a good command of written and spoken English.

Work experience. Each item requires work at a level equivalent to a degree, or at specialist level.

1. Not less than 5 years of work experience.
2. Not less than 3 years of work experience in a multinational company or a well-known enterprise, for example a listed company, or a firm on the Forbes Global 2000, the Fortune Global 500, or the Hurun China 500.
3. Not less than 3 years of work experience in a particular field or industry. The fields include innovation and technology, finance, and international trade, including cross-boundary sea transport, air transport, and supply chain management.
4. Not less than 2 years of international work experience, meaning work experience gained outside your country or region of origin.

Annual income

1. In the year immediately before the application, annual income of HK$1 million or above, or the equivalent in foreign currency.

Business ownership

1. You currently own a business entity, and that entity made a profit of HK$5 million or above in the full year immediately before the application.
2. You currently own a listed company.

Business ownership is read this way. You have absolute beneficial ownership of 50% or more of a company that is not listed. Or you have absolute beneficial ownership of normally 10% or more of a listed company.

The current threshold and how selection works

1. The current threshold is 6 of the 12 criteria. You need that many before you can file online. The threshold may be changed from time to time, with no notice beforehand.
2. Clearing the threshold is not approval. Selection exercises are held periodically. Applicants are chosen on merit. The more criteria you meet, the higher your priority.
3. The Director of Immigration may ask a high-level assessment committee for its view on an application. The committee is chaired by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare. It takes together the manpower needs of the various sectors, socio-economic needs, the applicant's background and qualifications, and similar factors.
4. Until you receive notice of the result, the application may be treated as still being processed.

Eligible universities, and points on the degree

1. The QMAS list of eligible universities has 2 parts. The first is the list of eligible universities under the Top Talent Pass Scheme. The second is institutions which, over the past 5 years, have been in the top 10 of the QS Global MBA ranking and the Financial Times Global MBA ranking, and which specialise in postgraduate programmes.
2. A qualification from a school of continuing and professional education, a branch campus, an extension school, or an affiliated college is not accepted.
3. A master's degree or a doctoral degree must meet the standard of a degree recognised in Hong Kong. An honorary degree is not accepted. A degree awarded by an institution that is not recognised by the state, or that is not a registered institution, is not accepted.
4. There is a reference list for STEM. It is for reference only. If your subject is not on the list, you may submit documents and ask for it to be recognised.

How to read the criteria if you have just graduated

What follows is a way to check yourself against the criteria. It is not the Immigration Department's decision.

1. The age criterion, item 1, can usually be met.
2. The academic criteria, items 2 and 3, depend on whether the institution that awarded the master's degree or the doctoral degree is on the list, and on whether the subject is STEM.
3. The language criteria, items 4 and 5, need proof.
4. Items 6 to 12 are mostly about years of work, income, or a business. If you have just graduated, they are usually hard to meet.
5. If your own count is short of 6, the Immigration Department website has a self-assessment tool you can use first. If you are a non-local student who graduated with a local degree in Hong Kong, you can also compare that route with IANG.

How to file, and the fees

1. You file online, upload the documents, and pay the application fee. The application fee is not refunded, whatever the result.
2. QMAS is one of the specified schemes. The principal applicant and each dependant each pay an application fee of HK$600. After approval, the visa issue fee for a fixed period of stay of 6 months or more is HK$1,300.
3. A Mainland resident, including a Mainland resident temporarily living in Hong Kong or Macao, must after approval submit a consent to reside in Hong Kong. It is issued by the work unit the person belongs to, or by the Mainland authority that keeps the person's record. The person must also apply for an Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao and the endorsement for travel to Hong Kong. A Chinese citizen who holds a Chinese passport, and who already has permanent resident status overseas, or who has lived overseas for not less than 1 year immediately before the application and files from overseas, may enter on a Chinese passport and does not need the permit.
4. A person already in Hong Kong under a limit of stay that carries conditions, for example under the General Employment Policy (GEP) or the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP), may also apply. In the assessment, that person is treated as a new entrant.

Stay and extension after approval

1. Under the General Points Test, the first stay on entry is generally 36 months, with no other conditions of stay.
2. To extend when the 36 months end, you must show that you have taken steps to settle in Hong Kong and that you are living in Hong Kong. Examples are a paid post, or a business you have set up.
3. A further extension requires you to show that you have settled in Hong Kong and that you have contributed to Hong Kong. Examples are a paid post at degree level, at specialist level, or at senior level, with a stable income, or a business of a reasonable scale that you have set up or joined. The period granted is generally on a "3+2" year pattern.
4. If you have been permitted to come to Hong Kong for not less than 2 years, and your assessable income for salaries tax in the previous year of assessment was HK$2 million or above, the extension is generally 5 years.
5. Under the Achievement-based Points Test, the first stay on entry is generally 8 years. An extension requires you to show that you can, on your own, meet your living and accommodation costs and those of your dependants.
6. File the extension online within the 3 months before expiry, and at the latest 6 weeks before expiry. You must be in Hong Kong when you file. While you wait for the result, you must leave before expiry unless special approval is given.
7. If you have been ordinarily resident for a continuous period of not less than 7 years, you may apply in accordance with the law for the right of abode in Hong Kong.

Sources

• Immigration Department webpage on the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (checked 18 October 2026)
• Immigration Department assessment mechanism page for the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (checked 18 October 2026)
• Immigration Department frequently asked questions on the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, questions 2, 6, and 7 (checked 18 October 2026)
• Immigration Department, new fee structure for visa applications under specified schemes