Hong Kong SAR · Skilled worker
Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS)
Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) (QMAS) is issued by Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. VisaAI tracks 19 official requirements for it, each traced to the government page that states it.
Last verified against the official source on .
VisaAI is not a government body and does not issue visas. It cannot decide, predict or guarantee the outcome of an application, and this page is not legal or immigration advice.
Requirements change. Confirm every item on Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s own page before you apply.
Each requirement below is written in plain English by VisaAI. The indented text beneath it is quoted from Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s own page, so you can check what we say against what they say. Where a quotation shows “ ... ”, text has been left out.
Conditions you must meet
- You do not need a job offer before applyingThe premise of the scheme, and the opposite of Hong Kong's General Employment Policy, which requires a confirmed offer, a genuine vacancy and a role the local workforce cannot readily fill.
Applicants are not required to have secured an offer of local employment before applying for entry or being admitted to Hong Kong for settlement under the Scheme.
- Four stages, and the points test is only the secondPrerequisites, then a points test, then a periodic selection exercise, then issuance. Each stage gates the next.
Stage 1: Prerequisites ... Stage 2: Assessment Routes ... Stage 3: Selection exercise ... Stage 4: Issuance of visa/entry permit
- Fail any prerequisite and the application is refused immediately, without further assessmentThe Department says the application 'will not be further processed'. The points test is never reached.
If the applicant fails to provide satisfactory supporting documents showing that he/she has met all the above prerequisites, his/her application will not be further processed and will be refused immediately.
- You must be 18 or over when you apply
The applicant must be aged 18 or above when submitting an application under the Scheme.
- You must be able to support and house yourself and any dependants without public assistanceFor the whole of your stay, not just on arrival. No figure is published — this is a standard, not a threshold.
The applicant must be able to demonstrate that he/she is capable of supporting and accommodating himself/herself and his/her dependant(s), if any, on his/her own financial resources without relying on public assistance during his/her stay in Hong Kong.
- No criminal record and no adverse immigration record, anywhere'in hong kong or elsewhere' — an immigration record in a third country counts.
The applicant must not have any criminal record or adverse immigration record in Hong Kong or elsewhere.
- A good educational background, normally a first degree from a recognised institutionThe same door left open as on the GEP: technical qualifications, proven professional abilities or documented experience may be considered in special circumstances.
The applicant must have a good educational background, normally a first degree from a recognized university or tertiary educational institution. Under special circumstances, good technical qualifications, proven professional abilities, and/or experience and achievements supported by documentary evidence may be considered.
- Choose one of two points tests: 12 criteria, or 2The General Points Test has a passing threshold and the Department advises self-assessing against it before applying. The Achievement-based Points Test has two criteria and no threshold. The criteria and weights are in the Department's own points tables and are not reproduced here.
Applicants who have met all the prerequisites may choose to be assessed either under the General Points Test or the Achievement-based Points Test. There are 12 assessment criteria under the General Points Test and two assessment criteria under the Achievement-based Points Test.
- Meeting the threshold does not get you in — it gets you into the selection exerciseThe single most important thing to understand about this scheme. Selection exercises run periodically, applications meeting more criteria are considered more favourably, and a high-level panel chaired by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare may advise on manpower needs across sectors.
In general, not all applications meeting both the prerequisites and the passing threshold will necessarily be approved and applications meeting more assessment criteria will be considered more favourably.
- Selection is on merit, weighed against Hong Kong's wider needsThe panel takes a holistic view of manpower requirements across sectors and industries, the socio-economic needs of Hong Kong, and the applicant's background — factors outside the applicant's control and not in any points table.
The Assessment Panel will take a holistic view of the manpower requirements in different sectors and industries, socio-economic needs of Hong Kong, the background and credentials of applicants, and other relevant factors and advise the Director of Immigration on the applicants’ suitability.
- The Director may decide a criterion was not met, and may refuse without giving any reasonBroader than the GEP's disclaimer, which reserves discretion to refuse. This one also reserves discretion over whether a criterion was satisfied at all, and adds that the scheme may change without notice.
The Director of Immigration has absolute discretion to determine whether applicants have fulfilled any assessment criterion under the two assessment routes of the Scheme as the Director thinks fit and to approve or refuse any application without giving any reason.
- Nationals of Afghanistan, Cuba and North Korea cannot use the schemeThe same three nationalities excluded from the General Employment Policy.
The Scheme is not applicable to nationals of Afghanistan, Cuba and Korea (Democratic People's Republic of).
- You may bring a spouse or recognised partner and unmarried children under 18 — if you can support them yourselfHong Kong recognises same-sex and opposite-sex civil partnerships and civil unions recognised where they were entered into. The financial condition is attached in the same sentence.
Successful applicants under the Scheme may bring their spouse or the other party to a same-sex civil partnership, same-sex civil union, “same-sex marriage”, opposite-sex civil partnership or opposite-sex civil union entered into by him/her in accordance with the local law in force of the place of celebration and with such status being legally and officially recognised by the local authorities of the place of celebration Note and unmarried dependent children under the age of 18 to Hong Kong, provided that they are capable of supporting and accommodating their dependants on their own financial resources without relying on public assistance in Hong Kong.
- Cohabiting partners, de facto spouses and fiancé(e)s do not countThe Department defines a qualifying partnership by four structural features — governed by the legislation of the place it was entered into, registered with a competent authority, evidenced in writing, and a mutual permanent commitment akin to spouses — and then names what falls outside.
Such relationships do not include de facto spouse, partners in cohabitation, fiancé/fiancée, etc.
- A knowingly false statement is a criminal offence, and it voids the visas already grantedNot only your own: the Department states that any visa, entry permit or extension granted to you AND your dependants may become null and void.
Any person who knowingly and wilfully makes a statement or gives information which he/she knows to be false or does not believe to be true under or for the purpose of the Scheme shall be guilty of an offence under the Laws of Hong Kong and is liable to prosecution and subsequent removal from Hong Kong.
- Successful applicants on the General Points Test normally get 36 months, with no employment condition'on time limitation only without other conditions of stay' — you are not tied to an employer, which is the practical difference from the General Employment Policy.
Persons admitted through the General Points Test under the Scheme will normally be granted an initial stay of 36 months on time limitation only without other conditions of stay upon entry.
Documents you must provide
- Originals may be demanded even after copies have been suppliedThe checklist itself is in Part III of the Department's guidance notes rather than on this page.
Notwithstanding that applicants have already furnished all necessary copies of documents and information stated in the Guidance Notes, they may still be required to submit originals of the documents in connection with their applications upon request.
Steps in the process
- Name every accompanying family member in the online applicationThe Department advises filling in the accompanying-dependant part during the application rather than adding people later.
Applicants under the Scheme are advised to fill in the part of accompanying dependant for all accompanying family members during the online application process.
Government fees
- The application fee is non-refundable whatever the outcomeQMAS is a 'specified scheme' under Schedule 2 of the Immigration Regulations (Cap.115A): the principal applicant and each dependant pay a non-refundable application fee and, on approval, a visa issuance fee. The Department links its fee table rather than publishing amounts here, so no figure is stored.
The application fee paid is non-refundable in any circumstance irrespective of the application result.
Official sources
- Quality Migrant Admission Scheme — Requirements, Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region