- Employers must prove a genuine vacancy that locals cannot readily fill.
- Proof of financial standing means audited accounts or a profits tax return.
- Companies under 12 months old submit a detailed business plan instead.
- The HK$600 application fee is non-refundable, even if the visa is refused.
Sponsoring an employment visa in Hong Kong puts most of the case on the company, not the candidate. You show a genuine vacancy that cannot readily be filled locally, a package broadly in line with the market, and proof the company is financially real.
Most nationalities come in under the General Employment Policy. Chinese residents of the Mainland use ASMTP, with the same employer tests.
If the accounts are the gap, that work sits with accounting services in Hong Kong and your auditor. An immigration consultant can’t produce the financial-standing documents.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- which route your company uses
- what the company must prove, and when documents are waived
- the processing time and the fee
- what you file once the employee starts
- what Sleek prepares, and when a consultant lodges the application
Can your Hong Kong company sponsor an employment visa?
Yes, when the vacancy is genuine, the local work force cannot readily fill it, and the company can show it is financially real. The candidate’s nationality decides the route. The employer’s tests do not change with it.
For a professional hire, a Hong Kong work visa is one of the two routes below.
| General Employment Policy | ASMTP | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it’s for | Professionals of most nationalities | Chinese residents of the Mainland with special skills, knowledge or experience of value to Hong Kong, and not readily available here |
| Who’s excluded | Chinese residents of the Mainland, and nationals of Afghanistan, Cuba and Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of) | This is the Mainland route |
| Employer’s tests | A genuine vacancy; a job that cannot be readily taken up by the local work force; a package broadly commensurate with the market | The same three tests |
| Employer’s key documents | Employment contract or letter of appointment, Business Registration Certificate, proof of financial standing, company background, and a business plan if the company is under 12 months old | The same documents |
| Processing time | Normally four weeks from a complete application | The same four weeks |
| First grant | 36 months or the contract term, whichever is shorter | The same first grant |
Source: Immigration Department, General Employment Policy and ASMTP, checked 23 September 2026.
Two schemes need no employer at all. The candidate applies alone for the Top Talent Pass Scheme or the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme.
Hiring from the Mainland
If your candidate is a Chinese resident of the Mainland, use ASMTP. The General Employment Policy is closed to that group.
For the company, the file barely changes. Immigration applies the same three tests, asks for the same employer documents, quotes the same four-week processing time and charges the same fees. ASMTP is on the same list of specified schemes.
One group of PRC passport holders can still use the General Employment Policy. The employment guidebook allows it when either of these is true:
- they have permanent residence overseas
- they have lived overseas for at least one year immediately before filing, and they submit the application from overseas
In that rule, overseas means anywhere outside the Mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
ASMTP is aimed at people with special skills, knowledge or experience of value to Hong Kong. The job description should make that value explicit.
What will the Immigration Department ask your company to prove?
Four tests decide it: a genuine vacancy, a role the local work force cannot readily fill, a market-rate package, and a company that is financially real.
The package includes income, accommodation, medical cover and other fringe benefits, at the market level for professionals in Hong Kong.
Check one point on the candidate before you make the offer. Immigration expects a good education background, normally a first degree in the relevant field. Technical qualifications, proven professional abilities or relevant experience can stand in for that degree in special circumstances.
That waiver sits in Immigration’s facilitation measures for employment visas. Immigration can still ask for the documents in a particular case.
Outside that waiver, the company uploads:
- the employment contract or letter of appointment, with the post, salary, benefits and employment period
- the Business Registration Certificate
- proof of financial standing
- company background, such as activities, mode of operation, products and markets
- a detailed business plan, if the company was set up within the last 12 months
Proof of financial standing
For an established company, proof of financial standing is the latest audited financial report, a trading profit and loss account, or the profits tax return. Have the audited financial statements and the profits tax return current before you apply.
A company in its first year has neither document. Immigration asks for a detailed business plan instead.
The employment guidebook wants the plan to cover:
- source of funds and estimated capital injection
- the nature and mode of the business
- expected turnover, sales volume, and gross and net profit in the coming years
- the local jobs the company proposes to create
A founder who is starting a business in Hong Kong from overseas usually meets this rule on the first hire.
You can’t change the candidate’s CV. You can have the company’s side of the employment visa application complete before the fee is paid.
A company that got an employment or training visa for a non-local hire in the past 24 months, or a company listed on the Main Board or the Growth Enterprise Market, does not have to upload proof of financial standing. The same waiver covers the Business Registration Certificate, company background, the business plan and a staff list.
How long does a Hong Kong employment visa take, and what does it cost?
Normally four weeks from a complete file. The application fee is HK$600. The visa issuance fee is HK$1,300 if the stay is over 180 days, and HK$600 if it is 180 days or less.
The Hong Kong employment visa processing time runs from the day Immigration has every required document and the fee. Both the General Employment Policy and ASMTP are on the specified-schemes list, so the same fees apply to both.
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Application fee | HK$600 per application | Non-refundable in any circumstances, whatever the result |
| Visa issuance fee, stay over 180 days | HK$1,300 | Payable when the visa is issued |
| Visa issuance fee, stay of 180 days or less | HK$600 | Payable when the visa is issued |
| In force since | 11 a.m. on 26 February 2025 | Applies to applications submitted from that time |
The HK$600 application fee is not refunded if Immigration refuses the visa or you withdraw the application. Finish the employer documents before you pay it.
What do you have to file once the employee starts?
File Form IR56E with the Inland Revenue Department within three months of the start date, and file again before the employee leaves.
These are the same employer notifications you file for any new hire. The IRD warns that heavy penalties may be incurred for missing them or for an incorrect return.
| Form | When | Copies |
|---|---|---|
| IR56E | Within 3 months of the employment starting | 1 per employee |
| IR56F | 1 month before the employment ceases | 1 per employee |
| IR56G | At least 1 month before the employee’s expected departure from Hong Kong | 2 per employee |
The deadlines for each IR56 form are the same as for any other employee. Three related questions have their own pages:
- MPF for an overseas employee has its own enrolment rules
- bringing the employee’s family is a separate application
- hiring your first employee covers the first payroll, if this hire is it
How Sleek helps with the employer’s paperwork
Sleek prepares the accounts, the audit and the payroll filings the hire depends on. Sleek does not prepare or lodge Hong Kong visa applications.
With Sleek, you can:
- Keep the accounts current: so the profits tax return is ready when Immigration asks for proof of financial standing.
- Produce the audited report: the document Immigration names first, through statutory audit services.
- File the new-hire notifications: IR56E, and later IR56F or IR56G, through payroll for the new hire.
- Incorporate the sponsoring company: if it doesn’t exist yet, incorporate in Hong Kong before you sponsor.
If you want someone to prepare and lodge the visa, use an immigration consultant or your own HR team. If the accounts are not ready, start there before you pay the fee.
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FAQs on employment visa hong kong
What is form ID 990B?
ID 990B is the Application for Employing Professionals in Hong Kong. The employing company completes it. The candidate’s form is ID 990A, Application for Entry for Employment as Professionals in Hong Kong.
The company submits ID 990B online and uploads the supporting documents with the application fee. Treat it as the company’s checklist for the employment visa application.
Do we have to advertise the job locally before sponsoring a hire?
The General Employment Policy page sets no advertising period. The facilitation measures still expect proof of a local recruitment exercise, then waive it in set cases.
An intra-company transfer qualifies when the post is managerial or professional and the person has worked for the company for at least a year. The pay has to be at market rate, and the number of transferees has to fit the business.
The proof is also waived for a Talent List post, or for a package of HK$2 million or above, including housing. It is waived for a bachelor’s degree from a renowned institution on Immigration’s lists, and for a master’s or doctorate in the field of the job. Immigration can still ask.
What happens when the first 36 months end?
The employee applies to extend within three months before the limit of stay expires, and at least six weeks before it ends. The HK$600 application fee is charged again and is not refunded. If the extension is approved, the issuance fee follows the same 180-day tiers.
A successful extension normally follows the 3-2 year pattern, on the employment condition, or for the rest of the contract if that is shorter. The employer’s support still matters, because the stay stays tied to the job.
What if the employee's job changes or they leave the company?
A professional on an employment condition needs prior approval from the Director of Immigration before the job changes. That application carries the HK$600 fee, and the fee is not refunded.
A top-tier professional on time limitation only, with no other conditions of stay, notifies the change through Immigration’s online system.
If the employee leaves, file IR56F or IR56G on time. Those Inland Revenue notifications still apply.
