Category: Capital Investment

The Hong Kong Capital Investment Entrant Scheme was first launched in October 2003. The objective of the program is to allow reasonably well-off people to come to HK and take up residency without needing to join in or establish an operating business. The Scheme rules are reviewed by the Immigration Department on a regular basis.

To qualify for this capital investment visa, 10 Million Hong Kong Dollars is required to be invested in ‘qualifying investments’ (which does not include real estate).

The essential cut and thrust of the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (“CIES”) means that if you invest HK $10 million cash into Hong Kong’s economy, you will be able to procure a visa to take up residence in the HKSAR.

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In the first instance you will secure a two-year period of stay which is then, subject to having maintained the 10 million HKD in the qualifying investments, extendable every two years for up to seven years. Once you get to 7 years continuous ordinary residence, you can apply for permanent residence.

Even if you have not in fact resided in Hong Kong in all of that time, but have maintained the visa status nonetheless, you will be able to secure ‘unconditional stay’ and in the process free up the HKD10m investment for deployment elsewhere. Namely, by then it will have served the process of procuring your residency in the HKSAR with no further strings attached.

One of the benefits under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme program is that you are entitled to bring your immediate family along with you (i.e. your legal spouse and unmarried children under the age of 18 – who secure dependent visas,).

A condition precedent to CIES visa grant is that you must have owned the HK$10 million for at least two clear years prior to making your application. Moreover, it is a key part of the application process that you have further funds available to you, in addition to the 10 million HK dollars, that you can use to fund your lives in the HKSAR independent of the funds invested to get the visa.

Qualifying investments under the CIES program are financial investments only: since 2010, real estate no longer counts. These asset types are regularly reviewed and updated on the Hong Kong Immigration Department website – so you pay your money and take your choice!

The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme program is not without its critics. It has been argued that Hong Kong does not in fact benefit at all under the Scheme; that it has been founded on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the international balance of payments situation works and has raised a few eyebrows; that the net gain to the HKSAR is in fact nothing at all.

In any event, there’s no doubt, from an applicant’s perspective, the program has been extremely advantageous. For many years there simply was no opportunity to make a mere financial investment in the HKSAR and gain residency in the process. Instead, people …

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A lot of people these days are trying to start their own business. However, there is one constantly persistent problem, which haunts the dreams of everybody – where do I get money?

There are a lot of opportunities, and most head for the so-called Venture capital or Risk capital investors, who are ready to feed you with a hefty amount of money, provided that you appeal to them. This is no easy task, and you will probably have to wage bloody competition with around a 1000 other enthusiasts. However, once you are in for the interview, you have a real fighting chance.

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The first step along the way is application. This is the biggest fight, as you will most commonly not have any social interactions with the investors at this level, and you will need to prove that you are good only in text and video form.

You should prepare your business plan well, lay it out in as little words as possible, and make sure that you are not selling monkey diapers, because we all know this idea failed a long time ago. A good YouTube clip is always a great idea, because they would like to see your face and hear your voice.

And that is it – you are called for an interview, you are set, you are the greatest!

Well, it does not work like that. Even if you manage to fight off the first 900, you will be called to an interview with about 100 more participants, and you will need to face your greatest fear – the investor, who has no idea what you are doing, but he read money somewhere along the lines of your application form.

This time around, you will need to be concise and short about what exactly your company is going to do and make sure you have projected your financial operation for at least the next year. With a lot of luck, you are in the final twenty, who will get to make their pitch.

The last part might be against the fewest teams, but it is the hardest, because you will need to explain your idea, your business plan and possibly even your family life in as much as 3 minutes. Afterwards, in the next 15 minutes the investors will make sure they crucify you with questions, most of which you have already answered, but they aim to confuse you.

You do not have to be prepared, you just need to be as calm and confident as possible. Even if you fail, many do on the first try, at least you will know firsthand what you are up against.

Obtaining the risk capital investment is definitely no easy task and you will see that you are not up for the job on your first try, unless you have already worked in the field as an employee, and you have studied a lot.

However, with experience comes power, and if you really believe that your idea …

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