Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS): eligibility and extension

The Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) is the Immigration Department’s route for high earners and graduates of the world’s top-ranked universities to come and live in Hong Kong. ImmD’s three categories test your income or your degree. None of them asks for a Hong Kong job offer. The one thing to plan for is the extension: to stay beyond the first visa, you must show ImmD that you have a job here with a stable income, or a business that is operating here.

The three TTPS categories

You need to fit one category. ImmD may favourably consider your application if there is no security objection and no known record of serious crime against you. The scheme does not apply to nationals of Afghanistan, Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

For Category A, ImmD defines annual income as taxable employment or business income, including salary, allowances, stock options and profits from companies you own. For Categories B and C, the degree must be equivalent to a recognised Hong Kong bachelor’s degree. Category C is subject to an annual quota of 10,000, allotted first come, first served.

ImmD grants the initial TTPS stay on time limitation only, without other conditions of stay.

The list of eligible universities

Categories B and C depend on ImmD’s aggregate list of eligible universities, which the Government updates once a year. From 1 January 2026 the list has 200 universities and institutions, up from 199. It is built from:

• the top 100 in four world rankings over the past five years: Times Higher Education, QS, U.S. News and World Report’s Best Global Universities, and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities;
• the top five institutions for hospitality and leisure management in the QS subject rankings over the past five years;
• the top five specialised institutions for art and design in the QS subject rankings over the past five years;
• the top 20 Mainland universities in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Best Chinese Universities Ranking over the past five years.

Universities can drop off. In the 2026 update, the Government announced that École Polytechnique, Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC) and the University of Freiburg were removed, and that their bachelor’s graduates are no longer eligible under Categories B and C from 1 January 2026. Check the current aggregate list on the day you apply, not a copy on someone else’s website.

How to apply for TTPS, step by step

1. Pick your category. Every test counts back from your application date.
2. Read ImmD’s Guidebook for Top Talent Pass Scheme, ID(E)1026. Part IX has the document checklist for each category.
3. Gather the documents the checklist lists for your category. If your Category A income includes stock options, ImmD accepts a document from your employing company stating the value granted to you as proof of employment income.
4. Apply online through the designated GovHK website and pay the application fee. You can include up to eight accompanying dependants in the same online application.
5. Answer any request from ImmD. Applicants, dependants and employing companies may be asked for more documents.

Each accompanying dependant needs a recent photograph, a valid travel document and evidence of the relationship, such as a marriage or birth certificate. A parent or legal guardian signs for a dependant under 16. See our dependant visa guide for who qualifies.

Fees and processing time

ImmD normally takes four weeks to process a TTPS application once it has all the required documents and the application fee. You pay the application fee when you file, and ImmD says it is not refunded in any circumstance, whatever the result. A visa fee is also charged. On 26 February 2025 the Government introduced a new application fee and a raised visa fee for talent and capital investment admission schemes; our specified-scheme fees guide covers that arrangement. Check the current amounts with ImmD before you pay. A firm’s own fee is separate.

Extending your stay after the first visa

An extension is a new ImmD decision. You must prove one of two things:

• you have taken up employment in Hong Kong with a stable income; or
• you have established or joined a business in Hong Kong.

For a business, ImmD may favourably consider the extension if your proof clearly shows the business is operating healthily and sustainably and can contribute to the economy. It looks at factors including turnover, financial resources, the investment sum, local jobs created, economic benefits and how long you have stayed. A successful applicant is normally granted not more than three years on time limitation only, or until the Hong Kong employment contract ends if that is sooner.

High earners can ask for a longer extension. If you have been allowed to stay under TTPS for at least two years and had assessable income for salaries tax of at least HK$2 million in the previous year of assessment, you can ask to be assessed under ImmD’s top-tier employment stream. A successful applicant is normally granted six years on time limitation only. ImmD asks for proof such as the Inland Revenue Department’s notice of salaries tax assessment for the previous year of assessment.

Common mistakes to check

• Using the wrong year for Category A. ImmD looks at the year immediately before the application, not your best recent year.
• Applying under Category C with three or more years’ work experience, or more than five years after graduating. Check whether Category B fits instead.
• Expecting the application fee back after a refusal or withdrawal. It is not refunded.

If you already hold a Hong Kong job offer, compare TTPS with the employment routes in our employment visa versus talent visa guide.

Getting help with a TTPS application

You can apply yourself; the online form and the guidebook are public. If you use a firm, remember that Hong Kong has no immigration consultant licence, so there is no official register of TTPS agents to check. A firm can prepare and upload your file. Only ImmD decides it, and no firm can promise a result. You can compare visa firms that name TTPS in our directory.