Good news,
Strongly rumoured over the past few weeks and then an article was in "The Standard" as follows:
All clear for the trailing spouse
Less than three years after enforcing a ban on holders of dependant visas taking up jobs in Hong Kong, the government has announced a change of heart.
Leslie Kwoh
Monday, April 17, 2006
Less than three years after enforcing a ban on holders of dependant visas taking up jobs in Hong Kong, the government has announced a change of heart.
"As Hong Kong's economic and employment conditions continue to improve, we've decided to remove this restriction to enhance our edge in attracting professionals," an Immigration Department spokesman said.
The announcement was made discreetly at a Security Bureau press briefing on the new Quality Migrant Scheme - the latest in a string of efforts to open Hong Kong's doors, albeit cautiously, to "top-notch" foreign professionals.
Though the exact date of the lifting has yet to be announced, officials said the new policy will also apply retroactively to all dependants of persons admitted for employment or capital investment who have entered the territory since July 2003. But they declined to reveal whether the change will apply to dependants under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, also launched in 2003.
According to Paul Yip, senior lecturer with the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Hong Kong University, the move is a telling sign that "things did not work out as the government had hoped."
In 2003, then-chief executive Tung Chee-hwa insisted the ban was a "timely and necessary move to underscore serious concerns attached by the government to tackle unemployment." But Yip said he believes the ban backfired and the government now realized Hong Kong was losing its "competitive edge."
He said: "That restriction was not conducive to welcoming people to come and work in Hong Kong.
"Combined with an aging population and the northward flow of talents to China, the number and quality of people coming in was probably lower than anticipated.
"We're coming to terms with the fact that the more restrictions you put on, the less people will come. Removing barriers is a first step."
Dependants of working expatriates are often labeled "trailing spouses," but often they are actually highly- skilled professionals who gave up their jobs to come to Hong Kong, he said.
Since the restriction was introduced, however, only 769 dependants have applied for and received special permission to work, according to the Immigration Department - a scanty number, considering almost 30,000 dependant visas were issued in 2004-05.
That means potentially thousands of new job seekers are just waiting to flood the local market - which begs the question: are there enough jobs in Hong Kong to go around?
"We haven't seen the job market this active since we've been here, and we've been here for 10 years," said Dan Chavasse, managing director of executive recruitment agency Michael Page International. "2005 was a big year, and we had a tremendous start to this year."
Chavasse said he believed many of the dependants who have entered the territory since 2003 have been "put off" from applying for special permission to work because of the anticipated "hassle."
He said: "Our clients will be delighted to hear about this change. There're so many jobs that would suit the `trailing spouse' - it could be a marketing event, professional support lawyer, or a nine- to 12-month assistant program."
But before locals despair about the inevitable consequence of a sudden influx - stiffened competition in the job market - Yip said he expected the new policy would increase Hong Kong's overall "competitive edge" and eventually create even more industries and jobs.
"Yes, it'll produce some competition, but at the same time it'll also compensate for the holes in Hong Kong's manpower. We should appreciate talent from overseas, because they'll eventually make our economy more active," he said.
WP