Hong Kong Top Talent Pass 2026: Category A, B and C Requirements Compared
The Hong Kong Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) sorts applicants into three categories, and the category you fall into is decided by one of three tests: an income test, a degree-plus-experience test, or a recent-graduate test. Category A requires annual income of HK$2.5 million or above in the year immediately before you apply; Category B requires a bachelor's degree from an eligible university plus at least three years of work experience over the past five years; Category C requires a bachelor's degree from an eligible university awarded in the past five years with less than three years of work experience, and it is subject to an annual quota. The thresholds, definitions and evidence below follow the Immigration Department's "Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS)" Frequently Asked Questions page, as of the October 2026 official page; because individual circumstances vary and scheme details are revised, treat this as general reference rather than advice on your own case.
What actually differs between Category A, B and C?
| Category A | Category B | Category C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core test | Annual income of HK$2.5 million or more (or foreign-currency equivalent) in the year immediately preceding the application | Bachelor's degree from an eligible university, plus at least three years of work experience over the past five years immediately preceding the application | Bachelor's degree from an eligible university awarded in the past five years, with less than three years of work experience |
| Quota | None stated | None stated | Annual quota, allotted first-come, first-served; currently 10,000 |
| Evidence type | Income and, where relevant, shareholding and company profits | Degree verification plus work history | Degree verification plus graduation year |
| Initial stay on entry | 36 months | 24 months | 24 months |
The three categories are alternatives, not a ladder: you need to satisfy one of them. There is no requirement to meet more than one, and the category you enter under sets the length of your first permission to stay.
How is Category A income calculated, and whose income counts?
Category A income is taxable employment or business income, and the list is specific: salary, allowances, stock options, and profits from a company you own. Income generated from personal investment is excluded, which matters for readers whose wealth sits in portfolios rather than in salary or operating businesses — a strong investment year does not build a Category A case.
For business profits, the Department's stated position is that you should generally have held the relevant company shares continuously throughout the tax assessment year preceding your application. In practice this turns Category A into an equity-and-profits test for owner-managers: the shareholding period, not just the profit figure, is part of what you have to evidence.
What documents prove HK$2.5 million of income?
The FAQ page names three kinds of proof for Category A:
- A notice of salaries tax assessment for the previous assessment year, issued by a local competent authority such as a taxation office or revenue department.
- Documentary proof issued by your employing company specifying the value of stock options granted to you.
- Documentary proof of the financial standing of your own company — for example the latest audited financial report, a trading profit and loss account, or a profit tax return — where applicable.
If stock options form a material part of the HK$2.5 million, the entry is only as strong as the employer's written valuation of those options. If company profits form the material part, the shareholding history across the assessment year has to line up with the financial records you submit.
Does the income have to be in Hong Kong dollars?
No. The online application service offers 17 currencies in addition to the Hong Kong dollar: the Chinese renminbi, U.S. dollar, Sterling, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Singapore dollar, New Taiwan dollar, Swiss franc, Korean won, Thai baht, Malaysian ringgit, Euro, Philippine peso, Indian rupee, Indonesian rupiah and South African rand. Once you select a currency, the system converts the figure into Hong Kong dollars automatically.
If your income is denominated in a currency outside that list, you convert it yourself into Hong Kong dollars or one of the 17 listed currencies when submitting, and upload the supporting documents for the Department's assessment.
What counts as an eligible university degree for Categories B and C?
Both categories require a bachelor's degree from an institution on the aggregate list of eligible universities, compiled by the Labour and Welfare Bureau. The list draws on:
- The top 100 universities or institutions in four designated world rankings over the past five years — Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, U.S. News and World Report's Best Global Universities Rankings, and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities.
- The top five institutions for specialised hotel programmes on the QS rankings in "hospitality and leisure management" over the past five years.
- The top 20 Mainland universities under the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Best Chinese Universities Ranking over the past five years.
- The top five specialised institutions on the QS rankings in "Art and Design" over the past five years.
Several exclusions are stated explicitly. The qualification must be equivalent to the recognised Hong Kong standard of a bachelor's degree, and honorary bachelor's degrees are not accepted. Degrees obtained through online or distance learning, evening, self-taught or part-time study are not accepted. Qualifications from the continuing and professional education arms, branch schools, extension schools or subsidiary schools of an eligible university are not accepted. A master's or doctoral degree on its own does not substitute for the bachelor's degree.
For jointly operated programmes, every awarding institution must be on the aggregate list. Both B and C applications also require verification proof of the qualification from a third-party credential verification organisation or from the awarding institution, together with the information the Department needs to authenticate the qualification online.
How is Category B's three-year work experience counted?
The three years must fall within the five years immediately preceding your application, and the experience must be accumulated from full-time employment, or from self-employment, after graduation. The Department does not, on the FAQ page, describe any test of the seniority or sector of that work for the initial application — the threshold is duration and timing, counted after graduation.
How is Category C's five-year window counted, and who is excluded?
Category C counts graduation by year of graduation, not by the date on the certificate. The worked example on the official page is that a person who graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2018 could apply under Category C no later than 31 December 2023.
The important exclusion is the one that catches Hong Kong-educated graduates: Category C does not apply to non-local students who obtained their undergraduate qualification through a full-time, locally-accredited programme in Hong Kong. Non-local students here means people who entered Hong Kong for education on a student visa or entry permit issued by the Director of Immigration.
A narrower rule follows from that. If you hold a bachelor's degree from a local university that makes you eligible for the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG), you cannot use it for Category C. But if you hold a second bachelor's degree from an eligible university outside Hong Kong, awarded within the past five years, and you are not IANG-eligible on the strength of that degree, a Category C application made on that degree will be accepted.
What does the Category C quota mean in practice?
Category C carries an annual quota of 10,000, allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. The quota figure is the one stated on the FAQ page.
Timing is therefore part of eligibility for Category C in a way it is not for A or B: the same profile can be inside or outside the quota depending on when the application is filed.
What happens after approval: stay, employment and family
Approval is not the end of the decision sequence. The following points are what determine whether a TTPS entry actually works as a residence plan.
Initial stay. Regardless of category, entrants are normally granted a stay on time limitation only, with no other conditions of stay: 36 months for Category A, 24 months for Categories B and C. The Department also states that this "initial stay" is granted once only — if a person admitted under the scheme leaves and their limit of stay expires, they cannot reapply through the TTPS and would have to look at other immigration policies or schemes.
Employment freedom. TTPS entrants may take up and change employment during their permitted stay without seeking prior approval from the Immigration Department. There is no employer-sponsorship lock attached to the visa.
Dependants. An approved applicant may bring a spouse or the other party to a recognised same-sex civil partnership, civil union or "same-sex marriage", or an opposite-sex civil partnership or civil union, plus unmarried dependent children under 18. The applicant must satisfy the Director of Immigration that they can support dependants at a standard well above subsistence level and provide suitable accommodation in Hong Kong. Up to eight accompanying dependants can be included in one online application, and dependants permitted to reside in Hong Kong are allowed to take up employment or study.
Re-entry. Non-permanent residents, including TTPS entrants and their dependants, do not need a re-entry visa to return to Hong Kong, provided they return within their permitted limit of stay and the circumstances on which they acquired residence remain unchanged.
What does an extension of stay require?
The extension requirement is where the three categories converge: at that point the question is no longer your income, degree or graduation year, but what you have done in Hong Kong.
Applications may be made online within three months before the limit of stay expires. Applicants must prove either that they have taken up employment in Hong Kong with a stable income, or that they have established or joined a business in Hong Kong. A successful extension is normally granted on time limitation only, for not more than three years, or until the employment contract expires, whichever is shorter.
If you are unemployed when you file, the Department's stated position is that you must have secured an offer of employment at a level commonly taken up by degree holders — or by people with good professional or technical qualifications, proven abilities and relevant experience supported by documentary evidence — with remuneration at market level. Those running a business must produce proof of it. Applicants who cannot show that they will continue working or running a business in Hong Kong may be refused further extension.
There is also a longer extension track. Entrants who already meet the standard extension requirements — employment in Hong Kong with a stable income, or having established or joined a business in Hong Kong — and who have been permitted to remain in Hong Kong under the TTPS for not less than two years, and whose assessable income for salaries tax was not less than HK$2 million in the previous year of tax assessment, may apply for assessment under the top-tier employment stream; successful applicants are normally granted six years.
Whether a job sits at "a level commonly taken up by degree holders" is assessed case by case, having regard to the skills and knowledge the job requires and the complexity of the duties.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can investment income count toward Category A's HK$2.5 million threshold?
No. Category A income is taxable employment or business income, specifically salary, allowances, stock options and profits from a company you own. Income generated from personal investment is explicitly excluded, so dividends, capital gains and portfolio returns do not build the threshold.
Can I apply if my income is not in one of the listed currencies?
Yes, but you convert it yourself. The online system accepts the Hong Kong dollar plus 17 listed major currencies and converts automatically; for any other currency, you convert your income into Hong Kong dollars or one of the 17 and upload the relevant supporting documents for assessment.
I hold only a master's degree from an eligible university — can I use Category B or C?
No. Both categories require a bachelor's degree from an eligible university, and a higher degree awarded without that bachelor's degree does not satisfy the requirement. The qualification must also be equivalent to the recognised Hong Kong bachelor's standard, so honorary bachelor's degrees are excluded.
How large is the Category C quota and how is it allocated?
The annual quota is currently 10,000, allotted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Do I need the Immigration Department's permission to change jobs under the TTPS?
No. TTPS entrants are free to take up and change employment during their permitted stay without prior approval. The approval requirement sits at the extension stage, where you must show employment with a stable income or an established business in Hong Kong.
Can I apply for the TTPS a second time if my stay lapses?
No. The "initial stay" under the scheme is granted only once, and a person whose limit of stay has expired after leaving Hong Kong would need to return through an immigration policy or scheme other than the TTPS.
References
- Immigration Department — Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) Frequently Asked Questions
- Immigration Department — Aggregate list of eligible universities
- Immigration Department — Guidebook for TTPS (form ID(E) 1026)
- Hong Kong Government — Online application for the Top Talent Pass Scheme
- Immigration Department — List of Third-party Credential Verification Organisations
- Immigration Department — Residence as dependant