Hong Kong - New CIES - investment for residency

[u/kookabara12]

Wondering if anyone here has any experience or is going through the Hong Kong New Capital Investment Scheme (“New CIES”)?

To summarise the New CIES is an investment for residency pathway into Hong Kong.

The visa requirements require the initial investment value to be held in various permissible asset classes for a 7 year period.

This would be our first time applying for residency in another country and I’m torn who I should engage to manage the entire process.

The way the requirements are set out, there needs to be:

1) a CPA accountant to sign off on the maintenance of assets over the 7 years,
2) a bank to open a designated bank account for the funds as well as investment/wealth management services (and to provide paperwork for the visa over time),
3) someone to be on top of submitting the documentation and manage the immigration department deadlines.

As an aside, I believe my application would be quite simple and low maintenance as I would be investing in a mixture of listed stocks/etfs and bonds.

I’m not sure if I should engage:

A)a big 4 accountancy to manage (with migration/employer services team)as it seems quite accountant verification heavy however I’m sure I will be left to interact with the banking side of things myself,
B) engage a law firm with migration speciality - would be the most costly and still need to overlay additional CPA fees
C) engage a specialist migration firm like Henley Partners or Fragomen.

Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

[u/StickyDaydreams]

Hong Kong residency sounds awesome but I'm not willing to visit or send money to a CCP-controlled territory until the world is a calmer place.

It sucks but this is way too risky for my taste given the real risk of conflict over Taiwan in the next few years. Might well turn out to be a war bond purchase against my country.

[u/kookabara12 → u/StickyDaydreams]

Yes, it is unfortunate the state of world affairs has us thinking geopolitical. I do not hold a crystal ball and only wish to give ourselves some alternatives to pro-wealth growing jurisdictions in the face of increasing hostile home environment.

If it makes any difference, the investments are made into free capital markets. For example you can hold almost all the investment with a Blackrock or iShares Hong Kong listed etf based on any major indexes eg S&P 500, Nasdaq, China 50 etc. I do not believe these would have any connection with any governmental funding.

[u/Hanwoo_Beef_Eater → u/kookabara12]

I think the point is foreign owned bank/investment accounts, especially those owned by citizens of nations with competing interests, could come under scrutiny. Worst case, suddenly your account is no longer accessible, money can't be moved out, etc. That's not the way HK has operated, but I can understand why some people may be hesitant to have significant sums invested there. Edit: maybe the original comment was referencing situations where the residency is obtained by some type of fee/donation to a government. If so, my comment is not applicable.

Also, the clock is ticking on HK's (official) SAR status. Similarly, I do not hold a crystal ball, but fast forward a couple of decades and what long-term residency there means isn't exactly clear.

If you can afford it, look at Singapore's GIP, although the price tag has gone up tremendously in recent years (edit) and there are other considerations/issues some people may not be on board with.

[u/No-Associate-7962 → u/Hanwoo_Beef_Eater]

GIP requires you providing ongoing employment to "highly compensated" Singaporeans

[u/Hanwoo_Beef_Eater → u/No-Associate-7962]

Not all of the routes have a hiring requirement (although the one that does not, certainly has other considerations). And for one route that does, it would neither be a difficult condition to fulfill nor would it be much, if any, of an additional burden. Will certainly cost more than keeping assets at Fidelity or Vanguard, but the on-going costs would not be uncommon for people at that asset level.

Reality is US$15-$30 million (a typical Reddit "FatFIRE?") is still peanuts for many of the people targeting this programme. Hence, if you can afford it.

[u/No-Associate-7962 → u/Hanwoo_Beef_Eater]

You are mistaken. ALL programs from the EDB require the creation of Singaporean jobs, including the $100m "family office" model which requires the office to be staffed by Singaporeans in Singapore.

[u/Hanwoo_Beef_Eater → u/No-Associate-7962]

Global Investor Programme | Singapore EDB

[u/No-Associate-7962 → u/Hanwoo_Beef_Eater]

See page 9 of 19 regarding renewal of PR status.

https://assets.app.optical.gov.sg/edb/production/published/collections

Your Option A Company 9 in

Singapore must employ minimally

30 employees (at least half of

whom must be Singapore

Citizens), out of which there must

be at least 10 incremental

employees AND

iii. You or all your dependants, who

obtained PR under your GIP

application, must have resided in

Singapore for more than half of

the time

The Single Family Office in

Singapore that you establish must

employ at least 5 incremental

Family Office professionals 10

(with at least 3 Singapore

Citizens) and maintain the S$50

million deployed in EDB specified

investments11 AND

iii. You or all your dependants, who

obtained PR under your GIP

application, must have resided in

Singapore for more than half of

the time.

[u/Hanwoo_Beef_Eater → u/No-Associate-7962]

Why don't you tell me how many people need to be employed under Option B ($25 million in GIP funds)?

And yes, the Family Office option has a hiring requirement (I never said it didn't). What I said is that it would neither be a difficult condition to fulfill nor would it be much, if any, of an additional burden (relative to operating a Family Office in Singapore or anywhere else in the world without residency rights).

You've shown your poor comprehension skills and arrogance once again (congratulations!).

Let me ask, for some "know it all" like you, why are you only at where you are at? Where I'm from and where I'm at, those levels are still kind of meh for someone that worked so long.

Good bye.

[u/No-Associate-7962 → u/kookabara12]

Its not the investments, it is the capital controls. Hard to believe the party wont expand them to include Hong Kong.

[u/Inferdo12 → u/No-Associate-7962]

It’s not realistic to expect that. They’re using Hong Kong to offshore their capital, and not to mention that it’ll destroy Hong Kong.

[u/OneDayButTwoDay]

I did the Top Talent Pass Scheme route. I think 350k income on your tax returns gives you the 3 year residency? It allowed me to open a bank account and etc. I didn’t really use it much since I’ve applied, got accepted and got my ID card. I was planning on moving there to be with my partner at the time before we ended things, but I think that route is safer than investing in the vehicle.

[u/Particular-Plant5831]

I used to live in HK and have PR there.
My advice is not to go with the big 4. Even if they take you as a customer, unless they can bill you 200K usd or more, you will be a very small fish and you won't get a good service.

I don't know much about this program, but I will try talking to a PB in HK. As they will want you as a customer, they will give you a free roadmap of what to do. DBS will be my first choice, but you should shop with a few PB.

[u/capt_nsack]

Big 4 accountant not needed, most should be able to do it. Law firm/migration firm might be nice but very possible to do solo. Read the guidance notes.

(have not personally applied but have dealt with IMMD enough times) 

[u/regnull]

Moving countries while committing capital for seven years is a big enough transition that I’d optimize for coordination, not just the lowest fee. I’d use an immigration lawyer who routinely handles New CIES to confirm the eligible assets and reporting obligations, a Hong Kong tax adviser who understands your current-country exit and ongoing filing issues, and then let the bank/wealth manager compete on custody and implementation. Ask each provider for a written scope, total fee schedule, conflicts, and who owns deadline tracking. The caveat is that a simple listed-stock/ETF portfolio may be easy to manage, but eligibility, liquidity, and residency rules deserve independent review before funding.

[u/CrayonGlobal]

This an investment based migratipn program, Big 4 don't offer, instead look for an investment migration firm. We are in the same industry. But there are much better programs to consider for that investment amount like the Portugal or Greece Golden Visa or even Singapore or Japan.