Hong Kong’s New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (New CIES) received 3,166 applications in its first two years, InvestHK announced Monday, with anticipated investment of approximately HK$95 billion (US$12.15 billion). Of those, 1,762 applicants completed their investments and received formal approval from the Immigration Department.
Year two alone produced 2,248 of those applications, up 145% from year one’s 918. Growth accelerated sharply after March 2025, when the government overhauled its asset verification rules, cutting the minimum asset-holding period from two years to six months and permitting joint family asset ownership toward the HK$30 million threshold.
Funds authorized by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) claimed the largest share of the HK$55.6 billion InvestHK verified as meeting investment requirements: HK$21.4 billion, or 38.6% of the total. Equities absorbed a further HK$16.1 billion (29%).
Debt securities accounted for HK$5.3 billion (9.5%), investment-linked assurance products for HK$5.5 billion (9.9%), and the government-managed CIES portfolio for another HK$5.5 billion (9.9%). A residual HK$1.8 billion (3.2%) fell under other permissible assets.
Residential real estate has attracted nothing. The government permitted luxury property investment in October 2024 and subsequently cut the qualifying transaction price from HK$50 million to HK$30 million last September, yet not a single applicant has deployed capital there.
Effective March 1, 2026, applicants may use a private holding company regardless of how recently it was incorporated, removing the previous six-month minimum.
Director of Immigration Benson Kwok credited the New CIES with operating alongside Hong Kong’s broader admission programs to “attract talent and capital from around the world, supporting Hong Kong’s sustainable development and long-term competitiveness.”
InvestHK director-general Alpha Lau went further, describing arriving investors as generating “ripple effects across real estate, dining, retail, education, and lifestyle services” with downstream benefits for local small and medium-sized enterprises.
Still Short of the Original Forecast, But Not By Much
When the government unveiled the program’s details in late 2023, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui projected roughly 4,000 applicants annually and HK$120 billion in investment. Two years in, cumulative applications stand at 3,166; below that annual target.
That comparison carries an asterisk. A single rule change in March 2025 triggered a 440% surge in monthly applications, and year two produced nearly three times as many as year one. At the current pace, the program’s third year could hit the annual target that the first two missed combined.
The HK$95 billion headline figure also warrants a closer read: It represents anticipated investment across all applications received, not capital deployed. Verified investment stands at HK$55.6 billion.
