A Suspicious Enquiry About Hiring Foreign Workers: How We Uphold Professional Integrity
A few weeks ago we received an enquiry call. The caller said a friend wanted to come to Hong Kong to work as a "professional talent" and asked how to apply. When we pressed further and asked what kind of professional his friend was, he could not answer. He simply repeated that "he is a professional". We explained that Hong Kong's talent admission schemes target people in professions where local skills are genuinely scarce, such as nurses, lift maintenance technicians and ship repair technicians. Still he could not describe his friend's professional background at all, saying only that "as long as a company hires him, he can stay in Hong Kong" — and he could not even name the company.
The caller then moved on to ask about the application procedure for importing labour under the supplementary labour scheme. As we always do, we explained the full process in detail: the Labour Department's approval procedure, the job advertising requirements, the review by the Labour Advisory Board, and the follow-up approval by the Immigration Department. After the explanation, he asked to add us to a group chat so that we could answer questions for his other "friends". Once we joined, it quickly became clear that something was wrong. He began asking: "If there are resources and a company willing to arrange for a professional to come to Hong Kong, how much could you charge?"
He could not provide even the most basic information — educational qualifications, employing company or application category — yet he kept asking how much we would charge and how it could be arranged. An enquiry that asks only about price while offering no genuine details is not how a real applicant behaves. It suggests someone intent on irregular practices.
Our response was straightforward: without information, there is nothing we can do. We replied in the group: "You cannot even tell us the educational qualifications, the company or the application category, so there is no way for us to help with an application." We also made it plain that if fraud or unlawful arrangements were involved, we would not take on that kind of business under any circumstances. In fact, the Hong Kong Immigration Department today has a very complete picture of every company — its year of establishment, its bank flows, its Mandatory Provident Fund contribution records. Anything irregular is found out immediately. Trying to slip through by unlawful means is essentially impossible and may amount to an offence under Hong Kong law.
Once we made clear that we could not help with this, the caller blocked our chat immediately. We deleted the conversation as well. Enquiries of this kind are plainly attempts to find loopholes in the policy and take shortcuts, using talent or labour import applications as a pretext to recruit middlemen willing to share in the proceeds. That is simply not the direction of our business.
If you are a genuine professional considering a career in Hong Kong and are not looking for shortcuts, you are welcome to WhatsApp Labour Services Company Ltd. We will honestly tell you whether your qualifications meet the eligibility criteria.
How rigorous is the approval process for professional talent? Take nurses as an example: all academic certificates from hospitals and training institutions, together with proof of employment, must be sent directly by the issuing institutions to the Hong Kong Nursing Council for assessment. They cannot pass through any intermediary or third party. If documents have been opened in transit or there is any doubt about them, the assessing body will simply refuse them and require the process to start again.
Salary scrutiny is just as strict. For example, if every employee at the same grade in a company earns a monthly salary of HK$20,000 and the company suddenly offers a "professional talent" HK$50,000, the approving authority will inevitably ask why this employee is paid so much more and on what basis the company set that figure.
Faced with such a rigorous approval mechanism, any fabricated application simply cannot pass. We would also remind anyone contemplating fraud: do not test the law. Offences under Hong Kong criminal law can carry a prison sentence, and once the relevant authorities spot a problem and report it to the police, there is no going back.
We do one thing only: help genuine professional talent. We say again — if your aim is a fraudulent application, please do not contact us, because we cannot and will not help with that. But if you are a genuine professional, or sincerely considering coming to Hong Kong under a talent admission scheme, our track record on applications we have handled has consistently been strong. You are welcome to review our Hong Kong technical professional job list to see which Hong Kong companies are currently recruiting for technical professional positions.
The benefits of coming to Hong Kong as technical professional talent are real: you can stay for up to 7 years and then apply for permanent residency; you can work and build your career in Hong Kong with peace of mind; and you can put down roots and settle here for the long term.
If you or a friend are genuinely considering developing your career in Hong Kong as a professional, we invite you to learn more about the talent admission scheme and the details of the application, and to browse the eligible positions.
Whether you are a company looking to import labour or an individual hoping to come to Hong Kong as a professional, as long as your information is complete and your identity is genuine, Labour Services Company Ltd is happy to assess your case free of charge. Drawing on years of experience, we provide professional, reliable and fully compliant application services, so you need not worry about cumbersome procedures or unnecessary risks.
To enquire now, WhatsApp us. More success stories are available at https://labourservices.com.hk/success-stories/. Labour Services Company Ltd — solving your staffing problems and supporting the long-term growth of your business.