Care homes 2026: the special scheme to import care workers, explained
Relief for the care-home staffing gap: the Special Scheme to Import Care Workers for Residential Care Homes. Care workers in homes for the elderly and for persons with disabilities have long been in structural shortage. To protect standards of care, the government runs a scheme dedicated to the sector: the Special Scheme to Import Care Workers for Residential Care Homes.
Note this carefully: if you operate a care home for the elderly or persons with disabilities, you cannot apply for care workers through the general Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS). You must use this Special Scheme, led by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) — two entirely separate mechanisms run by different departments.
The scheme's advantages: the procedure is comparatively streamlined, and the local recruitment period shortens from the usual four weeks to 14 consecutive days. This guide sets out the 2026 rules: eligibility, quota arithmetic and the process.
Timing: according to the SWD website, the tenth round opens 9:00 am on Friday 28 August 2026 and closes 5:00 pm on Thursday 10 September 2026, with about 800 new care-worker quotas, and it will process renewals for serving imported care workers whose contracts expire on or before 30 June 2027. Each round typically runs about two weeks; exact dates and quota sizes adjust with demand, so treat the SWD 'latest news' page as authoritative, or ask us whether a round is currently open.
One: which homes qualify? The scheme covers all care homes for the elderly licensed under the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance, homes for persons with disabilities licensed under the Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) Ordinance, and nursing homes holding exemption certificates under the Private Healthcare Facilities Ordinance. Quota ratios differ by type: private and self-financing homes (including those joining the Bought Place Programme) on one track; subvented and contract homes run by NGOs on another.
Whatever the type, the premise is the same: the employer must show it genuinely could not hire suitable local care workers, must not use imported care workers to displace serving local ones, and where redundancies happen, imported care workers must go before local ones.
Two: 1:1 or 2:1 — how the quota is counted. Strict local-to-imported ratios protect local jobs; subvented and contract homes, which can usually offer better pay, face the stricter ratio.
Private and self-financing homes (1:1): for every full-time local employee (any post), you may apply for at most one imported care worker. A private home with five full-time local staff can apply for up to five.
Subvented and contract homes (2:1): two full-time local employees per imported care worker. A subvented home with ten full-time local staff can apply for up to five.
Watch the traps. 'Full-time' is defined on the official form as at least 35 hours a week; part-time or relief local care workers working 35 hours or more count as full-time if their average monthly days or hours reach 80 percent of a typical imported care worker's. If you already employ imported labour under other schemes (such as the old Supplementary Labour Scheme), the counting follows the SWD's current form guidance — confirm with SWD or an adviser before relying on your arithmetic.
Not sure how many quotas your home can apply for? Send your home type and full-time headcount to Labour Services on WhatsApp and a consultant will do the sum with you.
Three: the core requirements.
First, 14 consecutive days of local recruitment, completed before you file. Within the 30 days before submitting, the home must have run recruitment for 14 consecutive days, either through the Labour Department's Interactive Employment Service website, or by placing two advertisements in local newspapers or job sites. Ads must state the monthly wage, working days per week and normal daily working hours (the hours used to compute wages).
Keep the evidence: originals or printouts of the ads, proof of 14 consecutive days of publication, and a record for every applicant — name, contact, whether hired, and the specific reason for not hiring or declining the offer — retained for six months after the application period ends for SWD inspection. If an applicant refuses consent to pass personal data to SWD, remove those details before submission. Incomplete files are the most common reason applications stall.
Second, pay must not fall below the median. Per the Census and Statistics Department's latest figure, the monthly median wage of a care worker is HK$15,500 (nine normal working hours a day, excluding meals). Imported pay must not fall below this figure, the local recruitment advertisement must not offer less, and local care workers' pay must not fall below imported care workers'. The figure is updated each May or June from the Annual Earnings and Hours Survey and takes effect on publication — verify the latest number on the SWD page before applying rather than relying on this article.
Third, housing and the new 20 percent deduction. As with ESLS, homes must provide standard-compliant accommodation. For quota approval notices issued on or after 3 July 2026, the deduction cap for housing from a care worker's wages rises from 10 percent to 20 percent of wages (excluding overtime), or the actual cost, whichever is lower; notices issued earlier, and standard employment contracts already signed, keep the old arrangement. The home may house workers in Hong Kong or let a Mainland worker live in their own Mainland residence (in which case no wage deduction applies).
Fourth, duties are ring-fenced. Imported care workers must be directly employed by the same employer and may only perform the care duties specified in the quota approval notice and standard employment contract — feeding, lifting and transferring, bathing, accompanying medical visits and so on — at the named home. They cannot work for another company, institution or subcontractor, cannot be deployed to other branches, and cannot be assigned cleaning, kitchen or clerical work.
Four: fees. Beyond visa and housing costs, the employer pays the Employees Retraining levy for each imported care worker: HK$400 per contract month capped at 24 months, in one lump sum after visa approval but before issuance, non-refundable. A 24-month contract means HK$400 times 24 equals HK$9,600 — not HK$400 a month. The employer also bears inbound and outbound travel, the visa or entry permit fee, and must guarantee living costs and repatriation on contract end.
Five: process and timeline. The scheme runs in rounds of about two weeks each, announced on the SWD site. The typical flow: plan quotas and complete 14 consecutive days of local recruitment and interviews; submit the electronic application with documents through the SWD scheme system within the round; a joint government team (SWD, Labour and Welfare Bureau, Labour Department) reviews recruitment records, ratios and past conduct, with the SWD Director deciding; the quota approval notice states the deadline for filing the visa application — miss it and the quota lapses; the Immigration Department then takes about six weeks from complete documents; pay the levy after visa approval and before issuance; after arrival, the worker must attend the Labour Department's compulsory briefing within eight weeks, while the home arranges housing and onboarding.
Frequently asked questions.
Do quotas renew automatically? No. Quotas exist to relieve current shortage and do not auto-renew; if you still need the worker at contract end, you must apply afresh in a new round. The overall visa cap for a care worker is 24 months.
Can I turn away local applicants during the 14-day recruitment? Not without reason. Homes must give suitable local applicants priority. Under the official form (SWD-ICW-1, Annex one, local recruitment confirmation), you must truthfully report every applicant's interview record, hiring outcome and specific reasons for not hiring or declining, and keep records for six months for inspection; SWD may contact applicants directly to verify. Weak refusal reasons or suspected false data can end processing and bar the home from the scheme for a period.
Can I recruit care workers in the Mainland myself? Yes — but Mainland residents must process their Hong Kong employment through labour-export enterprises approved by the Ministry of Commerce. Working through a Hong Kong agency familiar with those procedures (as Labour Services does) cuts administrative back-and-forth and error risk.
The paperwork is heavy; hand it to specialists. Labour Services Company Ltd. runs the full service for care homes: quota arithmetic, compliant advertising, matching with Mainland care workers, visas and dormitory arrangements. Message our consultants on WhatsApp for a free assessment of how many care-worker quotas your home can apply for. This article reflects SWD, Labour Department and Immigration Department publications as at August 2026; policies, quotas and round dates change — the SWD's official announcements prevail.