Hong Kong New CIES

What Is the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme?

The New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (New CIES) is Hong Kong's residence-by-investment route for asset owners who want to settle in the city and manage their wealth from it. It is jointly run by the New CIES Office of Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), which assesses applicants' assets and investments, and the Immigration Department (ImmD), which handles visas, extensions of stay and unconditional stay.

Applicants must hold net assets of not less than HKD 30,000,000 for the six months before applying, and separately invest not less than HKD 30,000,000 in a defined mix of financial assets, real estate and a Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) managed portfolio described below.

How the HKD 30,000,000 Investment Is Structured

These two amounts are not alternative routes: together they make up the HKD 30,000,000 minimum investment. Source: InvestHK, New CIES Investment Requirement page (checked on 24 September 2026).

Who Can Apply?

To be eligible for an Entry Application, you must:

• Be aged 18 or above when you apply for the Net Asset Assessment.
• Fall into one of the Scheme's covered categories: a foreign national (other than the excluded nationalities above), a Chinese national who has obtained permanent resident status in a foreign country, a Macao SAR resident, a Chinese resident of Taiwan, or a stateless person with proven re-entry facilities to a foreign country where they hold permanent resident status.
• Hold net assets, or a beneficially entitled share of jointly owned assets, of not less than HKD 30,000,000 throughout the six months before you apply, and have no adverse immigration record.
• Be able to support and accommodate yourself and any dependants without relying on the return from your permissible investment assets, employment, self-employment or public assistance in Hong Kong.

Who Can Be Included?

The Scheme's definition of dependants is narrower than most residence-by-investment programmes:

• Your spouse, or the other party to a same-sex or opposite-sex civil partnership, civil union or marriage that is legally and officially recognised in the place it was entered into.
• Your unmarried dependent children aged under 18. InvestHK's published pages do not include parents, grandparents or adult children as eligible dependants under this Scheme.

Fees

Costs on top of the investment itself:

• A Certified Public Accountant (Practising), engaged at your own cost, is required for both the Net Asset Assessment and the Investment Requirements assessment; the accountant prepares the Fulfillment document you submit to InvestHK's New CIES Office.
• The New CIES is a "specified scheme" under the Immigration Regulations: for each entry or extension-of-stay application, you and each dependant pay the Immigration Department a non-refundable application fee of HKD 600 and, on approval, a visa issuance fee of HKD 1,300 (HKD 600 where the permitted stay is 180 days or less).

Application Process

1. Engage a Certified Public Accountant (Practising) and apply to InvestHK's New CIES Office for a Net Asset Assessment, demonstrating net assets of at least HKD 30,000,000 held throughout the preceding six months.
2. Submit an entry application to the Immigration Department; if approved in principle, you are admitted on visitor status for not more than 180 days to make your committed investment.
3. Make your investment across permissible financial assets and/or real estate (at least HKD 27,000,000) and the CIES Investment Portfolio (HKD 3,000,000), then apply to InvestHK's New CIES Office for an Investment Requirements assessment, supported by your Certified Public Accountant's Fulfillment document.
4. Once InvestHK confirms you have fulfilled the Investment Requirements, the Immigration Department grants Formal Approval, giving you and any dependants permission to stay for not more than 24 months.
5. Apply for extension of stay before your limit of stay expires, showing you still meet the eligibility criteria and Portfolio Maintenance Requirements; each extension is for not more than 3 years.
6. After not less than 7 years of continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong, you and your dependants may apply for the right of abode; if you cannot meet the continuous-residence requirement, you may instead apply for unconditional stay after your 7th year.

Trem Global has not found a published processing time for the Net Asset and Investment Requirements assessment stages themselves against an official source — contact us for a current estimate. The stay periods above (180 days, 24 months, 3-year extensions, 7 years) are the Scheme's own published time limits, not processing times.

Why Hong Kong's New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme?

Official source: Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) — New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme

This page follows InvestHK's published New CIES pages and the Immigration Department's New CIES application page, read on 24 September 2026. Amounts, permissible assets, real estate caps and conditions are set by the Hong Kong SAR authorities and can change; the dated notices above flag the most recent changes found.