Employers may apply to import workers at technician level or below to fill vacancies which they have genuine difficulties in recruiting suitable staff locally.

Employers must undertake a four-week local recruitment exercise for each vacancy under application. Concurrently, the Labour Department (LD) will provide active job matching for the vacancies to identify suitable local job-seekers for referral to the employers for interview.

Upon completion of the recruitment exercise, LD will invite members of the Labour Advisory Board (LAB) to give views on the recommendation of LD. After conducting comprehensive review of all relevant factors, including the views of LAB members, LD will determine whether to approve or refuse each application.

The duration of the employment contract of a worker imported under ESLS shall not be longer than 24 months. Imported workers must be paid no less than the median monthly wages of local workers in comparable positions. They shall be engaged under a Standard Employment Contract (SEC) and be accorded the same protection of the labour laws in Hong Kong as local workers.

Imported workers are only allowed to work for their employers and in the positions with job duties as specified in SEC. They must return to their place of origin on expiry of their contracts.

Administrative sanction in the form of withdrawal of approval for importation of labour will be imposed on an employer who is found to have breached relevant statutory provision(s) (including the Employment Ordinance, the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance, the Immigration Ordinance and the occupational safety and health legislation), relevant requirements of ESLS or SEC. The employer will also be debarred from participation in the relevant scheme for up to two years.

The approval granted to an employer to import workers will not be automatically renewed. An employer who wishes to continue employing imported workers upon the expiry of their contracts are required to submit an application afresh to LD in advance.

Successful employers are required to pay a levy that goes to the Employees Retraining Board to augment the provision of training and retaining for local workers. The levy payable in a lump sum in respect of each imported worker is $400 multiplied by the number of months covered by the SEC up to a maximum of 24 months. It will be collected after the approval for importing workers and before the issue of visa/entry permit by the Director of Immigration. The levy is not refundable under any circumstances.