Enterprise Support Scheme

Enterprise Support Scheme logo

Are you a start-up in an entrepreneurial or enterprising company with an emphasis on research and development and want to acquire a Hong Kong Investment Visa but don’t have the funds needed to do so? An extremely useful government-backed programme that is available that is looked on favourably by the Immigration Department is the Enterprise Support Scheme administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission. This scheme offers a whole range of benefits to make achieving your Investment Visa as easy as possible. At Centre O we help our clients every step of the way to give them every chance of a successful application.

This is a new programme created by the Hong Kong Government to help encourage the private sector to invest in research and development. The funding comes from the Innovation and Technology fund (ITF), and support for each approved project (for which the project period should be no longer than 2 years) can be up to HK$10 million, provided on a dollar-by-dollar matching basis. A benefit of the programme is the recipient company will own all intellectual property rights arising from the project and recoupment of the Government’s contributions is not required. Another benefit of the programme is that if the approved project is 12 months or longer, an added financial benefit that can be applied for is the internship programme to hire up to 2 additional staff for each project. The recipient project can also apply for The Research and Development Cash Rebate Scheme, which means they could receive a cash rebate of up to 30% of the company’s expenditure on the project. There are certain eligibility criteria for applicants. Firstly, the company needs to be incorporated or registered in Hong Kong under the Companies Ordinance, to not be a government subvented organisation, and that the company is not a subsidiary of any government subvented organisation.

For this programme the applicant must first set up a Hong Kong Limited Company with a registered office address in HK. If you currently don’t have an incorporated company, we provide this service as well. Please email for more details on either incorporation or the HK Investment Visa application.

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