Hong Kong New CIES: a HK$30M portfolio ticket — the endpoint is right of abode; real estate is a supporting actor
Identity-board score: 4.6
Threshold: Net assets of at least HK$30M (held throughout the six months before application, CPA-certified); investment of at least HK$30M: at least HK$27M in permissible financial assets and/or real estate plus HK$3M into the CIES Investment Portfolio (managed by Hong Kong Investment Corporation, locked up, with no capital preservation or dividend guarantee)
First, correct a widely repeated stale claim: Hong Kong's investment-entrant scheme was not 'scrapped' — the old CIES was suspended in 2015 and the New CIES opened on 1 March 2024, currently in force. The rule is two lots of HK$30M: prove net assets of at least HK$30M held throughout the six months before applying (certified by a practising CPA at your own cost — a test independent of the investment, and one applications die on); then invest at least HK$30M — at least HK$27M in permissible financial assets and/or real estate, plus HK$3M that must go into the CIES Investment Portfolio (overseen by Hong Kong Investment Corporation, directed to innovation and strategic industries, locked up, and officially stated to carry no capital-preservation or dividend guarantee). Real estate's role needs reading carefully: it counts only up to a HK$15M aggregate cap (residential sub-cap HK$10M), and a residential property completed on or after 17 September 2025 counts only if it is a single property transacted at HK$30M or more, with only the applicant's equity counting — it is a side-asset inside a HK$30M portfolio, not 'buy a flat, migrate to Hong Kong'. The process is multi-stage: net-asset assessment, approval-in-principle from Immigration (enter as a visitor, complete the investment within 180 days), investment verification, then formal approval for up to 24 months, with extensions of up to three years each conditional on continued Portfolio Maintenance compliance; no official processing time is published for the assessment stages, so agent estimates are not official numbers. The residence endpoint: right of abode after seven years of continuous ordinary residence (and an HKSAR passport beyond it); for those who genuinely cannot reside, there is a fallback — after seven years of full Portfolio Maintenance compliance, apply for unconditional stay (unconditional and without limit of stay, but not right of abode). Dependants are the spouse and children under 18 only; parents are expressly not eligible. This site scores it 4.6 on the buy track: the endpoint's value (mobility 6.0 — an HKSAR passport is a top-tier passport) is held down by price (cost efficiency 2.0) and presence burden (3.0 — seven years of continuous ordinary residence), placing it below SRRV (5.0) and above MM2H (4.3). Bought as long-stay convenience it does not compute; bought as 'seven years for Hong Kong permanent residence plus a passport', it does.
Six factor grades & their basis
| Factor | Score | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Countries you can enter | 6.0 | The endpoint is Hong Kong right of abode and an HKSAR passport (top-tier global mobility), but that sits seven years of ordinary residence away; the visa itself solves Hong Kong only. |
| Value for money | 2.0 | HK$30M (about US$3.85M) is the buy track's second most expensive ticket (after EB-5's all-in cost), with HK$3M of it a locked, non-guaranteed policy portfolio — it computes only when priced against the endpoint (an HKSAR passport), never as long-stay value. |
| Speed | 4.0 | A multi-stage process (net-asset assessment, approval-in-principle with 180 days to invest, verification, formal approval for 24 months) with no published processing time — among the slower seats on the buy track. |
| Getting your money back | 5.0 | The financial-asset portion is the investor's own market-priced portfolio and realisable (mid-range); real estate is capped and counts equity only; the HK$3M portfolio slice is locked with uncertain returns — a mixed mid score. |
| Do you have to live there | 3.0 | Right of abode demands seven years of continuous ordinary residence (absences can break the chain) — among the buy track's heaviest presence burdens; unconditional stay is a fallback, not an equal (no right of abode, no passport path of the same standing). |
| How stable the rules are | 7.0 | An administrative scheme (not statute) but rule-bound in operation; the 2025–2026 amendments both loosened it (higher real-estate cap, lower single-property floor, wholly-owned-company holdings) — a stable loosening direction with details still moving. |
Why it is on the board
It is the buy track's only Asian channel whose endpoint is a top-tier passport (HKSAR) — unlike Grenada (a direct passport), it demands seven years of real residence: a hybrid of 'buy the portfolio and live the years', and this site's score prices exactly that.
The HK$3M policy portfolio is a unique institutional design: compulsorily locked, innovation-directed, with no capital preservation or dividends — it is the 'contribution' part of the ticket price, written in plain sight, and every CIES costing must first price those HK$3M as sunk-leaning.
The direction of the 2025 real-estate amendments (the aggregate cap raised from HK$10M to HK$15M, the residential single-property floor cut from HK$50M to HK$30M) is the authorities leaving a door ajar for property — reading amendment direction beats reading static thresholds for judging this scheme's temperature.
How it works
- A two-office process (New CIES Office at InvestHK, then Immigration): first the Net Asset Assessment (engaging a practising CPA for the certifying report at your own cost), then the entry application to Immigration; after approval-in-principle, enter as a visitor and complete the HK$30M investment within 180 days (from 1 Nov 2026, financial assets for the assessment must be transacted through designated accounts — follow the latest rules on newcies.gov.hk); formal approval follows investment verification. Immigration consultants are commonly engaged, but certification and application can be self-filed.
Costs & where the money goes
Capital: Net assets and investment of at least HK$30M each (about US$3.85M)
Effort: Fairly hands-off (certification and application can be agent-handled; the portfolio is self-managed)
- The HK$3M CIES Investment Portfolio: locked up, no capital preservation, no dividends — priced at full opportunity cost and risk, it is the hardest block of the ticket.
- Continuing certification and compliance costs: CPA certification fees, Immigration fees (application HK$600 plus a visa fee in the HK$1,300 range, per person per application), and seven years of portfolio maintenance and reporting — small money, present every year.
Risks & counter-evidence
What we have not verified
The following key figures have not yet been verified; the reason is noted for each item.
- The 1 Nov 2026 change (financial assets for the Net Asset Assessment to be transacted through designated accounts) reached this site via summaries of official notices: follow the latest scheme rules (as amended 1 Mar 2026) and newcies.gov.hk when filing.
- No official processing time exists for the assessment stages: any "approved in X months" claim is agent basis, and this site does not print it.
FAQ
- Buy one HK$30M Hong Kong home and I've migrated, right?
- No — the most common misreading. Residential property inside CIES carries a triple lock: a HK$15M aggregate real-estate cap, a HK$10M residential sub-cap, and (for completions on or after 17 Sep 2025) a single-property floor of HK$30M merely to be eligible to count toward that HK$10M. A HK$30M home therefore fills at most the HK$10M residential sub-cap; the other HK$20M (HK$17M of financial assets plus the HK$3M policy portfolio) is still owed in full. CIES is a portfolio scheme, not a property scheme.
- If I can't live out the seven years, is the HK$30M wasted?
- Not wasted, but the endpoint downgrades: at the end of year seven you may apply for unconditional stay — unconditional, with no limit of stay, free to live and work in Hong Kong, but without right of abode (voting, passport and some public rights differ). The assets remain yours throughout (the policy portfolio's lock-up and returns aside). So the CIES decision is about paying a HK$30M deployment for a distribution — 'probably right of abode, possibly unconditional stay' — not a binary pass/fail.
- How does it compare with Singapore's GIP?
- Both are top tickets for top cities at similar magnitudes (GIP starts at S$10M): GIP grants permanent residence directly, while CIES offers a seven-year road to right of abode — Singapore wins on endpoint speed; the endpoint passport's global mobility (including the China dimension) carries reader-specific weight. The GIP appears in the hub's Singapore notes and this entry is its counterpart; CIES's distinctive parts are the HK$15M real-estate counting window and the HK$3M policy portfolio, neither of which has a GIP analogue.