Immigration Department data shows that from 2018 to 2022, authorities approved about 23,500 dependent visas per year.

From January this year to June, the number of approvals of dependent visas skyrocketed to 48,691, largely because of the Top Talent Pass Scheme.

More than 95 per cent of the approved applicants were mainland Chinese and the scheme was directly responsible for 22,751 of the dependent visas issued from January to June.

The remaining 25,940 were the partners and children of expats and mainlanders with work or study visas, people married to Hongkongers, as well as their children and parents.

Hong Kong talent drive attracts over 100,000 applications, 61 per cent approved

In June last year, Ara married a Hongkonger and moved to the city. By August, he had successfully applied for a dependent visa and a Hong Kong identity card, granting him the legal right to work in the city.

“I prioritised international companies with international staff but the first question in nearly every interview was, ‘Do you speak Chinese?’”

Ara, who had five years of experience in IT support and web development and studied the latter at Staffordshire University, said more than 90 per cent of employers he had applied to rejected him because he did not speak Cantonese.

“The constant rejection started to have a huge effect on our lives. We were both living off my wife’s salary and she was paying all the bills,” Ara said. “It was a real struggle.”

Ara spent most of his time applying for jobs, updating his web development portfolio and studying Cantonese to improve his employability.

“I studied Cantonese for two hours in the morning and two hours at night. I even found a language exchange partner online.”

Why are mainland Chinese professionals dominating Hong Kong’s talent hunt?

As his desperation grew, Ara aired his troubles in a Facebook group for expats in Hong Kong in May 2023.

Since then, 20 people in Hong Kong on dependent visas have contacted Ara or posted similar stories in the group.

An agency helping expats find work in Hong Kong saw Ara’s Facebook post and subsequently helped him to secure a six-month contract working in IT for the British Council, a move he hoped would become permanent.

Ara admitted that the situation was so bleak before he found work that the couple had discussed leaving Hong Kong.

One of those who also posted in the Facebook group was Belgian digital journey manager Phillipe Mertens*, who works for a major local bank in his country, and married his Hongkonger wife in 2021.

Mertens, 28, said he had four years of work experience in his field, a master’s degree in international commerce from Queen’s University in Canada and that he had applied for more than 100 jobs over the past year.

He admitted that being based abroad was a hindrance but he was willing to fund his relocation and future visa fees.

“I have an address in Hong Kong, a Hong Kong phone number and do online interviews at 3 or 4am.”

Mertens said he had been applying for roles in international companies in banking, finance, insurance, aviation and energy.

He and his wife agreed they would try hunting in Hong Kong but if he did not find a job within a year, he would return to Belgium.

Hong Kong rejoins world’s top 5 places with highest expat pay and benefits

Sid Sibal, vice-president of Greater China at recruitment firm Hudson, said it was becoming more difficult for dependent visa holders to get work in Hong Kong.

“Firstly, more Chinese firms are establishing a presence in Hong Kong and Western firms have slowed down hiring,” he said.

“This means Hong Kong firms do more business with Chinese ones and the need for English declines.

Alexa Chow Yee-ping, managing director of executive search agency ACTS Consulting, agreed that Hong Kong’s job market had focused more on Chinese speakers in recent years.

“Over the last 10 to 15 years there has been an increasing emphasis on finding Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking workers,” she said.

Is Hong Kong worth the cost for expats? Workers weigh chance to live the good life

Chow also put this down to the growth of the mainland’s economy and increasing cooperation with Hong Kong.

She said some employers were sceptical about hiring people on a dependent visa.

“They are concerned because the visa depends on their partner, so if [the partners] leave Hong Kong, lose their job or get divorced, the dependents will also lose their visa,” she said.

However, Chow noted that while the city was seeking to attract more overseas talent and retain workers, partners struggling to find work could be a deterrent.

“This is a dilemma. For Hong Kong to maintain its status as an international city, it should appeal to overseas talent [and their families],” she said.

Professor Lau Siu-kai, a consultant at semi-official think tank the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said the government should formulate a comprehensive plan to attract and retain overseas talent, and commission NGOs to help dependents find jobs.

He noted that local universities sometimes helped the spouses of overseas professors to find a job in the city.

“Commercial and other sectors should also be involved to foster a comprehensive or holistic approach.”

Lau said he believed that in an international city such as Hong Kong not all companies required jobseekers from overseas to speak Chinese.

“I do not think all jobs in Hong Kong require you to speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin. For example, for the technology industry, it is not a must to be proficient in Chinese.”

Hong Kong leader stresses talent drive, says population to further decline for 2023

Federation of Trade Unions legislator Michael Luk Chung-hung said the government could provide Cantonese or Mandarin training for overseas talent or dependent visa holders.

“Major companies may mainly focus on the Greater China market. Of course there are companies that mostly aim for the international market and it is all right to only speak English,” said Luk, who chairs the Legislative Council’s manpower panel.

“But after all, speaking one less language will definitely undermine your competitiveness when communicating with others.”

He said more job fairs could be held and information should be provided in different languages.

* Name changed at request of interviewee

Additional reporting by Sammy Heung