Hong Kong took another significant step toward seamless talent mobility inside the Greater Bay Area (GBA) on 30 January 2026 when officials in Shenzhen and Hong Kong jointly unveiled a new cross-boundary employment initiative dubbed “GBA Talent Connect”. The announcement was made at the 12th Annual Conference of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Qianhai Talents Cooperation, a long-running forum that coordinates labour-market policy between the two cities.
The headline measure is the creation of an online matching platform that will advertise nearly 2,000 full-time jobs and paid internships each year for young professionals from Hong Kong and Macao. Organisers say the portal will centralise vacancies in Qianhai’s fast-growing finance, logistics and digital-services clusters while streamlining immigration formalities such as work-permit sponsorship and mainland social-security onboarding. According to Hong Kong Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun, the city’s Top Talent Pass Scheme and Technology Talent Admission Scheme will be directly linked to the new portal so that qualified foreign nationals already holding Hong Kong employment visas can transfer easily to short-term assignments in Qianhai without re-applying on the mainland.
Companies and individuals navigating these new cross-boundary arrangements can benefit from specialist visa services. VisaHQ, an online visa consultancy, helps applicants obtain Hong Kong employment visas, China work permits, and dependent passes with end-to-end document preparation and real-time status tracking. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/
![Shenzhen–Hong Kong to Launch “GBA Talent Connect” Platform, Offering 2,000 Cross-Boundary Jobs a Year]()
A second pillar of the package is the establishment of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong HR Alliance, co-founded by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management and the Qianhai Authority. The alliance will push for mutual recognition of professional qualifications, common payroll standards and a shared code of employment compliance. HR directors from more than 500 multinationals with operations on both sides of the boundary have been invited to join the alliance’s inaugural working groups on talent mobility, employee tax equalisation and family-visa facilitation.
Business-travel analysts say the announcements materially lower the “friction cost” of stationing staff across the border. Corporate mobility teams will gain a single window to arrange work permission, housing and even school places for accompanying dependants. "For companies running dual-office structures in Central and Qianhai, this could shave two to three weeks off deployment timelines," noted Benjamin Wong, co-chair of the alliance’s China and International HRM Committee.
Practically, employers should review their assignment letters to reference the new portal’s visa-transfer pathway and confirm whether existing Hong Kong payrolls can be seconded under mainland social-insurance rules. They should also budget for cross-boundary housing allowances; Qianhai officials pledged to reserve 500 subsidised apartments for programme participants, but demand is expected to exceed supply during the first year. Ultimately, the scheme underscores Hong Kong’s strategy of using neighbour-city partnerships to enlarge its talent catchment at a time of intense regional competition for high-skilled workers.
The headline measure is the creation of an online matching platform that will advertise nearly 2,000 full-time jobs and paid internships each year for young professionals from Hong Kong and Macao. Organisers say the portal will centralise vacancies in Qianhai’s fast-growing finance, logistics and digital-services clusters while streamlining immigration formalities such as work-permit sponsorship and mainland social-security onboarding. According to Hong Kong Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun, the city’s Top Talent Pass Scheme and Technology Talent Admission Scheme will be directly linked to the new portal so that qualified foreign nationals already holding Hong Kong employment visas can transfer easily to short-term assignments in Qianhai without re-applying on the mainland.
Companies and individuals navigating these new cross-boundary arrangements can benefit from specialist visa services. VisaHQ, an online visa consultancy, helps applicants obtain Hong Kong employment visas, China work permits, and dependent passes with end-to-end document preparation and real-time status tracking. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/
A second pillar of the package is the establishment of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong HR Alliance, co-founded by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management and the Qianhai Authority. The alliance will push for mutual recognition of professional qualifications, common payroll standards and a shared code of employment compliance. HR directors from more than 500 multinationals with operations on both sides of the boundary have been invited to join the alliance’s inaugural working groups on talent mobility, employee tax equalisation and family-visa facilitation.
Business-travel analysts say the announcements materially lower the “friction cost” of stationing staff across the border. Corporate mobility teams will gain a single window to arrange work permission, housing and even school places for accompanying dependants. "For companies running dual-office structures in Central and Qianhai, this could shave two to three weeks off deployment timelines," noted Benjamin Wong, co-chair of the alliance’s China and International HRM Committee.
Practically, employers should review their assignment letters to reference the new portal’s visa-transfer pathway and confirm whether existing Hong Kong payrolls can be seconded under mainland social-insurance rules. They should also budget for cross-boundary housing allowances; Qianhai officials pledged to reserve 500 subsidised apartments for programme participants, but demand is expected to exceed supply during the first year. Ultimately, the scheme underscores Hong Kong’s strategy of using neighbour-city partnerships to enlarge its talent catchment at a time of intense regional competition for high-skilled workers.
