Under Hong Kong’s Special Scheme to Import Care Workers for Residential Homes, every newly arrived or contract-renewing carer must attend a Labour Department briefing within eight weeks of arrival. The department released its February 2026 schedule today, listing three Mandarin and Cantonese sessions on 11 and 27 February at the Lady Trench Training Centre, Wan Chai. (labour.gov.hk)
The briefings cover employment-rights basics, occupational safety, mandatory insurance and complaint channels. Employers must fax a completed booking form by 5 February (for the first session) or 23 February (for the second) and are warned that no-shows will trigger a one-year moratorium on future applications under the scheme.
Hong Kong residential homes have hired more than 3,000 foreign carers—mostly from the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka—since the special quota opened in 2023 to ease chronic manpower shortages. Demand surged after authorities lifted the cap on the proportion of imported staff per home from 40 to 50 per cent last year.
![Labour Department publishes February briefing schedule for imported care-worker scheme]()
For employers coordinating visas and entry permits for newly hired caregivers, third-party support can streamline document gathering and filing. VisaHQ’s Hong Kong platform (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/) tracks changing immigration rules, validates paperwork and books consular appointments, helping residential homes secure the correct visas before staff attend the Labour Department briefing.
For mobility teams managing inbound care workers, the tight booking windows mean onboarding timelines must align with flight logistics and quarantine-free entry rules. Workers who miss the class must be re-registered, delaying deployment and possibly breaching service level agreements with home operators.
On a policy level, the mandatory orientation reflects wider government efforts to balance labour importation with worker protection following criticism over excessive agency fees and poor living conditions. Observers expect a public consultation on extending similar briefing requirements to other lower-skilled Supplementary Labour Scheme categories later this year.
The briefings cover employment-rights basics, occupational safety, mandatory insurance and complaint channels. Employers must fax a completed booking form by 5 February (for the first session) or 23 February (for the second) and are warned that no-shows will trigger a one-year moratorium on future applications under the scheme.
Hong Kong residential homes have hired more than 3,000 foreign carers—mostly from the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka—since the special quota opened in 2023 to ease chronic manpower shortages. Demand surged after authorities lifted the cap on the proportion of imported staff per home from 40 to 50 per cent last year.
For employers coordinating visas and entry permits for newly hired caregivers, third-party support can streamline document gathering and filing. VisaHQ’s Hong Kong platform (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/) tracks changing immigration rules, validates paperwork and books consular appointments, helping residential homes secure the correct visas before staff attend the Labour Department briefing.
For mobility teams managing inbound care workers, the tight booking windows mean onboarding timelines must align with flight logistics and quarantine-free entry rules. Workers who miss the class must be re-registered, delaying deployment and possibly breaching service level agreements with home operators.
On a policy level, the mandatory orientation reflects wider government efforts to balance labour importation with worker protection following criticism over excessive agency fees and poor living conditions. Observers expect a public consultation on extending similar briefing requirements to other lower-skilled Supplementary Labour Scheme categories later this year.
