The Security Bureau has relaxed the immigration policy governing the entry of dependants for residence in Hong Kong.

The existing dependant policy is restrictive in that Mainlanders admitted into Hong Kong for work or study can bring in their Mainland dependants, while foreigners and overseas Chinese with dependants residing on the Mainland cannot.

The relaxed policy allows the Mainland dependants of these foreigners and overseas Chinese to apply to reside in Hong Kong. This will help Hong Kong to attract and retain overseas talent, the bureau added.

The relaxed dependant policy will take effect in mid-2007 to allow Mainland spouses and unmarried dependent children under 18 of the following categories of people to reside in Hong Kong as dependants:

* people admitted for employment, investment and training under the General Employment Policy;

* people admitted under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme;

* foreigners and overseas Chinese admitted under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme;

* overseas Chinese admitted for employment; and,

* overseas students admitted for studying in full-time undergraduate or post-graduate programmes in local degree-awarding institutions.

The length of stay of dependants is linked to that of their sponsors. They are required to leave Hong Kong as and when the sponsors leave.

The launch date of the new policy and the application procedure will be announced later.