Hong Kong VTC courses touted as short cut to residency for babies of mainland mothers
Quick Look
Agencies are promoting Vocational Training Council courses to pregnant women in mainland China, advertising packages under HK$100,000 including commission as the cheapest route to secure Hong Kong passports for newborns, with claims of easier access to top-tier mainland universities and future civil service jobs, while critics question the practice's impact on Hong Kong's youth population and urge authorities to prioritise local talent.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Agencies are promoting Vocational Training Council courses to pregnant women in mainland China as a low-cost route to Hong Kong passports for their newborns, with claims of educational and employment advantages.
Agencies are promoting Vocational Training Council (VTC) courses to pregnant women in mainland China, touting packages cheaper than HK$100,000 (US$12,600) including commission as the lowest-cost route for the women to secure Hong Kong passports for their newborns, the South China Morning Post has found.
The path would enable their children to get into top-tier mainland universities more easily and could even secure them a job as a civil servant in the future, the agencies claimed.
But critics questioned whether the practice, despite boosting the number of births in Hong Kong, would truly shore up the youth population, and urged authorities and the VTC, the city’s largest vocational training institution, to safeguard local resources and prioritise nurturing talent.
Open Questions
- How many pregnant women have enrolled in VTC courses through these agencies?
- What specific VTC courses are being promoted?
- What actions, if any, are authorities or the VTC taking in response?
