The Legislative Assembly (AL) has approved with the unanimous vote of 32 lawmakers the first reading of the new legal regime to attract qualified staff, also known as non-local “talents.”
This new bill aims to replace the former regime of granting residency to people based on their qualifications and or investments made in Macau. This former regime was managed by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) and caused several problems. This included problems that led to the sentencing of the former president of IPIM, Jackson Chang, to five years of imprisonment without probation on charges of corruption, abuse of power and money laundering.
Although the bill’s first reading was approved by all lawmakers that comprise the AL, many expressed concerns over several details of the bill and the way the bill will be enforced.
This was amid calls for the government to also institute a regime to attract local residents that are working abroad and who possess high professional qualifications to return to Macau.
On the topic, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong said that if, with this new regime, Macau succeeded in creating a better environment and conditions, “local talents who are abroad will surely be interested in returning to Macau.”
Chao Chong Hang, representing the Talents Development Committee (SCDT), also said that the committee is working together with the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) to improve the so-called talents database, which he admitted has many flaws and is useless at the moment.
Chao said that the committee is asking DSEDJ to register all local students who receive scholarships and who are studying abroad at universities ranked in the top 100 worldwide to automatically become part of the local talents database.
During the debate in the plenary session, Ao Ieong also said that this new regime to attract highly qualified staff, as well as the potential creation of new companies with it, will be the “two pillars that will support Macau’s future development.”
Lawmakers also raised several concerns that people will soon see their applications approved in matters such as residency rights, criteria, and transparency of recruitment procedures, as well as their role in passing on their skills by teaching and training local residents.
Chao also noted regarding the first type of targeted talent, the so-called Elite level, the SCDT “will create a list that will include a series of international awards and accolades. It is enough for someone to have been awarded one of those awards or prizes to qualify as a qualified staff of high quality (Elite level).”
As the SCDT disclosed previously, the three-level system included in the new law is based on the skills and recognition of these professionals.
“Elites refer to leaders of a profession who have attained professional licenses or skills in their specialized field, for example, business elites, patent-holding scientists, political elites, and military elites. Qualified professionals generally refer to the group of people who have relatively higher educational qualifications and longer credentials of service, such as specialist physicians, experienced barristers, pilots, electrical & mechanical engineers, land surveyors, and chemists. A skilled person commonly refers to the group of people who have acquired certain vocational skills and make a living with such skills, for example, bus drivers, plumbers, decorators, crane operators, florists, bar benders [construction], and security guards,” SCDT notes on the regime Frequent Asked Questions.
During the first reading, the Secretary refused to give many details on the bill, leaving those for the bill specialty discussion.
