The new legal regime to regulate the attribution of Macau residency to non-locals who apply based on their special qualities and skills lacking in Macau, is likely to start receiving applications as soon as September or October this year.
The news was disclosed yesterday by the president of the Third Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL), Vong Hin Fai, after the last meeting of the Committee on this matter.
In the media briefing after the signing of the final opinion that will take the bill to a plenary session for final approval, Vong noted that according to the bill, the new regime enters into force by July 1 this year. Vong added that government officials have said that under the new regime, applications should kick off two or three months later, that is, between September and October this year.
This new regime aims to replace the former system of granting residency to people based on their qualifications and or investments in Macau, which was managed by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) and which had some problematic aspects.
Some of the problems of the system involved applicants waiting for several years until receiving a final reply from IPIM on the acceptance or dismissal of their applications, as well as the cases involving corruption and money laundering charges involving several IPIM members, including the former president, Jackson Chang.
He was sentenced to five years imprisonment without probation for corruption, abuse of power and money laundering.
Currently, there are still many processes running in IPIM from the former regime, a fact that the government has acknowledged and has stated that these would not be mixed with the new regime. Several government officials have also hinted that they hope that applicants from the former regime can withdraw from it and apply within the new regime as soon as it becomes available.
The new regime is divided into three types of non-local qualified staff including high-quality qualified staff members, highly qualified staff members and advanced-level professionals.
The first group includes those with excellent skills in technical capacities who are internationally recognized for their contributions to a certain field.
The second group relates to those who possess significant professional experience as well as technical capabilities and whose areas of expertise match the needs for economic or social development of Macau, namely that are included in the key industries.
In the third group are those who possess professional experience as well as technical capabilities and who can help to increase limited local manpower in some specific fields.
Although the regime has always been considered a means of attracting professionals of worldwide recognized value, including Nobel prize winners and Olympian medalist athletes, the SCDT has previously disclosed that while the first group includes “business elites, patent-holding scientists, political elites and military elites,” the second and third groups include professionals who are much more attainable, including specialist physicians, experienced barristers, pilots, electrical and mechanical engineers, land surveyors, and chemists as well as bus drivers, plumbers, decorators, crane operators, florists, bar tenders [construction] and security guards.
