HONG KONG SAR, CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jeffrey Lee, Jessica Leung and Hilary Leung, Charles Russell Speechlys
6.4 Fiduciary Investment The Trustee Ordinance stipulates a relatively con - servative and limited list of authorised investments that trustees may make in the absence of an express power of investment in the trust instrument, with the intention of providing a default objective standard for less experienced trustees. Professional trustees, on the other hand, may choose to opt out of the list under the Trustees Ordinance and, generally, it is expected that professional trustees who are sophisticated in investment and have wider investment powers would adopt the modern portfolio theory, which advocates the diversification of securities and asset classes. Trusts may hold active businesses and (through an entity) participate in the running of that business. Depending on the nature of the business, certain licensing requirements may need to be met in order to conduct the business or relevant activities. 7. Citizenship and Residency 7.1 Requirements for Domicile, Residency and Citizenship Domicile Generally, a person who does not have a domicile of origin in Hong Kong can acquire a domicile in Hong Kong if they are lawfully present in Hong Kong and intend to make a home in Hong Kong for an indefinite period. The Hong Kong government has introduced a com - pany re-domiciliation regime with effect from 23 May 2025 to enable non-Hong Kong-incorporated com - panies to re-domicile to Hong Kong while maintaining their legal identities as a body corporate and ensuring business continuity. A re-domiciled company would be regarded as a Hong Kong-incorporated company with effect from its re-domiciliation date, and would have the same rights and obligations as any other Hong Kong-incorporated company. No new legal entity is created by the re-domiciliation. Under the proposed regime, some of the key eligibility requirements for a company to re-domicile to Hong Kong include that: • the law of the company’s place of incorporation must allow for outward re-domiciliation;
• the company type under the law of the company’s place of incorporation must be the same or sub - stantially the same as that of the intended com - pany type in Hong Kong; • the company must have been incorporated for at least one financial year;
• the company must be solvent; and • the shareholders’ consent is required. Becoming a Permanent Resident
There are six categories of persons who are eligible to enjoy the right of abode in Hong Kong and to apply for permanent resident status: • category one – a Chinese citizen born in Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) (ie, 1 July 1997); • category two – a Chinese citizen who has ordinar - ily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years before or after the estab- lishment of the HKSAR (ie, 1 July 1997); • category three – a person of Chinese nationality born outside Hong Kong before or after the estab - lishment of the HKSAR (ie, 1 July 1997) to a parent who, at the time of birth of that person, was a Chi - nese citizen falling within category one or two; • category four – a person not of Chinese national - ity who has entered Hong Kong with a valid travel document, has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and has taken Hong Kong as their place of perma - nent residence before or after the establishment of the HKSAR (ie, 1 July 1997); • category five – a person under 21 years of age born in Hong Kong to a parent who is a permanent resident of the HKSAR in category four before or after the establishment of the HKSAR (ie, 1 July 1997) if, at the time of their birth or at any later time before they reach 21 years of age, one parent has the right of abode in Hong Kong; and • category six – a person other than those in catego - ries one to five above, who had the right of abode in Hong Kong only, before the establishment of the HKSAR (ie, 1 July 1997).
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