He avoided it during the 2019 political protests.
Then they went through an epidemic of almost two years.
But this year, they say they have had enough.
Hong Kong residents are leaving the city in 2022 – not because they want to, many told CNBC, but because Covid restrictions and what they see as an erosion of democratic norms are prompting them to leave.
The surge in departures is accelerating the “brain drain” of professional talent – a condition that hit a fever pitch around March, as Omicron-run Covid cases skyrocketed across the city.
Now the focus is on Hong Kong’s evergreen lifestyle websites, which were once dominated by articles about the city’s best dim sum and foot massage parlors. moving list and farewell gift guide.
‘complete mass exodus’
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Lamo said on 26 April That the government’s COVID regulations balance health and economic interests with the level of public tolerance.
Hong Kong continues to protect “human rights and freedoms” but “must obey the law in exercising freedoms,” she said.
with respect to the subject people leaving hong kongLam said it was his “personal freedom to enter and exit.”
According to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, for the past 60 years, Hong Kong’s population has grown almost every year, from about 3.2 million people in 1961 to 7.5 million in 2019.
From 2015 to 2019, the city received an average of 53,000 new residents per year. Yet it’s almost the same number of people leaving Hong Kong during the first two weeks of March aloneAccording to the city’s immigration department.
Pei, a longtime Hong Kong resident, said mothers and children left Hong Kong over news that government policies were separating parents from their children, who had tested positive for Covid-19. Many fathers remained at work, she said, but many are now asking their employers to forgo transfers.
Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Hong Kong lost some 93,000 residents in 2020, followed by another 23,000 in 2021. But early estimates suggest that far more people will go this year.
“In the past few years people have thought about leaving, but in the last six months there has been a complete mass exodus,” said Pei Si, who has lived in Hong Kong for 17 years. Due to the sensitivity of the subject in Hong Kong, she asked to be identified with her last name.
The trigger, she said — echoed by many who spoke to CNBC for this story — was a highly publicized policy. Kovid positive children separated from their parents earlier this year.
“A lot of parents, got confused, so they booked themselves for the first flight,” she said.
Pei estimates that 60-70% of her friends are gone in the past six to 12 months, including people with businesses and family in Hong Kong, as well as people who were once committed to staying.
going to singapore
Most of the people leaving, Pei said, are going to the same place: Singapore.
“Everyone is going to Singapore,” said Pei, especially those working in finance, law and recruitment, she said.
K Kutt, CEO of Hong Kong-based relocation company Silk Railo, agreed, saying people are attracted by the ease of doing business, family-friendliness, tax incentives and Singapore’s open borders.
In its 40-year existence, the last three years have been the busiest years on record for Silk Relay’s sister moving company, Asian Tigers, she said.
“We can’t keep up with the capacity,” she said. “We don’t have enough people to serve what’s going on in the market.”
Families are relocating to Singapore, she said, but small and medium-sized businesses are also moving. While a company executive may have left in the past, now “they are all leaving,” she said. Smaller companies are “taking the whole team and putting them in Singapore.”
Cynthia Eng, executive director of recruitment firm Kerry Consulting, said large companies are also relocating to Singapore. She cited L’Oréal, Mot Hennessy and VF Corporation — the latter which owns brands such as Timberland and The North Face — as examples, noting that there are others who have yet to make their decisions public.
“We get more calls from our customers who … are sharing with us that they are going to move the entire Asia Pacific office to Singapore,” she said.
Other companies are staying in Hong Kong but scaling down their offices, and moving regional headquarters to Singapore, Ang said.
Australian Crystal Edwards said she has lived in Hong Kong for 12 years and wants to stay, but she and her husband are going to decide whether to leave until September.
“If the situation looks like 2023 is going to be similar in Hong Kong – hotel quarantine restrictions, stuff like that – we’re going to Singapore,” she said.
“It gets to the point where it’s too much.”
when temporary become permanent
Edwards said some people are riding Hong Kong’s stringent COVID restrictions by taking extended vacations.
“I know a lot of families are gone for three or four months,” Edwards said. “The piles are in Thailand – they just packed up and went to Phuket [Koh] Samui. … they all found villas, some even put their children in school there, and they said they would return to Hong Kong in August or September.”
Many migrants went home for a few months this year. Now Pei said she is noticing that many of these people are not coming back.
Kutt said this is happening “absolutely,” as evidenced by the number of moves without customers. Before Covid, “absent shippers” were rare, she said, but because of the number of requests, Silk Railo created a service whereby an on-site team member acts on behalf of a customer who was not present for a move. It is possible
going for good
Kutt said the lockdown and quarantine policies have caused many migrants in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and other countries to return home, along with a happy period of school closures.
But deeply trapped locals are also leaving, she said.
Hong Kong-born Kam Lun Young said his family is moving to Sydney, where he lived as a child.
“we consider [Hong Kong] Home, and especially considering how emotionally invested we are in the city, it’s hard to leave. However, “2019 protested the current pandemic situation and friends already left … made our decision a little easier.”
Lisa Terauchi grew up in Hong Kong, but was shy of her 45th birthday when her husband lost his job as a captain with Cathay Dragon, a Hong Kong-based airline that ceased operations in late 2020. Had given. He and his family moved to America. Netherlands, where her husband is from.
Hong Kong “was no longer the country I grew up in, it was no longer the country I remembered,” she said.
Teracchi said he has some friends who are leaving, some who have been there longer than him. Although her eldest son is completing his master’s degree in Hong Kong, she said she and her husband probably won’t even return to maintain their permanent residency status.
“I mean, is it even worth it now?” he said.
other people have moved in United Kingdom And Canada, Kutt said. During the pandemic, both countries launched Visa programs giving eligible Hong Kong residents the right to reside in their jurisdiction.
Immigration to Canada from Hong Kong isbooming“According to the Canadian immigration website, CIC News. Yet more are relocating to the United Kingdom, with Over 100,000 applications to move by March.
“I noticed, especially I think it was March, the number of calls [from] … Long-old Hong Kong families … They have high net worth, they may have multiple houses, they are choosing to pack up and go,” Kutt said.
“They were what I would say shook me to the core,” said Kutt, who has lived in Hong Kong for more than 30 years.
and where?
Kutt said the Silk Railo and Asian Tigers are also seeing an “uplift” in moves from Hong Kong to Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
“We are seeing companies choosing Tokyo,” she said, which she said was surprising given that Tokyo has historically been a place only for companies with access to the Japanese market.
Kerry Consulting’s Ang said Dubai is also absorbing talent from Hong Kong. She said this is especially true for the American and European employers that are already there.
Pepsi, Unilever and P&G moved people from Hong Kong to Dubai, she said.
“Saudi Arabia is trying to fight even for a piece of the pie”, Aang said. “I haven’t physically seen anyone who is excited to move to Saudi Arabia yet…” but locations in the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates, try to reflect what Dubai has done over the years. are doing.”