Community Care Fund to Pay $6,000 to New Immigrants; 230,000 to Benefit, No Individual Applications

A Legislative Council committee discussed injecting $1.5 billion into the Community Care Fund to pay $6,000 to low-income new immigrants. Home Affairs chief Tsang Tak-sing said new immigrants aged 18 by end-March next year in single-person households earning under $7,300 a month qualify; an estimated 230,000 will benefit, with applications opening in October at the earliest.

Who qualifies?

Thresholds set by first-quarter median incomes; no individual-income applications. Single persons earning under $6,500 a month, two-person households under $12,000, three-person households under $20,000, households of six or more under $37,300, or those already on assistance, all qualify. Fund executive committee chair Law Chi-kwong said the single-household ceiling had already been raised from $6,500 to $7,300 with no further rise planned; individual-income applications don’t fit the fund’s other schemes, so they won’t be accepted.

When can people apply, and when is the money paid?

Postal registration from early October; payouts from November at the earliest. Law said the total cost including administration reaches $1.5 billion, going to LegCo for funding approval. May’s minimum wage may lift median household incomes, but the committee felt eligibility should stay relatively relaxed to help those in need.

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