How TTPS Children Transfer into Hong Kong Schools: The Complete 2026 Guide

If you are moving to Hong Kong under the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) and have school-age children, one of your first questions is how to get them into a good school — fast. The good news: dependants of TTPS holders are entitled to attend Hong Kong schools on exactly the same footing as local children, and the Government has been actively expanding placement support for exactly your situation. Since the scheme launched in December 2022, more than 120,000 TTPS applications had been approved by mid-December 2025, and across all talent admission schemes around 260,000 talents had arrived with their families (Labour and Welfare Bureau figures reported by Takungpao, 31 Dec 2025). By the end of February 2025, roughly 132,000 unmarried dependant children under 18 had been permitted to come to Hong Kong as dependants under the various talent schemes (LCQ5 reply, 19 Mar 2025).

This guide walks you through the three realistic routes — Primary One Admission (POA), Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA), and direct transfer (“插班”) — with the official 2026/27 deadlines, required documents, school fees and the questions parents ask most. It is part of our wider Hong Kong TTPS family resource hub, which also covers dependent visas, living costs and more.

1. Can TTPS children legally attend school in Hong Kong?

Yes. Under the prevailing arrangements, persons permitted to reside in Hong Kong as dependants — including children of successful applicants under the TTPS — are not required to obtain prior permission from the Director of Immigration to receive education in Hong Kong. They may enrol in primary and secondary schools of any finance type, and schools are not required to report their admission to the Education Bureau (EDB) (LCQ7 reply, 3 Jul 2024). In practice, your child is treated like any other local child for basic-education admission, regardless of which TTPS category (A, B or C) you entered under.

One important caveat: your child’s dependent visa is valid only while your own visa is valid, because the TTPS holder is the guarantor. If your visa lapses or is not renewed, the dependant’s visa generally lapses at the same time and the family must leave before the stay period expires (EDB, 18 Aug 2025). Keep your own renewal timeline in mind when planning your child’s schooling, and see our TTPS renewal guide.

2. Types of Hong Kong schools and what they cost

Hong Kong’s schools fall into five broad categories, and the application route and fee level differ sharply between them. Public-sector (government and aided) schools are covered by the central allocation systems; Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS), private and international schools manage their own admissions.

Government and aided schools charge no tuition, though parents still budget roughly HK$6,000–15,000 a year for uniforms, books and miscellany. DSS schools set their own fees — commonly HK$5,000 to over HK$80,000 a year — and must operate fee-remission schemes. International school tuition for the 2025/26 year ranged from roughly HK$80,000–140,000 at budget schools to HK$220,000–280,000+ at premium schools for primary, with secondary/IBDP years even higher; debentures, application fees and English-support add-ons can add tens of thousands more (Tutopiya fee guide, Jan 2026). The official directory of international schools is published by the EDB at internationalschools.edb.gov.hk.

3. Route 1 — Primary One Admission (POA) for September entry

If your child turns six before the start of the school year, the standard route is the POA System. For admission to Primary One in September 2026, children born on or before 31 December 2020 are eligible, provided they have never attended primary school and have never been allocated a P1 place (EDB announcement, 29 Aug 2025). POA has two stages:

• Discretionary Places (自行分配學位): parents may apply to any government or aided primary school, regardless of school net. For the 2026/27 cycle, applications ran 18–26 September 2025 via the fully digitalised ePOA platform (paper forms 22–26 September).
• Central Allocation (統一派位): places are allocated by school net based on the child’s residential address. Families applying only for central allocation had to submit by 23 January 2026.

Results for the 2026/27 cycle were released on 3 June 2026 (RTHK, 3 Jun 2026). DSS, private and international primary schools are not part of POA — apply to them directly. If you arrive after the deadlines, skip straight to Route 3 below, or try “叩門” (knocking on the door): after allocation results, many parents approach schools with vacancies directly to submit late applications.

4. Route 2 — Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA) for Form 1

For children entering Secondary One, the SSPA System mirrors POA. In the 2026 cycle, applications for S1 Discretionary Places were accepted 2–16 January 2026; successful applicants were notified on 31 March 2026, and both discretionary and central allocation results were released together on 7 July 2026 (news.gov.hk, 4 Dec 2025).

Families arriving from the mainland often do not have a P6 record in an SSPA-participating school. That is not a problem: parents of students not studying in participating primary schools can obtain the S1 application forms directly from the EDB’s School Places Allocation Section, and can apply to up to two secondary schools for discretionary places. Keep in mind that Hong Kong secondary schools run a “biliterate and trilingual” environment (Chinese and English writing; Cantonese, Putonghua and English spoken), and schools consider language ability when selecting students — mainland curricula differ, so it is worth matching your child’s strengths to the school’s medium of instruction (EDB, 18 Aug 2025).

5. Route 3 — Direct transfer (插班) at any level

For TTPS families arriving mid-year, or for children above or below the allocation cohorts, direct transfer (“插班”) is the most flexible route. You apply straight to the schools you are interested in; the school interviews or tests your child and professionally decides the appropriate level. The EDB explicitly urges public-sector schools with vacancies to admit transfer students actively, and provides two practical supports:

• Monthly vacancy lists: the EDB publishes the vacancy situation of public-sector secondary schools by district, flagged “With Vacancies”, “With Limited Vacancies” or “Without Vacancy” (EDB vacancy webpage).
• Regional Education Offices: placement-support officers provide school vacancy information for your district and assist with registration. Since the 2025/26 school year this support was extended to students aged 15 or above seeking Form 4 or higher places (EDB, 18 Aug 2025).

In practice, most schools run transfer-admission cycles between roughly April and July for September entry, while some accept applications all year round — contact the school’s office directly to confirm. EDB placement assistance itself covers children aged 6 to 15 who are eligible for public-sector schools (LCQ7 reply, 3 Jul 2024).

6. Documents to prepare before you apply

Requirements vary by school, but these are the documents most Hong Kong schools ask for when admitting a transfer student from the mainland or overseas:

• Child’s valid passport and dependent visa / entry permit label (plus a copy of the parent’s TTPS visa)
• Hong Kong identity card (if already issued)
• Birth certificate
• School reports and transcripts from the current school (translated into English or Chinese if necessary)
• Proof of residential address (tenancy agreement, utility bill)
• Vaccination / immunisation records
• Passport photos and the school’s application form

When using EDB placement-support services, you will also need to complete the registration form for placement support services available from the EDB website. Public-sector schools should not charge admission fees, and no intermediary should be paid to “secure” a public school place — the EDB has warned against unlicensed agents and “borrowed school” schemes (EDB, 18 Aug 2025).

7. 2026/27 key dates at a glance

8. FAQ — Questions TTPS parents ask most

Do TTPS children need a separate study visa? No. Dependants may study without any prior permission from the Immigration Department; the dependent visa itself is sufficient (LCQ7, 3 Jul 2024).

My child arrived after the allocation deadlines — what now? Apply directly to schools with vacancies (“插班”/叩門), or contact your district’s EDB Regional Education Office. From 2025/26, placement support also covers students aged 15+ seeking senior-secondary places.

Are government and aided schools really free? Yes, they charge no tuition; budget roughly HK$6,000–15,000 per year for uniforms, books and other costs. DSS, private and international schools charge fees as set out in the table above.

What happens to my child’s school place if my TTPS visa is not renewed? The dependent visa is tied to yours and generally lapses with it, so the child would need to leave Hong Kong before the stay period expires. Apply for renewal in good time — about 53% of eligible first-batch TTPS holders had applied for extension by mid-December 2025, with a 94% approval rate among those processed (Takungpao, 31 Dec 2025).

Will my child count as a “local student” for subsidised university places? At the basic-education level, yes — dependent children are treated as local. For UGC-funded (government-subsidised) university places, the Government revised the rules on 31 July 2025: dependent children must have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for one year for the 2027/28 academic year (transition), rising to a full two years from 2028/29; principal holders of talent-scheme visas are no longer eligible for subsidised places (news.gov.hk, 31 Jul 2025). The High Court upheld this tightening in August 2026.

Where do I find official information? Start with the Hong Kong Talent Engage education page and the EDB’s newly-arrived children pages, or browse the EDB international schools directory.

Getting your children into a Hong Kong school is very achievable — the system is designed to absorb late-arriving families through direct transfer, and the EDB actively publishes vacancies and runs placement support. Decide the school type and budget first, check the vacancy lists for your district, and apply directly to a shortlist of schools in parallel. For the rest of your relocation checklist — dependent visas, housing, medical insurance and living costs — explore the other guides on the GCT Guide homepage.