The Home Affairs Department provides subsidy for non-school-attending ethnic minorities (EMs) and new arrivals from the Mainland (NAs) participating in language courses to encourage them to engage in life-long learning and to enhance personal abilities. Eligible persons may download the application form and send the duly completed application forms together with copies of the relevant documents by post to or place it at specified locations to apply for language course subsidy.

The pilot programme provides a subsidy for non-school-attending EMs and NAs taking dedicated language courses of the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) with 80 per cent attendance or above for each course. The subsidy aims to help EMs and NAs in their continued education or employment, enhance their competitiveness and thereby enable their early integration into the community.

The target beneficiaries of the programme come from low-income families that have passed the means test for specified assistance schemes, or have a monthly household income below the specified income limit. Eligible applicants who have completed a dedicated language course of the ERB with 80 per cent attendance or above may apply for the subsidy.

The Home Affairs Department (HAD) has commissioned the International Social Service – Hong Kong Branch (ISS-HK) and the New Home Association (NHA) to handle matters relating to applications from EMs and NAs respectively. Eligible persons may download the application form from the websites of the HAD, ISS-HK or NHA. Completed application forms together with copies of the relevant documents should be sent by post or handed in at specified locations. Read more