Restaurant barred from hiring non-local workers after providing false info in application

Waso Cafe, a restaurant located in Prince Edward, has been prohibited from hiring non-local workers after it supplied inaccurate information to the Labour Department regarding its application to employ servers, junior cooks, and dishwashers. The Labour Department imposed an administrative sanction on the restaurant, terminating its application under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS).

This scheme, introduced in 2023, aims to address Hong Kong's labor shortage by allowing the hiring of non-local workers, primarily migrants from mainland China. Following an investigation, the department determined that Waso Cafe had violated the scheme's requirements by providing false information during its local recruitment process.

Consequently, the government imposed the sanction, and the restaurant's previous hiring approvals may be withdrawn due to the administrative action. The tightening of rules was prompted by the government's June announcement, which now requires a stricter staffing ratio of three local employees for every imported worker in the food and beverage sector.

This includes roles such as cooks, junior cooks, waiters, receptionists, drink makers, and bar supervisors. Employers must also adhere to the requirement of paying imported laborers a wage equal to or higher than the median monthly salary for their respective positions. As of May 2026, there are approximately 24,300 non-local workers employed in the food and beverage services sector, comprising around 45% of the 54,000 non-local workers under the ESLS across Hong Kong.

There have been a total of 110,000 approved applications for imported workers. In March of this year, the government had received over 1,000 complaints about the scheme, with some leading to official sanctions. For instance, in August 2023, a Chinese restaurant was prohibited from hiring non-local workers for two years after authorities discovered that the company had fired local employees to replace them with non-local workers.