Foreign home care workers to be piloted: How are they different from domestic helpers? Six key questions employers are most concerned about.
As Hong Kong's population continues to age, "aging at home" has become a real problem that many families must face.
For families who need to care for elderly parents, chronically ill patients, elderly people with mobility impairments or cognitive impairments, the biggest difficulty is often not "whether there is someone to do housework", but whether they can find a caregiver who has the real ability to care and can provide long-term assistance at home.
On September 10, 2026, media reported that the government was studying a pilot program to import "foreign home care workers" in the upcoming Policy Address, potentially requiring them to complete a Hong Kong government-approved training course in their country of origin. If implemented, this measure could provide a new caregiver option between existing "foreign domestic helpers" and professional nursing services. However, as of the date of this article's publication, the official policy has not yet been announced. The following information is compiled based on currently available data; the final eligibility criteria, salary, scope of work, and implementation date are subject to official announcement by the Hong Kong government.
What is a "foreign home care worker"?
Currently, Hong Kong families commonly employ foreign domestic helpers to handle housework, cooking, childcare, and general elderly care. The definition of "foreign home care workers" in the government's research is expected to be different.
According to currently available information, the new category may focus more on people with care needs, such as the elderly, frail, those with mobility difficulties, or those who require more assistance with daily living, and will require caregivers to receive relevant training recognized by the government before coming to Hong Kong.
Simply put, it can be understood as:
Foreign domestic helpers: primarily provide support for daily family life and household chores.
Foreign home care workers: Their main job is to care for family members in need.
However, the final distinction between the two in terms of legal status, scope of work, and domestic arrangements remains to be announced by the government.
Why does Hong Kong need foreign home care workers?
Hong Kong has been promoting "aging in place," hoping that the elderly can continue to live in their familiar family and community environments when circumstances permit. The problem is that families that truly need long-term care often face a real shortage of manpower.
For example, an elderly person might need:
Assistance with bathing and personal hygiene
Toileting or changing diapers
Feeding
Helping to walk
Wheelchair assistance
Bed and chair relocation
Measure blood pressure and body temperature
Accompanying patients
Daily care for cognitive impairment
Daily living assistance after stroke
Some families rely on their spouses or children for care, while others depend on domestic helpers. However, domestic helpers often lack relevant caregiving training, and the cost of hiring local professional caregivers is a heavy burden for many families. Therefore, what "foreign home caregivers" truly hope to fill is likely this middle ground.
What are the differences between foreign home caregivers and regular domestic helpers?
This is also the issue that employers are most concerned about. Currently, foreign domestic helpers are already capable of caring for the elderly in their families. Since 2018, the government has also been implementing the "Foreign Domestic Helper Elderly Care Training Pilot Scheme," which teaches foreign domestic helpers basic knowledge such as feeding, medication assistance, fall prevention, first aid, elderly meals, bathing, vital sign monitoring, location transfer, and care for the elderly with cognitive impairment and stroke. In other words, "foreign domestic helpers caring for the elderly" is not a new concept.
The real new problem is:
Will the government formally transform "foreign workers with caregiving capabilities" into another category of personnel with qualification requirements, specific work scope, and even different salary levels? If the answer is yes, it will be significantly different from the current ordinary domestic helper system.
Can home caregivers still do housework?
This may be the key to whether the policy can truly help ordinary families. One important reason why Hong Kong families hire domestic helpers is that a single live-in employee can assist with daily household needs. If a new foreign home caregiver can only care for the elderly and is completely unable to handle general housework, some families may need to hire both a "foreign home caregiver" and a regular domestic helper. For ordinary families, this may not be a practically affordable arrangement.
On the other hand, if "foreign home caregivers" can be responsible for all tasks such as cleaning the whole house, cooking, and taking care of children, just like ordinary domestic helpers, the new system could easily become another kind of "higher-level domestic helper".
Therefore, how the government ultimately defines "care work" and "general housework" will be very important.
How much do foreign home care workers earn?
The government has not yet announced salary levels. Currently, contracts for foreign domestic helpers signed from September 30, 2025, stipulate a minimum wage of HK$5,100 per month. However, if new foreign domestic caregivers require longer periods of professional training and assume a higher level of care responsibility than ordinary housework, salary could become a major challenge in policy design.
Setting the price too high might be unaffordable for the average family. Setting it too close to that of a typical domestic helper might not attract truly capable and experienced caregivers.
Therefore, whether the new system will ultimately establish another minimum wage for "foreign home care workers" is one of the policy details we believe is most worthy of attention.
Does having a nursing certificate mean you know how to care for the elderly?
not necessarily.
This is also a point that employers need to pay special attention to when selecting home caregivers in the future. Training certificates can prove that a person has received relevant training, but actual home care involves a large number of abilities that cannot be judged solely by classroom instruction. For example, the job requirements for caring for an 80-year-old who is fully mobile can be completely different from those for caring for an 80-year-old who has suffered a stroke, requires a wheelchair, and needs to be moved around frequently.
In addition to certificates, employers should also understand whether caregivers truly possess the relevant qualifications: practical experience, practical skills, physical strength, communication skills, psychological resilience, and experience in dealing with different elderly situations.
Therefore, a truly effective home caregiver system in the future should not simply be:
"Completing the course = being qualified to care for all seniors."
An ideal system should take into account training, practical assessment, past experience, and the actual needs of those being cared for.
Six noteworthy details regarding "foreign home care workers" in the 2026 Policy Address
Who is qualified to hire?
Can all families apply, or must there be an elderly person, a disabled person, a person with a chronic illness, or someone assessed as needing care?
Which countries can I import from?
Will it be the same as the main sources of current foreign domestic helpers, such as the Philippines and Indonesia?
What training qualifications are recognized in Hong Kong?
How many hours is the course required? Is an internship and practical exam required?
How many general household chores can you do?
This will directly affect whether the system is suitable for ordinary Hong Kong families.
What is the minimum wage?
Will the new system retain the minimum wage for domestic helpers, or will it establish a separate salary level for home caregivers?
Can existing domestic helpers be upgraded to become home caregivers?
It is also worth paying attention to whether a domestic helper who is already working in Hong Kong has many years of experience in caring for the elderly, and whether she can obtain the relevant qualifications through training and assessment in the future.
Foreign home care workers may become an important step in Hong Kong's home-based elderly care.
The care needs of Hong Kong families are changing. In the past, when hiring domestic helpers, employers may have valued cooking, cleaning, and childcare experience the most. With an aging population, more and more families may need to consider whether the domestic helper truly knows how to care for the elderly.
If the government ultimately establishes a clear home care worker system and can strike a balance between "professional care capabilities," "family affordability," and "protection of foreign employees," this policy could become an important supplement to Hong Kong's home-based elderly care system.
However, home care cannot be judged solely by a certificate. For employers, understanding the actual care needs of the family and then matching them with someone who truly has the relevant experience and ability remains the most important step.
This article will be continuously updated with information on the eligibility, salary, training requirements, scope of work, and implementation arrangements for foreign home care workers after the Policy Address is officially released in 2026.
Data updated: September 11, 2026. The policy has not yet been officially announced; all information is subject to the final announcement by the Hong Kong SAR Government.
