School Debentures in Hong Kong: A Guide for HR and Mobility Teams
For many HR and mobility teams, Hong Kong is one of very few cities where a school place can come with a seven-figure price tag. Debentures, nomination rights and capital levies are part of how many international schools fund their campuses, and employers relocating staff with children are often asked about them. This guide explains how they work, what they can and cannot do, and why the timing of a move often matters more than any debenture.
Debentures, nomination rights and levies
These are ways for schools to raise capital, charged on top of tuition, and each one must be approved by Hong Kong’s Education Bureau. Since 2023, schools have had to apply for approval and disclose the amount, purpose and refund terms of every debenture, levy or nomination right they charge.
- A capital levy, sometimes called a building fee, is usually compulsory, charged either every year or as a one-off payment, and is usually not refundable. Annual levies are often around HK$20,000 to HK$60,000.
- A debenture or nomination right can be bought by a family or by a company. Some are compulsory, most are optional, and the optional ones often affect a child’s priority in admissions. Some are refundable or redeemable after a number of years, others are not, and a few can be sold on.
- A corporate debenture or nomination right is bought by an employer, which can then nominate an employee’s child for priority consideration. When that child leaves the school, the company can usually nominate another.
Prices vary widely. Published figures for the 2026/27 school year put most individual debentures and nomination rights between roughly HK$120,000 and HK$1 million, with corporate ones commonly in the millions of Hong Kong dollars.
What a debenture can do, and what it cannot
A debenture or nomination right moves a child up the list for a place. It does not create a place, and it does not replace the school’s admissions process. Bennett’s Hong Kong consultant Yun Sun puts it plainly: a nominated child goes to the top of the waiting list, but that will not help if the year group is already full, or if the child does not meet the school’s admission requirements. She has seen schools turn down debenture holders.
Yun also reminds families that most students in Hong Kong’s international schools never use a debenture at all. For many employees, the right school for their child will not require one.
For a mobility team, timing matters more
Yun’s view is that, from a company’s point of view, planning ahead and timing each assignment well matters more than holding a debenture. International school admissions in Hong Kong run on an annual cycle with a narrow window. Main application rounds close as early as the end of September of the year before entry, and families who apply after the main rounds find their choices narrowing quickly. January starts are also less predictable, because places depend on other families leaving mid-year.
Ideally, an employee would understand their children’s school options before accepting an offer, and Bennett offers pre-decision support for exactly that purpose. In practice, most families start looking at schools after they have accepted. Yun says that is workable, as long as the school search starts at once, ideally at the same time as the visa application.
What goes wrong when the search starts late
Once in a while, Bennett is asked to help a family days before a move, or even after it. The pattern is usually the same. The family applied to a list of well-known schools, chosen from recommendations or online searches, without checking how realistic each one was for their child’s year group. They were confident of a place, signed a lease near the school they expected, and then received rejections. By then, the application windows for schools that would have suited them had closed.
The lesson for an employer is simple: encourage the family to look at schools, or speak to a consultant, before they sign a housing agreement. Housing near the wrong school is one of the most expensive mistakes a relocating family can make in Hong Kong.
A checklist for HR and mobility teams
- Raise schooling as early as possible, ideally while the assignment is still being planned.
- Check whether the company holds corporate debentures or nomination rights, which schools they cover, and whether the employee is eligible to be nominated.
- Encourage the family to start school applications at the same time as the visa application, and before September of the year before entry if they are aiming for an August start.
- Budget for several application fees, typically HK$1,500 to HK$3,000 each, plus capital levies and deposits once a place is offered.
- Ask the family to secure a school place, or a strong alternative, before committing to housing.
For the family’s side of the process, our post on when to apply to international schools in Hong Kong sets out the calendar, and Yun’s interview on starting a school search in Hong Kong explains debentures from a parent’s point of view.
How Bennett supports mobility teams
Bennett works with HR and global mobility teams on pre-decision school assessments, assignment timing and the school search itself. For each family, a consultant who knows Hong Kong recommends schools that fit the child, explains where a corporate debenture would and would not help, and keeps the application calendar on track from offer letter to first day.
Our Hong Kong education consultants support relocating employees and their families throughout the year.
Bennett International Education Consultancy works directly with hundreds of families each year across the globe. We support families by helping them make informed decisions about the best-fit schools for their children; with our guidance, they secure placement in preschools, private day schools, public/state schools, boarding schools, colleges and universities, including schools with particular programs, such as special needs support.
