The Secretary for the Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung, said on Sunday that the government has no plans to import civil servants from outside Hong Kong, as they are required to be permanent residents of the SAR under the Basic Law.

The official was speaking to reporters before heading to Beijing and the Zhejiang province for an official visit.

"As prescribed by Article 99 of the Basic Law, civil servants must be permanent residents of Hong Kong. So we definitely have no intentions to import labour to fill positions in the civil service," she said.

The civil service has seen a brain drain in recent years, with government statistics showing 944 public workers quitting between April and June last year.

But Yeung said authorities are seeing an increase in the number of applications for some government positions, after expanding the eligibility criteria to allow university students in their penultimate year to apply.

"Some civil servant grades relaxed [the requirement] from the beginning of June, and we can see that these grades - including some disciplinary forces - are receiving more job applications than before," she said.

"I really believe this measure is helpful for the government to recruit talent as well as for the youths who are committed to serving Hong Kong to have clear prospects earlier."

The minister, who is leading more than 20 senior officials on the trip, will study at the National Academy of Governance in Beijing to better understand the country’s key policies. They will also pay a visit to the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in the capital.

The officials will then go to the Zhejiang province to learn about the preparations being made for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games, before returning to Hong Kong on Friday.