An Olympics gold medallist in diving may come to live in Hong Kong, thanks to the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme.

The Immigration Department yesterday stated that there have been 10 candidates who qualified for the scheme under the Achievement-based Points Test, for their outstanding performance on the global stage.

The 10 candidates are all Chinese nationals. Six of them are athletes, including an Olympics gold medallist in diving. Two are world-renowned artists in the arts and cultural field, while two are famous personalities in broadcasting and entertainment.

While two piano virtuosos, Lang Lang and Yundi Li, are known to have applied to the scheme, the Immigration Department had refused to divulge the personal details of the successful candidates at present.

"The names of all applicants have been withheld from the selection committee, to protect privacy of the applicants' and objectivity in our judgement," said Henry Fan, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Admission on Quality Migrant and Professionals.

Fan added, however, that the 10 successful candidates are certainly "very big names". While their purposes for staying in Hong Kong were not a part of the selection criteria, Fan said that most of the athletes had said they wanted to "educate the next generation of athletes in Hong Kong".

Since its introduction in June, the Immigration Department has received 479 applications. Eighty-three applicants had been allotted a quota in the first selection exercise in October. Seventy-three applicants qualified under the General Points-based Test.

As financial and accounting professionals take up a significant portion of the quota, Helen Chan, Assistant Director (VISA & Policies) for the Immigration Department noted that the selection criteria is based on the socio-economic needs of Hong Kong