A business-registration certificate alone does not establish BUD eligibility. Start with actual operations and project value.
What to have ready
Before you start
The BUD implementer's eligibility guidance includes Hong Kong business registration, non-listed status and substantive Hong Kong operations. A shell or an enterprise with most main operations outside Hong Kong should not rely on a registration certificate alone. Programme guidance changed in 2026, including geographical coverage and Easy BUD arrangements. Check the latest guide for the selected application type's ceilings, matching, eligible expenditure and start-timing rules rather than copying an old promotional leaflet.
What to do, step by step
- Organise operation evidence into staff, finance and transactions, describing offices, customers and work actually performed. Do not invent employment or invoices to make the application look stronger. Identify gaps honestly and ask the implementer what evidence fits the real business model.
- Set a concrete objective, such as establishing a product channel in Shenzhen after verifying demand. Explain how the project develops branding, upgrades the operation or expands sales. Separate routine running costs from proposed project expenditure so that each item can be tested against the applicable guide.
- Download the current guide and record its version. Check procurement, related parties, overlapping public funding, payments and timing item by item. Ask about uncertainties before entering an irreversible supplier commitment. A preliminary enquiry is useful for planning but does not guarantee that the eventual project will be approved.
- Appoint a project coordinator and deputy who understand the business. Create a file for quotations, contracts, invoices, deliverables and payments. Submit through the official route and follow enquiries and decisions. Maintain cash-flow capacity for the company's own contribution and expenses that may not be approved.
Costs, timing, and things to check
The implementer states that it has not designated fee-charging consultants. Verify any claim of official endorsement or guaranteed approval directly. The applicant remains responsible for understanding the application and supplying truthful information even when professional assistance is engaged.
Approval does not establish immediate cash receipt. Assess whether the project is workable without assuming a grant payment on a particular day. Check reporting, review and payment requirements, retain budget headroom and keep implementation responsibility with people inside the applicant enterprise.
A practical example
A Hong Kong homeware enterprise with local staff and transactions wants a mainland shop. It assembles operating evidence and Shenzhen customer research, then compares the current e-commerce and general application guides. Development, advertising and ongoing customer support are costed separately for eligibility enquiries. Before a formal decision, its financial plan does not count the whole budget as funded, and its own coordinator retains the project documents.
Check enterprise eligibility, project fit, documentation and cash flow before committing.
Official information and enquiries
These are the reference and service entry points for this guide. Check current fees, eligibility, and schedules with the authority. The preparation date is not each source's official update date.