How to claim reimbursement of course fee under Continuing Education Fund?

Form

 Applicants are required to complete the “Continuing Education Fund Application Form” [SFO 313] (reference can be made to “Continuing Education Fund Guidance Notes for Application” [SFO 312_E (2024)].

(Note: The Office of the Continuing Education Fund (OCEF) has further streamlined the application process. Applicants are only required to submit the completed application form and required documents to the OCEF. The OCEF will verify the applicant’s eligibility with the respective institution / course provider upon receiving the application. Applicants are not required to send the Application Form to the institution(s) / course provider(s) concerned for certification before submitting the application.) 
 

Supporting documents

Applicants have to submit copies of the following supporting documents:

1. One-way Permit (if applicable);
2. Front page of applicant’s bank passbook or bank statement showing the name, account number and bank name / bank code (only saving / current accounts are accepted. The name of the applicant on the account must be exactly the same as the name on the HK Smart Identity Card; please note that credit card accounts, time deposit accounts, foreign currency accounts and loans accounts are not acceptable.); and
3. For those applicants studying language proficiency course, they are required to submit copies of the following documents in relation to the benchmark test / examination (if applicable):
   (a) Benchmark test / examination result of passing a specific benchmark test / examination (if applicable) at the specified (or higher) level; and
   (b) Documentary proof of benchmark test / examination fee paid (if applicable).
   (Note: Benchmark tests should be taken by the applicants after the course has commenced (for applications for fee reimbursement for course(s) which commenced during the period from 1 April 2019 to 31 July 2022, the benchmark test should also be taken before the applicant reaching the age of 71). Applicants can make use of the same benchmark test to support the claims for more than one CEF language proficiency course. However, the examination date of the benchmark test must fall after the course commencement date of the reimbursable course(s) used for claiming CEF. Benchmark test fees may be reimbursed only if the application is submitted together with a reimbursement claim for the relevant language proficiency course. Only the examination fee contributing to passing the specified benchmark examination at the specified (or higher) level can be reimbursed. Also, applicants must not have obtained any other public funds or assistance under any other publicly-funded financial assistance schemes for the same examination fee.) 

Means of submission

Electronic application 
Applicants may complete and submit the online application form with supporting documents through “eWFSFAA”.  Applicants who did not use “iAM Smart+” for digital signing in the online submission of the application form are required to print out a hard copy of the form and sign the Declaration in Part D and submit the printed form with original signature to the OCEF within one month after online submission in order to be considered as a valid application.  Applicants using “iAM Smart+” for digital signing are not required to submit the printed copy of application form to the OCEF.

Paper-based application
Applicants can also submit their paper-based applications to OCEF by the following means -

In person or by post:

Drop-in boxes:

The date of receipt of the application by OCEF will be regarded as the submission date of the application. 

Processing time

In general, application results will be issued within 6 weeks (for existing CEF account holders) or 8 weeks (for applicants who submit application for the first time) from the date of receipt of the application, subject to the provision of complete supporting documents by the applicants and the result of verification of applicants’ information by the institutions / course providers. 

If the information provided by applicants is incomplete or with discrepancies in the information provided, applicants will be requested to give an explanation or provide supplementary information, in which case the processing time will be longer.  In case the institutions / course providers need a longer period of time for verification of the information stated in the application form, the CEF reimbursement has to be made to offset the Extended Non-means-tested Loan Scheme loans, or in other exceptional circumstances, the processing time will also be longer.  If applicants do not receive any written reply from OCEF 2 weeks after the above-mentioned time, please contact the OCEF at 3142 2277.