Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

An Open Invitation For You To Request Specific Hong Kong Visa And Immigration Related Content

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Your Question Answered / 8 responses

One of the really great things about the subject of Hong Kong visa and immigration is that there is never any shortage of things to blog about and share.

Every day in our professional practice, we undertake cases which provide ongoing, often entirely new, insights into how the Hong Kong Immigration Department are implementing policy and which I then routinely pass on via this blog.

Moreover, visitors to our websites ask questions for me to answer by PodCast and every one of these, each with their own unique facts and circumstances, adds to the Hong Kong immigration knowledge graph which we are slowly mapping over time.

Additionally, the data we  receive from searches undertaken on this website as well as the Hong Kong Visa Handbook, indicate to us what we should be blogging about each day and what is of pressing interest to our visitors.

Finally, Google Analytics tells us that our websites now deliver our content against more than 70,000 Hong Kong visa and immigration related search topics and it’s the top 50 of those that we blog about 80% of the time – keeping our content topical, relevant, practical and useful.

But now its time to ask you…

What would you like me to write, PodCast and make videos about?

This is an open invitation for you to make suggestions about Hong Kong visa and immigration related content and inclusions for this website.

I’m keen to hear from you what you would like to learn more about, what you think is missing, what can be taken to the next level of detail – including further D-I-Y resources to help you along in your Hong Kong visa and immigration quests.

However there are 3 things we do not, as a matter of policy, cover.

These are:

1 – Anything requiring or involving litigation. We routinely refer this on to Daly & Associates. We are not a solicitors firm and you need lawyers with practising certificates to undertake this work for you. This is not our bag. Mark Daly and his team are the masters of their craft. These lawyers are responsible for most of the human rights and right of abode related litigation in Hong Kong – and the only other immigration firm here that I will refer our clients to.

2 – Student visas. This work is purely administrative and involves close coordination with college or university administrators. We don’t add any real value to this process, and most certainly are not worth our HKD3,000 hourly consultation rate so don’t take the work on. Consequently, we have never developed any specific expertise in student visas, although, of course, we know how it all works.

3 – Foreign Domestic Helpers. For existing clients who specifically ask us to help out with their FDH visa processing challenges we are happy to get involved and provide the service when so requested. In fact Ruby, our business manager, manages this work personally when we are so instructed. Otherwise, we steer well clear. There are countless other service providers in Hong Kong who offer great value for money undertaking this work, but it’s not for us and for 20 years we have eschewed developing any level of expertise in it.

Otherwise, we’re fair game!

So, if you want to me to cover any specific Hong Kong visa and immigration topic, no matter how small – or all-encompassing – please feel free to let me know.

Simply email me via: feedback@hkvisacentre.com  and I’ll make sure it’s added to our editorial calendar.

I’ll acknowledge receipt of your suggestion within one business day and indicate by when the content will be developed and the material fully covered for inclusion on our websites.

In the meantime, of course, if you have any particualr question you’d like answering, please feel free to Ask A Question and I’ll give you a PodCast answer within 48 hours – completely free of charge!

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How Can I Prove The Veracity Of My CV For My Hong Kong Employment Visa Application If A Prior Employer Is No Longer In Business?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Your Question Answered / No responses

If you’re claiming skills, knowledge or experience on your CV as part of your argument for a Hong Kong Employment Visa Application – what’s the gig if you can’t fully  support your claims with references or testimonials?

QUESTION

Hi, I am 8 weeks into applying for an employment visa (I’m British).

I have given the documents and a couple of weeks ago had to supply a reference which I managed to get hold of.

And yesterday my would be company heard from them again asking for another reference that was listed on my CV.

However.. the person has now left the company (the company may have even closed and now they have changed careers (it was a 5 year ago position I was referencing).

Do you think it’s OK for this person to state that they have left the company and just provide a letterheaded reference from their current place?

My other friend said it may be tricky.

Please help if you can. I’m not sure what to do.

Thanks a lot!

ANSWER

Naturally enough, if you are claiming certain skills and experience on your CV and you’re expecting the Immigration Department to rely on them as being a true and accurate statement of your experiencing and work capabilities, it’s incumbent upon you to produce the kind of documentation which speaks to the veracity of your CV.

Now of course, on occasion, it might prove impossible as you’ve encountered to pick up a particular reference from some time prior, particularly if that employer is no longer in business. So usually what the Immigration Department are prepared to do is to at least receive the second best evidence that you can supply; and if that happens to be a reference or a document that speaks to your time in that business or in the employent with that organisation, and it’s from someone who knew you at that time or possibly was your superior, the Immigration Department will certainly take that into consideration.

Whether it will prove ultimately satisfactory or not in the final analysis depends on just how important the time spent in that employment is to the relevance of your current application. Because if,for example, you’re saying that you’ve been responsible for producing moon widgets for that company and your special skills, knowledge and experience for the new employee areas to show that you’re going to be producing moon widgets and the Immigration Department have got no way of concluding effectively that you have the experience that you claim, then it could speak to the approvability; all told, however, if it’s just general affirmation that you spend time in that role in that position, there’s nothing too sensational about it from an approvability perspective, then you can expect that that second best evidence will suffice.

But in the final analysis you have the burden of proof in relation to the extent of your CV. So, as far as you can satisfy their requirements that end the stronger you’re putting yourself forward for an eventual approval.

Okay, I hope you find this useful.

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Will Time Spent In Prison In Hong Kong Break Continuity Of Ordinary Residence For The Purposes Of A Right Of Abode Application After 7 Years?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Feature Article, Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / No responses

This article deals with the question of whether time spent in prison in Hong Kong will break the continuity of ordinary residence for the purposes of a Right of Abode application after 7 years.

First Published on April 10, 2016

QUESTION

I am interested to know if there is anything I could do to strengthen the case of my application for the right of abode (permanent residency) and I am also unsure if having an application rejected could be to my detriment in any way.

Just to restate my background:

• I have been resident in Hong Kong under a working visa since September 2008.

• I resigned from my previous role in October 2014; my employment visa was valid until September 2015.

• I served a 2 months custodial sentence between November & December 2014.

• Since then I have been granted a 3 year working visa as of Q1 2015 for my current role.

I believe my 7 year anniversary has already accrued as of September 2015.

What do you think are my chances of successfully applying for right of abode are at this time, especially given that I was in prison for 2 months in the last 7 years.

ANSWER

Your time of imprisonment amounted to a complete break in your ordinary residence I’m afraid.

Please see the enclosed reply to LEGCO by the Security of Security in May 2005 speaking to this very question.

To this end, I’m afraid your 7 year continuity of ordinary residence only re-commenced when you secured your employment visa subsequent to the completion of your period of incarceration.

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Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Family Visas, Your Question Answered / 6 responses

Can a Chinese spouse resident on the Mainland secure a dependant visa for Hong Kong?

QUESTION

My brother is married to a Chinese girl. He is Singaporean and coming to Hong Kong on a working visa.

Can he get his wife a dependant visa for Hong Kong?

They have proper legal marriage certificate from Singapore.

His wife is Chinese and staying in Shenzhen now, but she is from Shanghai originally.

ANSWER

The very short answer to this question is that, yes, your brother who is married to a Chinese girl will be able to secure a dependent visa for  his wife now that he’s moving to Hong Kong to work. And naturally enough he wants to have his partner resident with him in Hong Kong during all of that time.

The thing about Chinese spouses is that if you are a permanent resident of Hong Kong, it is impossible to sponsor your spouse into Hong Kong for dependent visa; on the other hand, if you are a temporary resident such as your brother will be, he will be in a position to sponsor his Chinese spouse into Hong Kong on dependent visa, and the application process is just the same as it always is – he is going to have to be able to show that he can conceptually put food on the table and a roof over her head and that there’s going to be a need for the Immigration Department to be satisfied that the relationship is a genuine relationship.

Therefore there will be questions and calls for the kind of information that I speak to the reality that this is not a marriage of convenience, this is in fact a bona fide, genuine marriage. The only other wrinkle to an application for a Chinese spouse resident on the mainland is the process that is followed to secure the dependent visa.

On the one hand it normally is just a typical normal type of employment dependent vis application. But on the other she is going to as a Chinese national have to secure an exit entry permit from the Public Security Bureau with endorsement for Hong Kong. Once the dependenties was issued in Hong Kong, then the production of the dependent visa along with the entry-exit permit to the Public Security Bureau in the place where she keeps her family registration will lead to the requisite to exit endorsement for Hong Kong. And whilst that is a process that is handled on the Chinese side, the Immigration Department in Hong Kong expect that the dependent visa holder who is a Mainland resident entering Hong Kong on that basis.

So there’some work to be done in Hong Kong side and there some work to be done in China side, but all things considered, it would seem reasonable to assume that your brother will be able to sponsor his wife forendent to come to Hong Kong.

Ok, I hope this helps.

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Why Don’t Immigration Consultants Typically Help Aspiring Employees Find Jobs In Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says… / 4 responses

Given that some countries, like Australia, organise their immigration policy to address skills gaps in their economies with specific temporary visa types, you might expect that Hong Kong would have a thriving job finding + visa service industry.

We do, after all, issue more than 17,000 new employment visa approvals each year under the General Employment Policy and genuinely talented professional workers are warmly welcomed – on the basis they have a job offer from a credible employer here.

But in Hong Kong, most employers do not recruit foreign workers ‘sight unseen’, on the strength of a CV or even after an extensive series of video Skype interviews.

No, the typical scenario is that foreign national professionals visit Hong Kong ‘on spec’, make themselves  available for interview locally and, at the end of a traditional style recruitment process, an offer of employment will materialize and then the process of securing the employment visa is embarked upon.

This is, in many respects, a risky process for the intending foreign national worker as he will usually have to give up a job in one country just to pursue the chance of employment in Hong Kong.

And, until both an offer of employment has been secured and an employment visa issued by the Immigration Department, the pursuit of a new life in Hong Kong could go terribly wrong.

So, whilst it is natural to wish to pursue a ‘risk-free’ transfer to Hong Kong, unless you are an inter company transferee,  a ‘top notch talent’ and have won the prize of a Quality Migrant Admission Scheme approval or are a person of means to quality for a Capital Investment Visa Entrant Scheme visa you’re going to have to take some risks to get a new life started here.

Remember, it is not unlawful to look and interview for jobs as a visitor in Hong Kong.

And when (or if) you do finally get yourself established in the HKSAR, you’ll discover most every foreigner here took a certain amount of risk to get their start in Hong Kong.

Risk taking is, after all, what Hong Kong is made of!

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What Are The Chances Of Being Allowed Back If You Overstay Your Hong Kong Visa And Are Then Convicted Of That Crime?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing, Refusals & Appeals, Uncategorized, Visitor Visas / 6 responses

It is NEVER a good idea to overstay your Hong Kong visa for the reasons set out below…

QUESTION

I previously overstayed my Visitor visa for a period of 13 months;  I reported to the Immigration Department, was charged and at Sha Tin court I was convicted and given a suspended sentence of 6 months. I bought my air ticket and I was allowed to leave Hong Kong on my own without being formally deported.

This was in June 2008.

Later I tried to return to Hong Kong in 2009 but at the airport I was refused entry and I was told by an Immigration Officer that I can apply for a visa before coming to Hong Kong, as a visa on arrival is not available in my case.

I submitted my Visitor visa application through a friend of mine (who is a permanent resident of Hong Kong) but my application was refused.

2 years later (that is in 2011) I applied again for a Visitor visa via the same sponsor and once again my application was refused.

I wrote an email to the Immigration Department asking if I was blacklisted from entering Hong Kong.

I was told I am not blacklisted, yet my applications keep being rejected.

Can you kindly suggest any measures that I can take to apply successfully for a Visitor visa? I have a local sponsor in Hong Kong and any information/suggestion from you will be of immense help.

ANSWER

Yes, your situation is rather unfortunate as you are appreciating because it’s seven or eight years now since you overstayed your visa in Hong Kong and faced justice for doing that. And as you’ve clearly appreciated, there are costs and penalties to pay for not complying with Hong Kong immigration law, which I think all too many people, frankly, don’t take seriously.

Hong Kong is a great place and you may indeed wish to come back in the future. And as you’re discovering, oversaying whilst gets your time on the ground, in the immediate sense, it is in a sense kind of like, you know, mortgaging your future and your ability to be able to come back to Hong Kong. So it is very unfortunate.

Getting really down to the heart of it, if the Immigration Department have told you there is no blacklist, then that probably is technically accurate. However, each time that you make an application for a visa, the examining officer is going to take into account all the circumstances of your application and if they can see that you did have history of overstaying and indeed were convicted for that and then you departed, normally there isn’t any hurry on the part of the Immigration Department to let you back in because they can’t see any upside. So I’m afraid there’s not much you can do about it; you’re just bearing the cost and consequence of something that you have in your past. And, as these things can very often do, they can come back to haunt you.

I’m afraid that’s what’s happening to you now. So you never know. Just keep on making your applications. One day you might get lucky; but for the moment, I would imagine that the Immigration Department are not particularly interested in having you back.

Okay, I realise that’s not what you hoped to hear, but essentially,that’s the position that you’re in.

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Employment In Hong Kong As A Professional Or An Imported Worker – Which Are You?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Special Programmes, Your Question Answered / No responses

There is often confusion between employment in Hong Kong as a Professional or an Imported Worker – this post seeks to clear this up…

QUESTION

First of all I want to say that your website is amazing, easy to understand with relevant information.

My question might be very simple but I cannot find the answer myself.

I need to apply for a working visa, I found that there’s two forms one is ‘Employment as Imported Workers’ and the other is ‘ID990A as professional’.

I only have a Diploma or certificate from my country which may not be a tertiary education and is not a degree in other area which is technical, I have experience in customer service, customer care, reception, and hostels back home and in Australia and now I have the opportunity to unfold myself and work in a hostel in Hong Kong.

In which category am I, what is the best I can do.

ANSWER

So the difference between the two particular application types that you’re looking at really gets down to the difference between being a professional with a visa issued for employment under the General Employment Policy, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the application to the Immigration Department under the Supplementary Labour Scheme as an imported worker which is administered by the Labour Department. And then when that process has played its way through, then the Immigration Department will clearly be responsible for issuing the visa.

So, the importation of labour route is really the supplementary labor scheme. And this is not applicable to you. This is, a program which sophisticated employers take advantage of through a long process of proving to the Labour department satisfaction that the particular types of skills that they are seeking to import into Hong Kong for projects cannot be found locally.

And, on the basis that that project is successfully completed with the Labour department, then the Immigration Department will grant visas for up to two years as a maximum to certain imported workers who fit the particular skills profile that has been pre cleared by the Labour Department as part of the early stage of that importation of labour initiative. So for you this is not relevant.

The question therefore is well, are you a professional for the purposes of the General Employment Policy? And can you expect, given the type of work that you’ve articulated in your question, to get approved to do that type of work?

Well, firstly, to be deemed a professional for the purpose of the General Employment Policy, you’re expected to be either a university graduate with two years post graduation working experience in a managerial or supervisory capacity or you have technical or vocational qualifications which you appear to have being a diploma holder plus five years post qualification working experience in the managerial or supervisory capacity, or if you’re merely a secondary or high school graduate, then you’re expected to have at least ten years post secondary working experience in the managerial or supervisory capacity.

In order to get over the first hurdle of being deemed a professional then, as a second part of the approvability test which the Immigration Department applies to any particular application for an employment visa under the General Employment Policy, you would need to show that you possess special skills, knowledge and experience of value to and not readily available in Hong Kong.

So I think this is where your problem lies because you might very well be able to squeeze yourself into the bracket of being a professional. But then when you turn your attention to the nature of the work that’s proposed for you, which is to manage a hostel, I think you’re going to struggle to convince the Immigration Department that the special skills, knowledge and experience are entailed in that particular activity.

Moreover, I suspect that the Immigration Department are not going to buy into the story that the skills required to run a hostel are not readily available locally. I appreciate that the hostel might be for foreign nationals, I appreciate that there’s a certain camaraderie and a certain sort of culture that prevails among hosteling arrangements globally and the types of people that use them, but for the Immigration Department, their mandate is to protect local jobs wherever possible. And in my experience, given the type of work that’s involved and your profile particularly, I would suggest that you don’t get your hopes up that you’ll get an employment visa in order to do that work.

One other option that might be available to you although it’s not clear from your question what nationality you are, but if you’re a qualifying national for a Working Holiday Visa, then you might be able to get temporary employment permissions to engage in work in a hostel, but that’s not really the question.

Okay, sorry the news is not great, but I hope you found it useful nonetheless.

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