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PRACTICE UPDATE: How the content must now be read in light of current ImmD policy:

Historically, this visual installment delivered an accessible, quick-reference infographic mapping the end-to-end journey of securing an Investment as Entrepreneur visa under the General Employment Policy (GEP) without professional representation. The infographic distilled the application workflow into a clean, navigable sequence: entity formation, business plan drafting, lease signing, bank account opening, filing submission, and handling case-officer enquiries. In that era, the visual roadmap reflected a permissive, discretionary environment where self-direction was completely viable. An aspiring founder following the graphic’s milestones could cross the statutory finish line by deploying modest seed capital of a few hundred thousand dollars, taking a flexible hot desk or serviced office suite, and drafting a multi-year narrative roadmap committing to local job creation over a phased two- to three-year ramp-up period.

The game has changed from an intuitive visual workflow into an operational minefield. What the infographic framed as straightforward, sequential milestones—incorporation, securing a low-overhead workspace, and submitting a forward-looking plan—are now catastrophic failure points if attempted without enterprise-scale hardware. Under post-April 2026 administrative practice aligned with TTPS Category A operational substance (~HKD 2.5M enterprise scale), ImmD has dismantled the entire discretionary foundation underpinning the graphic. Independent, un-incubated applicants cannot navigate this flowchart with a standard, bootstrapped toolkit. The statutory “substantial contribution” milestone is now an unyielding, day-one compliance audit demanding non-negotiable corporate hardware: HKD 1.5M–2.0M in deployed corporate bank liquidity sitting in a local bank account, an executed commercial lease for exclusive physical premises (“four walls”) that strictly disqualifies serviced offices, virtual addresses, and co-working desks entirely, and active Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) payroll contributions for 2–3 local Hong Kong permanent residents.

Consequently, relying on the infographic’s linear DIY milestones today leads straight to swift and summary refusal. An applicant who charts their course using this visual guide will find that the steps to “open a flexible workspace” and “commit to future hiring” result in immediate statutory rejection, terminating lawful stay and permanently severing the seven-year continuous residence chain toward Right of Abode. The sole surviving framework where an early-stage founder can lawfully navigate an agile, low-overhead flowchart is through formal, documented admission into an officially accredited government incubator (such as Cyberport, HKSTP, or the Design Incubation Programme)—the exclusive statutory safe harbor waiving the upfront liquidity, dedicated commercial lease, and immediate MPF headcount thresholds. Outside this accredited institutional monopoly, the historical DIY infographic depicts an obsolete pathway that has ceased to exist in practice.

On January 17, 2013 I gave a talk at Centre O in Wanchai on how to go about applying for a Hong Kong business investment visa without the need to pay for any professional help.

The 30 minute talk was broken down into 24 very easy to digest segments and each of these segments is presented here.

The talk is designed to allow the D-I-Y visa applicant to use the 100% free resources of both the Hong Kong Visa Handbook as well as the Hong Kong Visa Geeza Blog.

Please see:

10 Must Have Resources for Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application

and

The Hong Kong Visa Handbook

The videos will be added incrementally over the course of the next 2-3 weeks until the entire talk has been presented.

In the meantime, why not sign up for our D-I-Y Visa Kit here?

The Complete Series

1 – Introduction

2 – Relax & Enjoy The Talk

3 – Order of Business

4 – 10 Must Have Resources

5 – The Policy of It All

6 – Who Doesn’t Have a Visa Problem?

7 – The Pathway for Mainlanders

8 – What Can You Do as a Visitor?

9 – Employee or Investor?

10 – Investment Visa Approvability Test

11 – Three Pillars of Approval

12 – How  Much Cash Investment?

13 – The Catch 22

14 – What About Your Family?

15 – Why Do Cases Get Denied?

16 – Trying Again?

17 – 10 Must Use Resources

18 – 10 Must  Use Resources (Infographic)

19 – 10 Must Use Resources (Visa Factsheet)

20 – 10 Must Use Resources (Application Plan)

21 – 10 Must Use Resources (Case Studies)

22 – 10 Must Use Resources (Templates)

23 – 10 Must Refer Resources (All Good Stuff!)

24 – Your Questions Answered