Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

Can A Non-Graduate Get A Hong Kong Work Visa To Work As A Language Teacher?

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

Hong Kong  work visa to work as a language teacher but no degree?

The challenge of securing a Hong Kong work visa for language teachers is rife with contradictions. This question speak to what might work in the very unusual set of circumstances posed.

QUESTION

“Hi, one of my friends has just recommended you guys to me so I decided to write about my case to see if there is something I can do. First of all, here’s a bit of information on my current situation.

I came to HK approx. 2 years ago to continue my studies. I got into university and studied for 18 months (the student visa was not a problem at all), then for some strong reasons I had to withdraw from university. That was almost six months ago. Then, I went back to my home country and came back. Since then I have been living with my boyfriend in HK and I’ve been trying to get a job. but even that I have got some offers none of the companies have been able to get me a working permit. I’d like to point out that I had to travel outside HK a couple times to renew my tourist visa.

I recently had an offer to teach French at a small learning centre which just opened around 7 months ago. I got plenty of experience teaching but I don’t have a certificate or relevant studies on this matter. Although, I studied a higher diploma and I got a couple of university certificates, one in Computer Studies (2nd year – Hong kong) and also I studied Business management (3rd year – Montreal).

Long story short, I would like to work in HK for some time and then get back to school. What could you recommend me in this case? Do you think there is a chance for me to get the visa permit for this job? The centre does not know the procedures to follow in a case like this. I hope you can help me to get this through.

Thanks!”

ANSWER

This is quite a complex question and it’s not clear on the face of it if you’ve actually graduated from university or not.

Having had a student visa in Hong Kong previously neither helps nor hinders you in your subsequent visa applications. Although if you had graduated from a Hong Kong university, you could have secured easy working permissions under the Immigration Arrangements for Non-Local Graduates (IANG).

And of course, on the basis that you do eventually go back to university in Hong Kong and graduate in the future, securing employment visa permissions for any kind of work that you want to engage in will be really very straightforward. But anyway, back to the challenge at hand, it’s not clear from your question also, if the companies who previously extended job offers to you had tried to secure an employment visa for you, and in actual fact, you were rejected in those applications, which can also have an implication, or whether or not they were actually interested in helping you go through the immigration process.

If you have had previous employment visa applications rejected, then to the extent that the Immigration Department have a record of the things that you have submitted to them previously (on file) the representations and the information that are presently sitting on your file will serve as a backdrop to any future applications that you make, so that’s kind of an important element of where we sit at the moment. If you have submitted applications previously in respect of those job opportunities that came your way. Now, as for the current French language school, if you don’t try, you’ll never know.

I’ve recently come across a case where a non-graduate police officer from the UK, in actual fact, was able to secure an employment visa for her to teach English in a non-governmental organisation in Hong Kong, which came as quite a surprise. But there is some experience in my hands that show that the mere fact that you don’t have a university degree doesn’t automatically preclude you from qualifying as a language teacher in Hong Kong. Although, in fairness, in this particular instance, we were talking about an NGO employer rather than a commercial employer.

So if we piece together your sort of chequered educational background the fact that French is your mother tongue, and the fact that you’ve stated that you’ve got lots of experience teaching, it’s worthwhile giving an application for an employment visa sponsored by this new French school, a try.

You’ll have to make a good argument, possibly tying your prior education in Hong Kong university as some kind of benefit to your Chinese students of French in this instance. And it may also be worthwhile stating to the Immigration Department that this is just a temporary measure, this employment that you going to be taking up as it’s your intention to return to full time education in Hong Kong in due course, and show them proof of this.

And it may be that the Immigration Department will see that this is just an opportunity to tide you over to the time that you can get back into school and on the basis that you can properly document the fact that you have taught French extensively in the past, as you stated in your question, that together with your elements of a tertiary education until now, could see you getting the visa application approved; but as I say, if you don’t try, you’ll never know. And then finally, it’s important to remember that the school itself plays a role in your application. And if they’ve got no experience in the process, they’ll need to work with you really closely during the visa application. And to that end, please show them the video that I’ve linked to. This answer deals specifically with those challenges faced in the hands of your employer.

Okay, I hope this helps. Good luck.

Check Out VisaGeeza.Ai

All Our Know-How : All Our Experience : Fully Interactive

100% FREE!

Related Post Referenced In The Podcast 

The Seven Things An Employer Needs To Know About Getting A Hong Kong Employment Visa For Foreign National Staff

More Stuff To Help You Along

What Happens If You Inadvertently Breach Your Conditions Of Stay By Taking Up An Unauthorized Employment In Hong Kong Without First Applying For A Change Of Sponsorship?

The Perils Of Contriving A Job Offer Just For The Purposes Of A Hong Kong Employment Visa Application

100% Visa Application Success Rate? Take It All With A Pinch Of Salt

Is It Better To Apply For Your Visa Before Or After You Relocate To Hong Kong?

PODCAST ANSWER

Podcast: Play in new window

Can I Still Get Permanent Residency In Hong Kong If I Lose My Job And My Visa Work Expires On Exactly The Same Day As My 7 Year Anniversary In Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / 9 responses

Tough question this – so what’s the answer…?

QUESTION

Hello Hong Kong Visa Geeza,

This website is simply wonderful and resourceful!! Thanks.

I had a question and was wondering if you can please help.

I finish 7 years in Hong Kong in November and my current employment visa expires on the same day

I would like to continue my life here as a Hong Kong Permanent Resident.

However, my employing company is not doing that well and it may shut down or a few of us might be fired this summer.

Unfortunately, if it happens in September or October, it will leave me very little time to find a new job/apply for any academic course to be able to remain resident here under a new employment or student visa.

I am already looking for jobs but it’s not easy to get one currently.

Please let me know your opinion about the best course of action I can take now or in the coming days and what is the usual course of action if someone is fired 15/20 days before end of 7 years, for example.

Thanks again 

ANSWER

If you find yourself having been continuously and ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for the requisite seven years to go on to qualify for permanent residency, when you make your application, you need to have a valid residence visa endorsed in your passport on the day that you apply and you need to have a valid residence visa endorsed in your passport on the day that the Immigration Department finalise your application.

So in your circumstances, if you find that you lose your job for whatever reason in the weeks running up to your seven-year anniversary and your present residence visa expires on exactly the seven-year anniversary, you’ve got a couple of options available to you: the first option is that you earnestly try to arrange another residence visa, possibly through an extension to your employment visa because you have secured an alternate job offer and you’re suitably qualified, both professionally and immigration wise to take up that employment and the Immigration Department approve it and that will then carry you over the seven year line with the one year visa you get at that point which will then make you eligible, all things considered to promote an efficient right of abode application.

Alternatively, you could do it via a student visa as well, that’s also an option to you; but as you’ve pointed out, you don’t have a high level of confidence that you’ll be able to create those circumstances, and therefore what’s going to happen if you get to the seven-year anniversary and you’re not in a position to have a new residence visa available to you?

Well, effectively what you do is you make an application 30 days before your seven-year anniversary and ensure that every single piece of paper that the Immigration Department will need to look at your case positively and be ready to approve you so that there’s no need for them to engage in any ongoing correspondence with you to get other documents such that when you make your application and your supporting letter you indicate that you’re no longer employed, that you won’t be in a position to have a residence visa the day after your seven-year anniversary and therefore could the examining officer kindly see fit to finalise and approve your right of abode application on the seven-year anniversary when your current limit of stay expires; that’s one technical way to address the challenge that you’ve got. However, in the final analysis it boils down to the workload of the immigration officer and the disposition of the immigration officer to entering into that kind of arrangement; it’s certainly not guaranteed and effectively means that the immigration officer who is tasked with your application is prepared to organise his or her workload to accommodate you, all things considered.

So that’s, effectively one way that you can go about doing it; and we’ve seen instances on two or three occasions in the past where the right of abode officer has been able to come to the party, as it were. But if you do find yourself not able to finalise your right of abode application on the exact seven-year anniversary, then no matter, as long as you continue to earnestly look to create the circumstances so that you can get a new residence visa in due course during the currency of the transition from your old situation to the new situation that is going on to get a student visa, or continuing to interview for new jobs, and thereby going on to get an employment visa subsequently, any time that you spend in Hong Kong as a visitor, during that process, because that’s the only immigration status that you’ll have available to you, will not, in normal circumstances, break your continuity because the act of trying to create the circumstances for a student visa or new employment visa show your continuing intent to remain settled in Hong Kong. And therefore the Immigration department won’t allow any time as a visitor as long as it’s a reasonably short period of time to break your continuity of your residence. And therefore, subsequently when you do get your new residence visa, you can then make your application for the right of abode and I think your family goes through without too much of an ado.

I hope you found that useful.

Check Out VisaGeeza.Ai

All Our Know-How : All Our Experience : Fully Interactive

100% FREE!

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

Will The 2 Years I Spent Studying In China Break My Continuity Of Residence For My Hong Kong Permanent Residency Application?

I Have Lived In Hong Kong For 5 Years – Can I Extend My Work Visa For 2 Years, Quit My Job, Study Full-Time Then Apply For The Right Of Abode?

Strategy On How To Craft An Argument To Appeal A Refused Hong Kong Right Of Abode Application

Hong Kong Permanent Residency Approval With A 2 Year Absence From Hong Kong

10 Must Have Resources For A Successful Hong Kong Permanent Residency Application

PODCAST ANSWER

Podcast: Play in new window

Hong Kong Investment Visa Extension – I Have Only Been Granted An Initial Six Months Limit Of Stay – Help!

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

Hong Kong investment visa extension after being granted only an initial 6 month limit of stay?

QUESTION

Dear Visa Geeza,

I’d like to thank you for building such useful resources online.

I followed your advice when preparing my business investment visa.

My visa got approved and with a six month review condition.

I have already rented a part time office. I’m not sure about the hiring employee part.

In my business plan, I said I would hire one employee in the first year. 

I feel it’s a rush to hire someone within six months.

However, you warned that immigration is more strict now at Hong Kong investment visa extension review.

Could you please give me some advice regarding hiring employees?

 1. Do I have to hire an employee within the six months of business visa approval?

2. Does it have to be a full-time job? Will part-time job be ok?

3. Do I have to hire a Hong Kong permanent resident? Can I hire someone on dependent visa?

4. What if I could not find a person qualified for the job within six months? Can I explain to immigration that I’m trying and hope for a pass?

Thank you again for helping me. 

ANSWER

I am very pleased to hear that you did manage to get your investment visa having used the resources of our website. That’s very good news indeed.

Turning to the fact that you only got a six-month limit of stay, effectively what the Immigration Department is saying to you when you get a six-month limit of stay on first approval is that they believe that you were marginal for your approval that prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt. So in this respect, you’ve got a green light to now to implement your business plan and appreciate that your business plan has anticipated that you’re going to achieve certain things in the first twelve months rather than the first six months. However, the fact that you’ve had this six-month limit of stay, is kind of a clear sort of signal to you that the Immigration Department have got expectations of certain kind of commercial activities on your part. Now I appreciate that commercially at the present it may not make much sense for you to be going after full time or part time or dedicated office premises and all the rest of it, but the best way to approach this would be to view the six months that you’ve got as your testing time where you can clearly move the business forward in those six months and you can take the steps that you need to take in implementing your business plan that are defensible at the time of your six month extension renewal exercise. So do bear in mind that the six months that you received is a kind of message to you, that there’s a certain expectation that you will crack on with your business and not seek to be reticent in implementing your plans and that the Immigration Department won’t have an expectation that you can show to them in those six months that you’ll create the new facts on the ground so that they can be persuaded that you are in fact making a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong, which is the aprovability test for investment visa in the first place.

So understanding that’s the kind of the backdrop to this, let me turn my attention now to your specifically questions. Firstly, do you have to hire an employee within six months of business visa approval? Again, my answer to that is no, but you need to be explaining to the Immigration Department why you haven’t recruited in the context of the overall performance of your plan heretofore.

Secondly, does it have to be a full time job or will a part time job be? Again, the Immigration Department are not prescriptive as such. They will look to see how you are moving your business forward. And if it just so happens that for the moment a part time staff is sufficient for your needs to allow you to achieve the early objectives in the first six months, then that is what that is, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.

Number three, do you have to hire a Hong Kong permanent resident or can you hire someone independent visa? Well, the definition of local recruitment for the purposes of immigration in Hong Kong is really being able to create a job for somebody who doesn’t need the permission of the Immigration Department to uptake that employment. So, in this respect, if you’ve got a dependent visa holder who is in a position to do work for you, then that’s fine.

And then finally, what if you can’t find a qualified person for the job within six months? Can you explain to immigration that you’re trying and hope for a pass? Well, again it’s a question of showing to the Immigration Department that you’re earnestly recruiting – submit copies of the advertisements that you’ve put out on social media, jobsDB and the like, and, if you have received CVs, make sure you create a compilation of all of those CVs and explain to the Immigration Department during your extension exercise that you are committed to recruiting such people; and, given the efforts that you’ve made thus far reflected in the CVs that you’ve received, that you will be submitting copies of as part of your extension exercise, you haven’t been able to find the talent that you’re looking for at this point in time so you continue your search. So effectively what you’ve got to do now is persuade the Immigration Department that you’re not sitting on your hands, you’re getting on with your business, you’re implementing your plan as best you possibly can. Show to the Immigration Department at the time that you come up for renewal all of these things and you may very well find yourself with a twelve-month limit of stay; at the end of that exercise if they feel that there’s still work to be done in that respect, they may just extend you for a further six months. But I wouldn’t be concerned that they’re not going to extend you and just anticipate that you’re going to have a job of work ahead of you dealing with the paperwork persuading the Immigration Department that you’re worthy of that approval in the first place.

I hope you found this useful.

Check Out VisaGeeza.Ai

All Our Know-How : All Our Experience : Fully Interactive

100% FREE!

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

What Visa Category Should I Use To Expand My SME Business Operations From Gibraltar To Hong Kong?

How A Hong Kong Employment Visa Application Can Go Completely Wrong If You Don’t Know What You’re Doing!

The Anatomy Of A Hong Kong Investment Visa Application Taking Just 7 Weeks To Approval

Is There Any Advantage In Being An Existing Resident Of Hong Kong When You Make An Application For A Hong Kong Investment Visa?

Hong Kong Investment Visa Wrongly Applied For – Clearing Up The Confusion And Getting The Correct Employment Visa Instead

PODCAST ANSWER

Podcast: Play in new window

Can I Go From A Hong Kong Investment Visa To An Employment Visa And Back To An Investment Visa Again?

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

Entrepreneurship is a fluid beast! This post deals with special situations around the Hong Kong Investment Visa.

QUESTION

Hello,

I was on an investment visa for a year when I started my own business and then took on a full time role with another company. 

I was transferred to an employment visa. 

I am now considering leaving this role and going back to actively work in my business. 

Can I apply for an investment visa for a second time or does it simply get transferred to my own company as an employment visa?

ANSWER

Great question and I’m so grateful to you for asking it.  I have seen this situation probably a dozen times in the last 20 years, and in every single instance the Immigration Department have come to the party and have indeed allowed a previous investment visa holder who has then changed status to an employment visa, and who then has a change of heart and decides that paid employment is not really for them and they wish to go back to their own business pursuits once more; and the Immigration Department have approved these applications, as I say. So there’s no reason to suggest that you won’t be successful in your application too.

The way that you go about it is to effectively treat the application as a change of category application going back from employment visa sponsored by a third party through to business investment on the strength of your own enterprise in Hong Kong.

The approvability test is just the same as it always is for an investment visa. That is, in light of your present circumstances, given that you once in a sense, put your business on the shelf while you went off to work for another employer. Your business now moving forward, if the Immigration Department allow you to do so, will uh, mean that you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong. And I’ve dealt with the investment leisure aprovability test elsewhere on the blog, so I’ll let you go and research that and understand effectively what’s required for you to be successful. However, as the essential premise of your investment visa activities were originally approved, it’s certainly feasible to expect that you’ll get approved this time around.

Generally speaking, you’ll certainly need to have at the requisite level of resources, you’re going to have to have a pathway to the creation of local employment opportunities once again, and you’re going to have to have business premises that are suitable for you and your proposed activities; the Immigration Department will effectively put you to that test. And I think, as I say, it’s fair for you to be able to pass it, but you’re also going to have to sort of plug the gap as to kind of what happened whilst you’re an employee in the business. I assume, as I mentioned, it was probably on the shelf in the meantime.

My advice therefore is for you to talk to the Immigration Department about how you sort of put the business into a deep freeze and that you are now ready to sort of bring it out into the open and go for it one more time. So, just as I say, the key thing is to pass the approvability test all over again.

The fact that you had an investment visa once previously, all goes well, on the basis that you can explain the gap as to what happened to the business during the time that you were an employee and that on the basis the Immigration Department approved you to join in this business one more time, you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong.

Do it on the fifth floor of Immigration Tower, via a change of category application, and you should take between, I’d say, four and six weeks to finalise.

Additionally, if your current limit of stay has got less than six months on it, use not only the ID999A application form, use also the ID91, which will allow the Immigration Department, once they approve you, to grant you an extension to your current limit of stay by a further year. As I say, assuming that you’ve got less than six months remaining on your current limit of stay, then include the ID91.

I hope you find this useful.

Check Out VisaGeeza.Ai

All Our Know-How : All Our Experience : Fully Interactive

100% FREE!

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

10 Must Have Resources For Any Hong Kong Business Investment Visa Application

Business Review – The Sword Of Damocles For Successful Hong Kong Investment Visa Applicants

The Anatomy Of A ‘Slam Dunk’ Hong Kong Investment Visa Approval Taking Just 7 Weeks To Approval

Do You Have A Business Plan Template I Can Use In My Hong Kong Investment Visa Application?

How To Ensure You’re Not Breaking The Law By Operating A Business In Hong Kong As A Visitor

Are There Any Advantages To Being An Existing Hong  Kong Resident When You Make An Application For An Investment Visa?

PODCAST ANSWER

Podcast: Play in new window

Can I Interview For New Job Opportunities In Hong Kong If I Hold A Temporary Training Visa Here?

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

The Hong Kong training visa is designed to allow foreign nationals to come to Hong Kong for a limited time to undergo or deliver training. Will ImmD entertain an application from a training visa holder to take up employment with another business while that training is ongoing?

QUESTION

Dear Visa Geeza,

Thanks in advance for your help.

I’m currently on a training visa, but interviewing with potential employers for a full-time position.

In case I decided to cut my training period short, would I be able to apply for a work visa within the validity of my trainee visa?

In that case – upon approval of the work visa – would the ID automatically “cancel” my trainee visa and issue me with a work visa sticker?

Thanks

ANSWER

Training visas are granted to foreign nationals who wish to come to Hong Kong to either deliver or undergo training, usually for no longer than six months. Occasionally you can make it stretch to twelve months if you’ve got an exceptionally good training plan and a good reason for needing twelve months rather than the more typical six months. Interns themselves typically get about a three-month training visa. So, training visas are relatively easy to secure from the Immigration Department, all things considered. But then the wider question is begged as to if you can then adjust your immigration status whilst holding the training visa into a full employment visa.

Certainly if you want to try and achieve that outcome with the same sponsor of your training visa, then no, that’s not going to work. There is an expectation that at the end of the training period, the training visa holder will return back to the place where they came from in order to either use the skills that were imparted to them while they were in Hong Kong holding their training visa, or they’re going back to their home country to carry on what they were doing before they came to deliver training here; so when you make an application to adjust your status from training visa through to an employment visa sponsored by a new third party, the Immigration Department are open to the receipt of those applications. So there’s nothing that precludes you from filing the application. But you will still need to pass the approvability test for the employment visa as prescribed under the General Employment Policy; and you’ll need to satisfy the Immigration Department that you are a professional and in the context of the job offer extended to you, that you are the person to do that job and they can’t reasonably expect it to be up taken by a local candidate. So, there’s no advantage afforded to a training visa holder who’s going to make an application for full employment visa subsequently. So the real focus is going to be on passing the approvability test in of itself and in the context of the eventual full job offer that you receive. That’s the way the situation plays out.

I hope you find this useful.

Check Out VisaGeeza.Ai

All Our Know-How : All Our Experience : Fully Interactive

100% FREE!

PODCAST ANSWER

Podcast: Play in new window

Does Choosing Not To Pay Yourself A Salary Mean It’s OK To Run A Business In Hong Kong Without Getting An Investment Visa First?

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

There appears to be a misconception among foreign nationals that you can be living here and it be OK to run a business in Hong Kong without getting an investment visa just so long as you don’t pay yourself a salary…

QUESTION

I currently hold a working visa which is still valid for almost 2 more years.

My contract has now been terminated and I would like to set up a limited liability company in order to do some freelance work.

Can I set up the company and send invoices to my customer even if I am on the old visa?

I do not need to pay myself salary at the moment, so can I wait to apply for a new visa until then?

So I would not be working for my company but my company would already get money without having an employee.

Thanks for your feedback

ANSWER

When you receive an employment visa, you receive two privileges: you get the privilege to work for the sponsoring employer and that employer only, and you get the privilege to reside. When you stop working for your existing sponsoring employer, your privileges to work cease, but your privilege to reside continues until your current limited stay expires, which in.

Your case is another two years from now. So the fact that you’ve got your privilege to work having ceased effectively means that you can’t take up employment for any other party, including yourself, paid or unpaid, without the permission of the director of immigration. So it really doesn’t matter that you are planning to go into business for yourself on the strength of your existing employment visa, and that you’ve decided that you don’t need to pay yourself until such a time as you think that you’ll be ready to make an application for your investment visa; as I’ve stated, the law is clear: you’re in Hong Kong today in order to do the work for your current sponsoring employer, and you’re not permitted to do anything else for anybody else, including yourself, without first getting the director’s permission.

My advice to you is to make an application for an investment visa seeking to change your category from sponsored employment through to business investment. And don’t be, in a sense, persuaded by a logic that says – well, if I’m not paying myself, then I’m not working from anybody; the truth is, it’s the action that the Immigration Department are interested in, not so much the means of compensation. As I say, the law is clear: you can’t take up any employment in Hong Kong, paid or unpaid, without the consent of the director of immigration. And that clearly includes a circumstance where you’re going to be working for yourself, given that you’ve incorporated the company, but you stopped working for your official sponsor of record.

I hope you found that useful.

Check Out VisaGeeza.Ai

All Our Know-How : All Our Experience : Fully Interactive

100% FREE!

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

Are There Any Advantages To Being An Existing Resident Of Hong Kong When You Make An Application For An Investment Visa?

Hong Kong Investment Visa – Cases Which Would Not Get Approved Today But Will Be Approved 9-12 Months From Now

Hong Kong Investment Visa Approved Where The Funding Was Running Out

The Industry Secret Most Hong Kong Immigration Consultants Don’t Want You To Discover

100% Hong Kong Visa Application Success Rate? Take It All With A Pinch Of Salt!

PODCAST ANSWER

Podcast: Play in new window

What Compliance Obligations Do I Have If I Hold A Hong Kong Employment Visa And Want To Start Freelancing After I Stop Working For My Employer-Sponsor?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Investment Visas, Your Question Answered / 1 response

I hold a Hong Kong employment visa and want to start freelancing…

 

As a foreign national temporarily resident in Hong Kong on a sponsored employment visa, there are a number of different compliance issues that need to be addressed if you lose your job and you fancy embarking down the path of freelancing on your own behalf.

QUESTION

I have work permit granted to me (I was hired as a professional here in Hong Kong in my last employment).

Now, I am in job transition and I would like to do some freelance. 

Must I form a company here in order for me to do business with clients?

Can I issue invoice under my personal name, without a registered company here in Hong Kong?

ANSWER

There are two critical elements to this question that I propose that I deal with in order of priority, in terms of the difficulty associated with achieving the compliance outcome, but in the grand scheme of things they’re equally as important as the other because if you don’t take care of either of these components, you’ll be out of compliance and you may find yourself at odds with the authorities.

Firstly, just to deal with the question about the issuing of invoices – in Hong Kong, if you wish to carry on a business, irrespective of your immigration status, you need to be registered with the Inland Revenue Department, which means that you have to make a decision as to the kind of business vehicle that you want to use, either a sole proprietorship, incorporate a limited liability company locally, or enter into a partnership with another party, or indeed register a company that you may own indirect in another jurisdiction, that you report its presence to the registrar of companies here and go through a registration exercise to establish that entity in Hong Kong. But either way, you need to have a business vehicle and that business vehicle needs to be formally registered with the Inland Revenue Department through the issuance of a business registration certificate; and once you have a business registration certificate, you’re effectively then enabled to start carrying on a business.

So until you have that business registration certificate completed, then you are not allowed to carry on a business, therefore you can’t issue any invoices under your personal name. So, you just need to make a determination as to which business vehicle you prefer to use, and whilst I’m an immigration guy with a legal background, it’s kind of beyond the scope of the advice that we give as to the type of business vehicle that you might want to choose and the benefits, the advantages and the disadvantages accordingly. But certainly get your entity registered with the Inland Revenue Department and get yourself a business registration certificate so that will put that to bed.

The whole question of what is permitted activity whilst you’re here as a sponsored employee under the General Employment Policy as a professional, because your permissions to remain in Hong Kong are directly connected to you continuing to do the work for the employer sponsor, that underpinned your employment visa permissions.

So the moment that you stop working for that particular employer effectively in terms of ongoing employment and/or commercial activity in your own right, all bets are off until you approach the Immigration Department and make an application to the director of immigration to join in or establish a new business which takes the form of an investment visa application.

So in your situation, you’d have to make an application for an investment visa under the change of category manoeuvre, taking you from sponsored employment with a third party employer through to business investment in your own right. And the consents that you need under the business investment visa are in a sense quite challenging to get for one man businesses or freelancers because the approvability test for the investment visa is that you need to show that you’re in a position to make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong; and typically, by definition that means that one-man businesses are not going to by in of themselves represent the possibility of substantial contribution because typically there’s only one person benefiting; and I’ve written and posted quite a lot about the investment visa for freelancers and one-man businesses previously, so I’ll refer you to the various links appended to this post that will allow you to embark down that journey of discovery.

In a nutshell, the bottom line and the key message is that you’re not allowed to engage in any independent freelance activity until you’ve secured the permission of the Immigration Department irrespective of which business vehicle you choose to use. Um, but a necessary precondition to approval is that you do have a business vehicle that’s registered within the Inland Revenue Department.

Okay, I hope this helps.

Check Out VisaGeeza.Ai

All Our Know-How : All Our Experience : Fully Interactive

100% FREE!

More Stuff To Help You Along

10 Must Have Resources For Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application

Is There Any Special Visa Type For Foreign National Visa Professionals Seeking To Live And Freelance In Hong Kong?

The Challenge Of Visa Approvability For Freelance Writers And Reporters In Hong Kong

Freelance Consulting In Hong Kong – Can You Get A Visa?

What Are You Really Buying From A Hong Kong Immigration Consultant?

PODCAST ANSWER

Podcast: Play in new window