Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

18

Mar 2023

All About Hong Kong Employment Visa Sponsorship

Posted by / in Employment Visas, Musing, Sherpa / 4 responses

All About Hong Kong Employment Visa Sponsorship

There is a great deal of confusion about Hong Kong employment visa sponsorship and this short video cuts through all the noise and sets it out definitively.

It also speaks to changing your visa category to business investment as an entrepreneur in the event you wish to start a business of your own. In such a case here is the business investment visa test for approval.

More Stuff You Might Find Useful or Interesting

Your employer must help you get your Hong Kong employment visa

The 7 things to tell your employer about Hong Kong employment visa sponsorship

My employment visa expires before my change of sponsorship application will be finalized – help!

Hong Kong employment visa self-sponsorship – the reality for entrepreneurs masquerading as employees

The 5 key factors which impact on your eligibility for a Hong Kong employment visa

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13

Mar 2023

How to Apply For a Hong Kong Investment Visa Without Paying for Professional Help – 5 – Permitted Activity as a Visitor

Posted by / in Investment Visas, Musing, Visitor Visas / No responses

I am in the process of revisiting a lot of my older video content to ensure its continuing relevance and validity. I will also be conducting a whole new series of updated talks around town in the coming few weeks and the videos of those will, as always, be posted here.

Whilst this talk harks way back to 2015, it is still entirely relevant today …

Update 2023.

I have given this talk around town for the last couple of years now and so pleased to finally add it to our coverage of the Hong Kong investment visa, specifically discussing here what is and is not permitted activity in Hong Kong as a visitor visa holder.

The talk was graciously hosted at WYND Co-working Space, ran by a group of great people who I have a lot of time for.

The Complete Talk in Logical Segments

1 – Introduction

2 – Policy

3 – Visa Problem?

4 – Mainlanders

5 – Visitors

6 – Work Visa?

7 – Investment Visa?

8 – Approvability Test

9 – Cash Needed

10 – Catch 22

11 – Loved Ones

12 – Visa Refused?

13 – Trying Again

14 – D-I-Y

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10 Must Have Resources for a Hong Kong investment visa application

The economy at home is very bad – so what investment visa options exist for you in Hong Kong?

I have a socially advantageous yet modestly capitalized business plan for Hong Kong – will I get an investment visa?

What’s the situation about the need for business premises as part of your Hong Kong investment visa application?

What’s the minimum capital required for a Hong Kong investment visa?

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09

Mar 2023

You’ve Lost Your Job: Can You Get an Interim Hong Kong Employment Visa Extension While You Continue Looking for a New Employer?

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

First Published November 17, 2014 – Advice Still Valid Today

You’ve lost your job and your limit of stay is coming up for expiry. Any chance the Immigration Department will grant you an interim Hong Kong employment visa extension in these circumstances?

QUESTION

I am an Australian  national living in Hong Kong under an employment visa since December 2010, all sponsored by the same company.

This has been an Australian company with a representative office in Hong Kong.

I have over 20 years experience in hi-tech, with experience in mainland China manufacturing.

My current employment visa is due to expire on December 10, 2014.

My employer made a decision to close the Asia office in June 2014.  They did not inform Immigration of this and I was not sure if I should have to do so in their absence to act.

I wish to stay in Hong Kong longer and continue trying to find a job.

If my current visa lapses before a change of sponsorship application can be filed, will this cause problems for me with ImmD in the case of finding a new sponsor?

Is there a way to get an interim Hong Kong employment visa extension for an additional 3-6 months to allow me to stay longer while continuing to search for a job?

Thank you.

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

Are there any advantages to being an existing resident when you make an application for Hong Kong investment visa?

Novel solution to an unusual Hong Kong employment-investment visa situation

What to do if your employer is reluctant to help you secure your Hong Kong employment visa?

Can you continue to work if you find yourself in the Hong Kong visa extension twilight zone?

Can a Hong Kong training visa be used as a stepping stone to a full employment visa in due course?

PODCAST ANSWER
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07

Mar 2023

As a Visitor Living in Hong Kong Do You Need to Get An Investment Visa if You Freelance Here But All Your Income is Sourced Overseas?

Posted by / in Investment Visas, Visitor Visas, Your Question Answered / No responses

First Published October 2, 2019 – Advice Still Valid Today

What is the law about visitors working in Hong Kong as freelancers but not engaging in the local economy? Whilst this question was first asked 4 years ago, I have received three very similar quiestions in the last week so nows the time to republish it. So ..

Do you need an investment visa if all your income is sourced overseas?

QUESTION

Hi Stephen,

I’ve lived in Hong Kong for 2 years and now I’m freelancing and getting all of my income from overseas.

I wish to stay in HK, so am I required to get a work / investment visa even if I generate no income here?

Thank you so much for your help.

More Stuff You May Find Interesting or Useful

How to go about getting an investment visa if you are starting a business in Hong Kong

10 Must Have resources for a Hong Kong investment visa application

Can you undertake freelance work if you hold a Hong Kong Working Holiday visa?

Is there a special visa type for foreign national media professionals seeking to live and freelance in Hong Kong?

Freelance consulting in Hong Kong – can you get a visa?

PODCAST ANSWER
Play

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03

Mar 2023

Ai Is Coming To The Hong Kong Visa Geeza Website Very Soon

Posted by / in Ai, Feature Article, Musing, VG Front Page / No responses

It probably won’t come as a surprise to you but we’re actively and quickly moving ahead with the introduction of Ai to our immigration practice, the Hong Kong Visa Centre.

Ai Is Coming To The Hong Kong Visa Geeza Website Very Soon

Last year I established a group on LinkedIn called – Innovation In Immigration.

I posted this video along with a few others of the same ilk encouraging my colleagues globally to think on their feet with the coming onslaught of Ai in the professional practice of immigration.

It has never ceased to amaze me how, having applied and proven the Intelligent Content Marketing business model, in the immigration profession over a decade at least – and shared the knowledge and know-how 100% for free throughout all of this time – just how the overwhelming majority of colleagues have simply ignored it.

The business model I cut my teeth on 30 years ago is still used by 99.99% of all immigration practitioners globally today.

Namely, the Industrial Economy professional services business model with smart phones thrown in.

Unreal.

So, when you break down the psychographical elements of an immigration practitioner in respect of innovation in my profession, it’s a case of:

·       What do they believe?
·       What do they do?
·       What do they want?

Believe?

It’s hard to find new clients at scale. There has to be a better way to monetize their expertise. No?

Do?

They rely on word-of-mouth marketing and advertising in all its forms and flounder amongst all the technology noise going on around them (especially those with gray hair). They feel that tech is just running away with them.

Want?

A proven process that works and with it, scale and growth. A proven, risk-free, ideally very low-cost follow-the-arrows formula to adopt and apply.

But unless it comes in the form of a silver bullet, it’s just business as usual.

But now comes along Ai and the game has changed.

Immigration practitioners traditionally have 3 heads of value:

1 – Expert knowledge & know-how
2 – The ability to apply (1) in real life
3 – Accountability for (2)

The Ai machine will usurp (1) leaving only (2) and (3) for monetization. The Industrial Economy business model based on scarcity is dead. The modern immigration practice must focus on (2) and (3) and win the online battle to be found for (1).

Interesting times ahead – watch this space!

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On Content Marketing

The Last 30 Years

At Home

Lifting the Lid

What Does it Mean?

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01

Mar 2023

Will My Hong Kong Employment Visa be Compromised If I Leave My Job Due to Intolerable Working Conditions?

Posted by / in Employment Visas, Your Question Answered / 8 responses

Should you be worried that your employment visa status in Hong Kong might be undermined if you choose to leave the employ of an unsavoury employer?

QUESTION

Hello, my current employer and visa sponsor is a small business, and my working conditions are intolerable – twice the amount of hours than stated on the contract, poor pay, fines for sick days off and unexplained additional fines deducted from my salary without notice nor explanation, plus late payment of salary.

I have been with them for seven months and paid to get here myself.

They have also asked me to lie to the inland revenue to say my contract started two months after it did – because it took me two months to get a free day to go to Macau and activate my visa.

It’s all very shabby.

Three other similar staff have ‘left in the night’ because there is a HK$25,000 fee to leave the contract (plus work two months unpaid, and pay another undisclosed fee for leaving without serving two months notice).

I have another company who will sponsor me and I would like to know if I can release my sponsorship with my present employer myself, or do they have the power to refuse the release and transfer of my visa to another company?

Can they stop me working anywhere else if I walk?

I can not continue working in these conditions, but I do not want to leave Hong Kong and I have other employers waiting.

Am I trapped please?

Thank you very much in advance for any advice you can give. 

More Stuff You May Find Interesting or Useful

What’s the basic income of a typical Hong Kong employment visa holder?

I’ve lost my job – what about my employment visa – will I get kicked out of Hong Kong?

My employment visa expires before my change of employer application will be finalized – Help!

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?

What about your Hong Kong employment Visa if you’re thinking of changing jobs?

PODCAST ANSWER
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27

Feb 2023

Hong Kong Work Visas – Criminal Record Declaration Now Needed

Posted by / in Employment Visas, Feature Article, Investment Visas, Musing, Refusals & Appeals, Sherpa, Special Programmes, VG Front Page / No responses

Hong Kong Work Visas – Criminal Record Declaration Now Needed

On Sunday, the government declared that various immigration programmes in Hong Kong would be modified, requiring applicants to declare their criminal record before obtaining an entry visa.

The Immigration Department confirmed that changes would be made to talent admission schemes and under the General Employment Policy.

Specific programmes impacted are:

Starting February 27, 2023 all applicants for these programs will now have to disclose any criminal convictions during their application.

This change follows the controversy surrounding He Jiakui, a Chinese scientist who was granted a visa under the Top Talent Pass Scheme despite his previous criminal record.

Of course, the million dollar question right now is will the existence of a prior criminal conviction automatically disqualify an applicant? If not, what is the threshold? Will ‘spent’ convictions need to be disclosed? Will spent convictions ‘clear the decks’?

I’ll let you know what I know when I know it.

More Stuff You May Find Interesting or Useful

Hong Kong Visa Handbook – Refusals &  Appeals

Appeal options available

Preparing to appeal (flash presentation)

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

The 7 things your employer needs to know about the immigration process when applying for an employment visa for Hong Kong

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