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.
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.
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?
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?
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
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).
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.
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.
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’?
