Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

How Do You Prove To The Hong Kong Immigration Department That You Have Tried To Recruit Locally?

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

Excellent question earlier this week. Great opportunity to slay a few sacred cows.

QUESTION

Hi, one of the requirements for the work visa application is a proof of genuine vacancy. What if a sponsoring company doesn’t do job ads? What can he present? He does recruit locally via his network since he is just a small company. Appreciate your inputs.

ANSWER

It’s important to understand that not every job that has a foreign national candidate for it and consideration for an employment visa hanging off it. In other words, not every local job needs to have a local worker for it. It just depends on all the circumstances of the case. There will be circumstances where you can envisage the nature of the position and the circumstances that give rise to that foreign national needing to do that work.

It becomes very self-evident that no local recruitment exercise would need to be undertaken, but how it works is if you are asked by the Immigration Department for proof of a local recruitment exercise. Well, you have to show it if you’ve conducted it.

If you’ve conducted it unsuccessfully, you have an opportunity to explain why. Supplying proof however you’ve gone about the recruitment exercise and then just explaining how that process works; if you haven’t conducted it, then you have to justify your application from the perspective that you’re the right person for the job.

Either way, the sophistication of the consideration exercise relegates the question of the mechanics of the recruitment process to my way of thinking, to being merely a bit part. There are more important things going on here. So you have to be certain that no local can do a job before you make a claim that no one locally can reasonably be expected to do that job; that’s where all your focus should lie. I hope this helps.

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Can I Still Sponsor A Hong Kong Dependant Visa For My New Wife If I Hold An Employment Visa But Am Presently Between Jobs?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Your Question Answered / 2 responses

What will ImmD make of an application to sponsor a dependant visa by a Hong Kong employment visa holding foreign national who doesn’t presently have a job here?

QUESTION

I am in between jobs (currently on an employment visa in Hong Kong) and plan to get married soon (outside HK).

I would like to arrange for my wife to be in Hong Kong post marriage.

As I understand the broad guidelines are to be able to provide for food and shelter.

Can you tell me if being in between jobs is considered to be a negative point when i apply for my wife’s dependent visa here?

Have/can such cases be rejected by the Hong Kong Immigration Department on the basis of being in between employment?

Thank you!

ANSWER

Yes. Unfortunately, I think you’re going to find that this is going to be problematic for you because the essential premise of being able to sponsor a dependent visa, particularly if you are a temporary resident holding an employment visa, is that you have the necessary  income means to be able to support your family upon her relocation to Hong Kong in the wake of your marriage overseas.

So the principal problem is twofold in actual fact. Firstly, if you don’t have a means of income the Immigration Department are going to look askance at your ability to support her. Of course, the kind of funds that you have in your personal bank accounts will help to address that particular issue.

Secondly, and more importantly, is the essential premise behind having an employment visa in Hong Kong. You see, an employment visa is by definition, because it’s a visa, it’s a temporary arrangement. So you’re a temporary resident and the only reason that you have residency in Hong Kong today is because of  your previous ability to persuade the Immigration Department that you could pass the approvability test of having special skills, knowledge and experience of value to not readily available here and that your previous employer, that is your employer, your sponsoring employer of record, um, was able to show that they were justified in engaging your services rather than the services of a local person.

Thus, if the premise behind your residence in Hong Kong is dissipated through the cessation of your employment with your sponsoring employer of record, conceptually the question is begged as to why you are remaining here. Now, the way the immigration department system works is, means that when you get an employment visa, you get two privileges.

You get the privilege to work and you get the privilege to reside at the point of your employment ceasing your privilege to reside stops. Excuse me, your privilege to work stops, um, but your privilege to reside continues until your current limit of stay expires or until the immigration department take your limit of stay away from you, which invariably they never do.

So essentially, whilst you’re presently in Hong Kong with a privilege to reside, an essential precondition of the sponsorship of a dependent visa by a temporary employment visa holding resident is that you be engaged in the employment that the immigration department have granted you the approval for. So, because you effectively fall over in relation to your rationale for being here by way of an existing employment.

Ah, and the fact that you don’t have the means on the paper at least, or the income means to be able to support your new wife when you attempt to sponsor into Hong Kong independent visa. Uh, effectively, your application is going to fall over on two grounds.

Therefore, my best advice for you is to get yourself a new job offer, make an application to change your sponsorship from your previous sponsor through to the new sponsor, get that approval endorsed in your passport, and then put to bed the two problems that you’re going to face with sponsoring a dependent visa, really with 1 st, or one fell swoop, as it were.

So that’s my advice, and I hope you found that useful.

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What About Your Hong Kong Employment Visa If You’re Thinking Of Changing Jobs?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says… / 1 response

It happens all the time. You get an employment visa to work in Hong Kong for one employer – then your circumstances change and you want to take up a position with another.

The question is – what about your visa?

Is it OK just to swap jobs without doing anything down at Immigration Tower?

As a sponsored foreign national employment visa holder, it is unlawful to work for any employer other than your current sponsoring employer.

So, if you want to take up another employment, you need to undergo what is known as a ‘change of sponsorship’ application.

This, in many ways, is just like making an entirely new visa application.

The approvability test challenges are essentially the same.

The employer must be justified in seeking to employ a foreigner.

The jobs generally must be ‘like for like’.

The mere fact that you presently hold an employment visa does not in any discernible way advantage you in a change of sponsorship  application although, the longer you’ve lived in Hong Kong, the more likely the Immigration Department will buy into your argument – just so long as you can continue to demonstrate special skills knowledge and experience of value to and not readily available in Hong Kong.

Most often perfectly ‘do-able’ – just no shoe in!

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QOTW: Can I Get An Employment Visa Again If I Still Owe Taxes From The Last Time I Worked In Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Case Study, Employment Visas, Your Question Answered / 2 responses

What is the interplay between unpaid taxes and a Hong Kong employment visa application subsequently?

QUESTION

Hi,

I worked in Hong Kong last year, 2013, and left the city mid year after my work terminated.

When I left, my company filed a IR56G “leaving Hong Kong” tax form for me with the IRD.

However, I never followed up to see how much remainder taxes I owed for salary in 2013.

Now, I have just received an offer to come back to Hong Kong and the employer will be applying for a work visa for me.

Will my visa have difficulty being approved if I may have IRD payments to make?

I do not wish to delay my work visa from being approved. 

ANSWER

Whilst this is really a question that relates to tax and not immigration as such, there is a slight interplay between the two; effectively, you’re supposed to clear all outstanding taxation obligations if you’re a foreign national and you are leaving Hong Kong ostensibly permanently. Your employer does have certain obligations in relation to reporting the fact of your departure and then holding on to your last salary to again clear up any potential taxation obligations that sit in your hands as a result of your time spent working here previously. If that was never cleared up then you will still have an open file with the Inland Revenue Department and given that you’re now effectively wanting to come back to Hong Kong, notwithstanding the fact that there will be an immigration dimension to this, you really should clear up your taxes – approach the Inland Revenue Department, explain what’s going on and submit yourself for assessment.

Whatever the bill is, pay it, and then you can rest assured that the Immigration Department won’t be effectively looking at your application for a new employment visa through the lens of not having paid your taxes previously.

In a nutshell, get it sorted out so that it doesn’t have an impact at all on your new visa application. Good luck!

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Why Do Hong Kong Technology Startups Mostly Struggle To Win Investment Visa Approvals For Their Founders?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in 60 Second Snapshot, Employment Visas, Investment Visas / No responses

I’m often asked how feasible business investment visas are for foreign nationals seeking to establish a new technology start up here.

Bootstrappping and running Lean can be a double edged sword as a foreign national starting up in Hong Kong…

The actual extent of the challenge is, in fact, no more onerous than it has always been – namely the foreign entrepreneur needs to be able to show that he or she can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong in order to have a business investment visa application approved.

To this end, the normal three legged business investment visa approvability test must be satisfied, namely that the business must be homed in premises suitable for the business, there must be a clear pathway to the creation of local employment opportunities and the business must be properly resourced, meaning sufficient cash and other business-critical resources present so that the Immigration Department can be satisfied that the business will go on to become a solidly entrenched commercial enterprise.

But here’s the problem with most technology start ups.

Unless very well funded from the outset, most of them are boot strapped, most of them are run according to the Lean philosophy – and most of them fail, and the Immigration Department know this.

Where the present approvability criteria demand a ‘substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong’ the vast majority of technology start ups are simply unable to pass the test – making Hong Kong a very hard place indeed for foreign blood to come in and help Hong Kong transition into a fully fledged connection economy.

There are ways to improve your chances of success, though, requiring a realignment of your plans and an increase in available capital to fund your ambitions.

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The Quality Migrant Admission Scheme – A Practical Guide

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing, Special Programmes / No responses

In this section of the talk, I talk about the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) – this much maligned programme that is ‘on the books’ so we continue to provide coverage of it (of course!)

On March 21, 2014 I gave a presentation at the Chinese Club entitled Business Immigration to Hong Kong – A Practical Guide. The content is still relevant today and can be summarised as follows:

The purpose of the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme is to attract highly skilled or talented individuals to settle in Hong Kong, with the aim of enhancing Hong Kong’s economic competitiveness. Unlike other visa schemes, successful applicants are not required to have secured a job offer in Hong Kong prior to their arrival. However, all applicants must meet a set of prerequisites before they can be awarded points under one of the two points-based tests: the General Points Test and the Achievement-based Points Test. These tests are used to assess applicants’ eligibility and allocate quotas accordingly.

To apply for the Scheme, the applicant must:

– Be at least 18 years old

– Prove financial capability to support themselves and any dependents during their stay without public assistance

– Have no criminal or immigration records

– Be proficient in Chinese or English

– Have a good education background, preferably with a university degree or equivalent qualifications

If the applicant fails to provide satisfactory documents to prove that they meet these requirements, their application will be refused immediately.

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LIFTING THE LID: Leaving Your Hong Kong Visa Extension To The Very Last Minute

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Musing, Special Programmes / No responses

In this short piece, I discuss the impact on our practice when clients leave their Hong Kong visa extension applications to the very last minute!

In this occasional series of commentary, I provide a peek inside our professional practice and offer a glimpse of what it’s like to be part of the Hong Kong Visa Centre team.

Leaving your Hong Kong visa extension application to the very last minute can be an absolute nightmare because there is a quota that the Immigration Department has each day that is allocated to people seeking to extend their visas and, of course, a lot of people leave it to the very last minute and it can be that the visa is going to expire within a day or two, and it can mean as queuing up at six o’clock in the morning to get access to the quota for the day. However, humans are humans, and things get left to the last minute very often; it’s not an ideal situation, therefore we try to encourage clients not to do that, but we service them and try and give them the best possible outcome that’s available, all things considered.

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