Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

2015 Hong Kong Immigration Policy Update – How Most Mainlanders Screwed Up Under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Musing / 1 response

Those Mainlanders!

On February 10, 2015 I gave a talk at www.centreo.hk on my interpretation of the immigration policy changes announced by CY Leung earlier in January.

In this segment I discuss how the original objectives of Mainland applicants to use the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme actually failed to materialise for the vast majority of them who saw it as an easy ticket to a HKSAR passport.

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2015 Hong Kong Immigration Enhancement Measures Applicable to the Employment Visa and Visas Issued Under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents & Professionals

Hong Kong Immigration Policy Changes 2015 – Security Bureau Report to Legco – Rationale for the New Measures

Hong Kong Immigration Policy Changes – Enhancement Measures to Make Things a Bit Easier

CIES Suspended – Business Investment Visa Gets a Boost!

2015 Immigration Enhancement Measures Applicable to the Hong Kong Entrepreneur Visa (Business Investment Visa)

2015 Hong Kong Immigration Policy Update – Capital No Longer Required – Why Was the CIES Suspended ?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Musing / No responses

PRACTICE UPDATE 2026

How the Content Must Now Be Read in Light of the New CIES Policy

Our original commentary on the sudden January 2015 suspension of the legacy CIES examined Chief Executive CY Leung’s decision to halt passive wealth immigration. At the time, the government determined that importing passive capital—heavily concentrated in real estate and financial speculation—did not address Hong Kong’s core economic needs, prompting a policy pivot toward active talent and operating entrepreneurs.

A decade later, the policy landscape has undergone a deliberate recalibration with the launch of the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (New CIES). Rather than abandoning capital immigration, the administration revived the scheme with structural guardrails designed specifically to resolve the shortcomings that triggered the 2015 shutdown: residential property remains strictly excluded, the capital baseline is raised to HK$30 million, and a mandatory HK$3 million is ring-fenced into the state-backed Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) portfolio to fund local innovation and technology.

As Stephen Barnes, the Hong Kong Visa Geeza, emphasizes in our New CIES Practice Direction:

“The 2015 suspension was an inevitable correction against unbridled capital inflation without domestic yield. The New CIES reverses that closure by aligning private wealth directly with public policy, ensuring passive capital actively finances Hong Kong’s strategic technology ecosystem while granting investors a secure, rule-bound pathway to residency.”

CIES suspended!

On February 10, 2015 I gave a talk at www.centreo.hk on my interpretation of the immigration policy changes announced by CY Leung earlier in January.

In this segment I discuss the suspension of the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme and some of the machinations that went on which meant that the programme was destined to come to end, in the way that it did.

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

2015 Hong Kong Immigration Enhancement Measures Applicable to the Employment Visa and Visas Issued Under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents & Professionals

Hong Kong Immigration Policy Changes 2015 – Security Bureau Report to Legco – Rationale for the New Measures

Hong Kong Immigration Policy Changes – Enhancement Measures to Make Things a Bit Easier

CIES Suspended – Business Investment Visa Gets a Boost!

2015 Immigration Enhancement Measures Applicable to the Hong Kong Entrepreneur Visa (Business Investment Visa)

2 – How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa Without Paying for Professional Help – Need For a Job Offer

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Musing / 3 responses

On November 28, 2014 I was invited by the good folks at General Assembly in Hong Kong to discuss the opportunities for their graduates to go about making an application for a Hong Kong work visa without paying for any professional help.

In this segment I discuss the issue of a job offer and its importance in the Hong Kong work visa application process.

The Complete Series

1-How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa –  Introduction

2-How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa – Need For a Job Offer

3-How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa – The Test For Approval

4-How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa – Are You a Professional?

5-How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa – 3 Types of Applicant

6-How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa – Accompanying Family

7-How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa – Why Cases Get Denied

8-How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa – Trying Again

9-How to Apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa – Using the Must Have Resources

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10 Must Have resources for a Hong Kong work visa application

I will only be working in Hong Kong for 6 weeks – should I bother getting an employment visa?

The perils of contriving a job offer just for the purposes of a Hong Kong work visa application

Is there such an animal as a ‘flexible’ working visa for Hong Kong?

How to get a Hong Kong work visa automatically with no questions asked!

Kung Hei Fat Choy 2015!

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing / No responses

 

The last 12 months have been amazing for us here at the Hong Kong Visa Centre.

With three major new projects in progress presently, the year of the Ram holds out wonderful promise for us.

And we hope also for you too!

QOTW: How Are Mainland Applicants for Visas Issued Under the Hong Kong General Employment Policy Treated Differently From Other Foreign Nationals?

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

Under the Hong Kong General Employment Policy, what’s the procedural difference if you are a Chinese citizen applying for a Hong Kong work visa (or any other type of visa for that matter) compared to the rules applying to non-Chinese foreign nationals?

QUESTION  OF  THE  WEEK

I am a Chinese citizen currently enrolled in a French business school (presently resident in Paris) and I just got an internship offer from Hong Kong.

The application procedure for foreign nationals is quite clear already but I’d love to know if it’s different for Chinese citizens.

Is there any specific point I should pay attention to during the application process?

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Interview: do you think that IANG allows a loophole for foreign graduates to game the immigration system in Hong Kong?

So, what ARE your chances of successfully securing a QMAS visa for Hong Kong?

Foreign national entrepreneurs starting up in Hong Kong or China – where is better for visas?

In real terms what is the difference between Hong Kong’s General Employment Policy and the Admission of Mainland Talents & Professionals Scheme?

How to apply for an investment visa under the Hong Kong General Employment Policy without paying for professional help

LIFTING THE LID – What’s it Like Operating the Hong Kong Visa Centre as a Virtual Business?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Musing, Refusals & Appeals, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / No responses

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.

In this short piece, I discuss the ins and out of running the Hong Kong Visa Centre professional practice as a virtual business and the advantages it has for colleagues and clients – and the value we can deliver through not being bogged down with a mostly unnecessary fixed overhead.

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LIFTING THE LID – Why The Hong Kong Visa Centre Doesn’t Take On Every Prospect Client Opportunity

LIFTING THE LID: Leaving Your Hong Kong Visa Extension to the Very Last Minute

LIFTING THE LID – How Important Are Word of Mouth Referrals to the Hong Kong Visa Centre?

Sign Up for the 100% Free Hong Kong Visa Extension Kit

Sign Up for the 100% Free Hong Kong Visa D-I-Y Kit

How to Apply For a Hong Kong Investment Visa Without Paying for Professional Help – 14 – D-I-Y Resources

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Musing / No responses

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. In this segment, I take you through the 10 Must Have Resources which are included in the talk which allow you to make your application for a Hong Kong investment visa without paying for any professional help.

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

• Historical Editorial Standard: This foundational clearinghouse page serves as the ultimate self-help directory for intending entrepreneurs, curating checklists, procedural roadmaps, business plan templates, and argument blueprints designed to empower founders to secure a Business Investment Visa entirely unassisted. Historically, the entire resource suite was built around navigating ImmD’s flexible, discretionary approvability test: guiding applicants on how to articulate qualitative economic value, structure standard two-year financial projections, budget for modest initial operating capital (covering early runway), and leverage flexible premises (such as co-working memberships or serviced suites) to launch their ventures on a lean budget.

• Comparative Reading Under the Upgraded Regime: The entire DIY toolkit catalogued on this page must now undergo a comprehensive structural overhaul, shifting from a flexible self-help guide to an exacting institutional audit manual. Prospective DIY applicants can no longer be told that standard templates, qualitative arguments, and lean-budget setups will navigate departmental review. Every checklist, argument blueprint, and document template across these resources must now mandate the post-April 2026 empirical baselines benchmarked against TTPS Category A operational standards: (1) immediate deployment of HKD 1.5M to HKD 2.0M in unencumbered liquidity into an active Hong Kong corporate account; (2) an executed commercial lease granting exclusive physical possession (“four walls”); (3) active payroll and MPF enrollment records for 2 to 3 local Hong Kong permanent residents at the point of adjudication; and (4) an audited three-year operational horizon. Crucially, the resource page must now carry a prominent threshold warning: unassisted DIY filing is strictly suitable only for well-capitalized, institutional-grade commercial ventures, while early-stage, bootstrapped tech innovators must be redirected away from standard GEP templates and toward government-backed incubation pathways (such as Cyberport or HKSTP) as their sole realistic route to approval.

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

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

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!