Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

The Visa Geeza on RTHK Radio Three – May 2014

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Family Visas, Long Stay & PR, Musing / 1 response

Quick visit to see uncle Phil at RTHK Radio 3 yesterday before I head off to Israel on the InvestHK Roadshow today…

Quick pit stop with Phil yesterday morning and covered quite a bit of ground on ordinary residence, dependant visas and living in China yet working in Hong Kong.

You can listen to our complete discussion here.

Phil’s can be found interviewing HK’s greatest and famous every day here on his Morning Brew Facebook page which I recommend you check out and Like.

More Stuff You Might Find Useful or Interesting

Relocating to Hong Kong for work or business – Immigration Policy

Is the Hong Kong Immigration Department website actually fit for purpose?

The anatomy of a Capital Investment Entrant Scheme pathway to a HKSAR passport for a Chinese national resident on the mainland

Do mainlanders enjoy the same kind of immigration experience as other foreign nationals do in Hong Kong?

10 Must Have resources for a Hong Kong investment visa application

 

Listen To The Show

Podcast: Play in new window

How Easy / Practical Is It to Swap Between a Prolonged Visitor Visa & Student Visa (or Employment Visa) in Hong Kong?

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

Same sex partners, married or otherwise, are just not treated equally when it comes to immigration in Hong Kong I’m afraid…

QUESTION

Dear Stephen,

I will be transferred by my company from Holland to Hong Kong beginning of  August.

My partner (we are getting married end of May, according to Holland civil union law for same-sex couples), who is Dutch as well, is naturally coming along with me.

I will have an employment visa sponsored by my company but we’re wondering what is the best option for my partner?

Could you please let me know whether the 6-month prolonged visitor visa is granted easily (we have all the proofs requested to prove our relationship was well established and known by everybody in Holland since 2008 + civil union official document).

Also what happens if my partner finds beginning of next year a job or decides to start an intensive Mandarin one-year course with a student visa sponsored by the school?

Do you think it feasible to request first a 6-month prolonged visitor visa, then a student visa sponsored by a school (for a one-year Mandarin course) and then once again a 6-month prolonged visitor visa with possible 2 or 3 extensions? 

In any case, we arrive in Hong Kong beginning of August and our first trip out of Hong Kong will probably be to come back to Europe a few days for Christmas.

Many thanks for your help and support.

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

How does pre-existing business ownership impact on a Hong Kong prolonged visitor visa application?

Can I get a Hong Kong dependant visa for my same sex partner now that we are legally married?

10 Must Have resources for same sex partner visa applications in Hong Kong

Can the employer sponsoring a gay Employee’s Hong Kong employment visa assist in any way in a visa application for an accompanying life-partner?

Understanding the procedure for a Hong Kong same sex partner visa application

PODCAST ANSWER

Podcast: Play in new window

How Does An American Get Citizenship in China?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing / 3 responses

Sometimes I get the strangest emails…

Work is drying up here in the United States. I’m a born US Citizen. I’m Native American. I have my BA Degree in Criminal Justice and almost done with my Masters. Yet I can’t get work here in the United States. How do I find work in China? How would I get citizenship? We’re already sending all of our jobs over seas to China. Why not figure out how to get a job there and Citizenship. I’ve already traveled to China during my time in the Navy. I’ve been to Hong Kong twice and to Beijing. I understand the Chinese government hates ours would that blow my chances of getting citizenship? My degree is in Criminal Justice. Would I be permitted to become a cop in China? Or a degree that has something to do with Criminal Justice? Like a prison guard, jail, court room cop, something?

More Stuff You Might Find Equally Ridiculous

Please help me help you by asking Hong Kong immigration questions I can actually answer!

True story of a deluded foreign national trying to sue his way to a Hong Kong employment visa

STOP PRESS..! Hitler’s Hong Kong passport application has just been rejected

The Hong Kong Visa Handbook – now available in good book stores everywhere!

Why internet forums are a cr@p source of Hong Kong visa & immigration advice

Startup Grind – Intrepid Entrepreneur Jong Lee Shares His Wisdom On Doing Business in Hong Kong

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

My ‘other’ business Video Cha Cha proudly sponsors Startup Grind here in Hong Kong.

Jong Lee is the Managing Director of RGL Holdings Limited and has spent over 15 years building businesses in various roles, ranging from private equity, to venture capital and angel investment, and entrepreneurship. Jong specializes in technology, media, traditional industries, and special purpose real estate. His prior portfolio companies include Nexon, Starbucks Beijing, MTV Japan, Good Morning Securities (Korea), Berghaus Japan and SMIC (China).

In Hong Kong, Jong has led RGL’s founding of Hong Kong Commons, a leading accelerator and co-work platform, Bonham Strand, a bespoke apparel social enterprise reaching out to disenfranchised master tailors, displaced garment workers and youth fighting drug addiction, and Lots Of Buttons, winner of TechInAsia’s Startup Arena 2013 in Singapore.

Jong is a graduate of Columbia Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, recipient of the Parker School Certificate of Achievement in International Law, With Honors and Founding Editor in Chief, Columbia Journal of Asian Law.

As a licensed New York attorney, he practiced as an international private equity and leveraged buy-out attorney on Wall Street with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

(Intro pinched from YouTube)

***Startup Grind is an event series and website designed to help educate, inspire, and connect local entrepreneurs. Each month we welcome an amazing speaker who shares their story with our community and tells us what worked, what didn’t, and what they’ll do differently next time. It’s an amazing opportunity to learn from the best, network with other members of the startup community, and improve your chances of entrepreneurial success

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

Startups HK Startup Grind Sell Out  – the Visa Geeza turns out to wave the Video Cha Cha flag!

Why do Hong Kong technology startups mostly struggle to win investment visa approvals for their founders?

How can Hong Kong technology startups improve their chances of winning investment visa approvals for their founders?

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

Business investment visas – a leg up for startups in Hong Kong

Top Secret! If You Really Want to Know How the Hong Kong Visa Centre Business Model Works, Here It Is, All Laid Out!

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing / 8 responses

This work of Rand Fishkin of Moz.com is seminal.

Martyn and I knew this stuff back in 1996 when the first version of the Hong Kong Visa Handbook was placed on the internet for free (at a time when HSBC still only had dial-up email accounts.)

We have been developing our websites and service offerings to this model for the last three years now, yet this is the first time I have ever seen anyone else articulate the strategy.

The question is…

If you are a business owner in Hong Kong (and now that you know how it all works) what are YOU going to do about it?

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

But Stephen, how do you make any money when you give all your Hong Kong visa expertise away for free?

Britcham spills the beans on the Hong Kong Visa Centre’s deepest secret!

100% Hong Kong visa application success rate? Take it all with a pinch of salt

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

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

QOTW: Can You Get PR in Hong Kong if You Have Actually Been Living & Working in China?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / No responses

How does time spent living and working in China impact on your eligibility for the right of abode in Hong Kong?

QUESTION  OF  THE  WEEK

I am a Canadian citizen. I worked and lived in Hong Kong from 2005 to 2007 and then was transferred to Shanghai by my employer which is a Hong Kong company.

I live and work in Shanghai now for the last 6 years but keep my Hong Kong employment visa and my Hong Kong ID card.

 Can I apply for permanent residence?

Do I have a case for the 7 year continuous ordinary residence?

 Thank you very much!

More Stuff  You May Find Useful or Interesting

Hong Kong right of abode applications – consider your strategy and plan early

Will a break in continuous employment mean a break in continuous residence for the purposes of a right of abode application in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong right of abode applications – arguing away missing periods of residence

Is it possible to maintain my 6 years’ ordinary residence in Hong Kong & get the Right of Abode next year if I plan to move to Taiwan soon?

How can I get a visa & work legally in Hong Kong?

From Eel Farms to Chicken Sexing – All In a Day’s Work for the Hong Kong Visa Geeza!

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

Last month I delivered a CPD Course on Business Immigration to Hong Kong.

I have just received a short piece of footage from the organisers Profectional where, in the 3 hour presentation, I give an example of how the Hong Kong Immigration Department were prepared to offer an employment visa to an 18 year old high school graduate who’s only skill in life was to do with eels!

The whole 5 mins is educational but the story begins at 1.45.

More Stuff You May Find Interesting or Useful

10 Must Have resources for a Hong Kong legal dependant visa

Will redundancy impact your eligibility for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong?

How to Gee Up a Hong Kong visa application that is taking a long time to process

The anatomy of a ‘Slam Dunk’ Hong Kong investment visa application taking just 7 weeks to approval!

Hong Kong investment visa wrongly applied for – clearing up the confusion & getting the correct employment visa instead