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.
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.
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?
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.
***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
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?
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.
