Phil kicked us off with a listener question today (thanks Steve!) which raised the spectre of discrimination. We then went on to discuss Start Up businesses and the various initiatives in play assisting the start up scene in Hong Kong.
Is it ever legal to work in Hong Kong – especially on a short term basis – with a Visitor Status – without the permission of the Director of Immigration?
QUESTION
I am a UK based one person limited company and have been asked by a major financial services company with a business based in Hong Kong to undertake 10 ~ 15 days consulting work there as a one-off exercise.
I will not be setting up business in Hong Kong and will return to the UK at the end of the visit.
Can I do this work under the visitor visa and do I need anything additional such as a work permit?
Tomorrow night (Tuesday, February 11, 2014) at the Paperclip HK in Sheung Wan is an event you won’t want to miss if you have ever even remotely thought about starting your own business in Hong Kong.
(We are also making our video production studio available to every attendee for one hour, completely free of charge – so attend the event and don’t miss out! See you there!)
For my Hong Kong PR application, what happens if I am unable to provide copies of my tenancy agreements?
I never thought I would still be here for 7 years so I every 2 years I get rid of old documents i.e. bank statements, tenancy agreements, utilities etc.
Also for years 3~7 I was living with my ex partner so the tenancy agreement was in his name or his employer’s name.
This is the first time in the three years since we introduced this policy that we have had to honour our commitment and just goes to show that fabled 100% Hong Kong visa application success rates are quite a fickle metric of competence and capability.
This client’s application ultimately turned on the extent of his own personal financial contribution to the business and, whilst ImmD, did advise us that they thought the business plan and prospects were good, they felt that our client didn’t have enough financial skin in the game (“personally accessible resources”) to warrant the notion of an ‘investment’ in the HKSAR.
All fair enough.
Our client has decided to seek an alternate avenue to continue his proposed residency in Hong Kong (using a different immigration pathway) so our client engagement has ended with us both wishing each other the best of luck!
On June 6th, 2013 I was interviewed by five law students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong about my experiences practicing immigration here over the last 20 years.
We covered a great deal of ground in the 90 minutes we spent together and over the next few weeks I will be posting the interview broken down into 31 different segments, covering almost every Hong Kong related visa and immigration topic there is.
Do you think that the Immigration Department suitably promote and encourage participation in the various schemes designed to attract foreign national talent to Hong Kong?
We hypothesize that while the influx of non-residents into Hong Kong may benefit the economy in the short-term, the long-term negative impacts outweigh any short-term positives. Do you agree with this statement?
Do you think that there is preferential treatment to non-resident workers?
What do you think is the most difficult challenge facing Hong Kong now, when it comes to competing for foreign talents and workers? (i.e. as compared to the 3 other Asian Tigers)
What’s your view on Hong Kong’s liberal visitor visa arrangements, especially regarding the large numbers of Mainlanders who come here now?
What about the possibility of a graduate management trainee visa for a foreign national applicant?
How well does ImmD respond to the lack of skills in Hong Kong through adjustments to the General Employment Policy from time to time?
Do you think any improvements could be made on the entry schemes? If so, how?
What do you think is the biggest problem in dealing with ImmD as an organisation tasked with the dual role of providing a public service yet serving as the gatekeeper to Hong Kong?
