It had been nigh on three months since I last got to be grilled by Mr Whelan on Morning Brew over at RTHK so it was pleasing to make his acquaintance once again when I popped in to see him on Broadcast Drive a little earlier today.
Phil was keen to talk about paper trails and the immigration process so we had a good chat about that and also went over the difference in the service user experience between Wanchai’s finest and the far less capable (to my way of thinking) UK immigration agencies.
I’ve said it before and I’ll happily say it again.
ImmD do us proud in Hong Kong.
They don’t always get it right (in my view) but it’s not often they make mistakes.
Anyroadup, you can listen to our complete discussion here.
Phil can be found on his Morning Brew Facebook page which I recommend you check out and Like.
He puts on a great show and I regularly tune in when I am desk bound and perhaps you should too!
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?
You may have noticed that I have been very quiet these last 2 weeks.
Truth is I needed a serious break as the last six months of 2013 were just hectic all told.
The Hong Kong Visa Centre grew 100% last year (for the third year in a row), we opened Video Cha Cha (more on that soon) and the next 180 days ahead will see us creatively disrupting one more market in Hong Kong which Martyn and I have acquired expertise in down the years.
Fun times ahead!
This year we intend to introduce expansive new Hong Kong visa and immigration video content and also a new video blog called The Growth Switch where I will share in detail the lessons we have learned about building a business from scratch by giving all of my expertise and know-how away for free.
That content is not really suited to this immigration focused website so I’m going to wax lyrical on my second favourite subject over there instead.
I’ll let you know when it’s ready to go – should be the early part of February.
To all of you who have asked me visa questions these last 2 weeks, I hope you found my short email answers satisfactory. A 14 day break from PodCasting answers has been excellent for me – so thanks for understanding.
I return to Hong Kong next Tuesday (7/1) and hit the ground running as soon as I get back – so normal business on this Blog will be resumed from that date!
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council have invited me to speak this week on Investment Visas – how to get one without paying for professional help.
Hong Kong Investment Visa Application Workshop
“Do It Yourself: Apply for an Investment Visa for Hong Kong Visa Without Paying for Professional Help”
We are very happy to have Stephen Barnes, author of the Hong Kong Visa Handbook and renowned expert on visa and immigration matters in the HKSAR, to talk about the challenges faced by foreign national entrepreneurs in securing the necessary immigration permissions to join in or establish businesses here in Hong Kong.
This is a free seminar. Stephen will be spending quite a lot of time discussing one man investment visas and also explaining how the Hong Kong Immigration Department view such applications. Moreover, Stephen will also talk about dependant visa and employment visa applications, ways to improve chances of a successful application and giving detailed, practical step-by-step procedures (including all the resources you will need in your application.)
There will also be a Q&A section at the end of the presentation for your questions about your own visa.
Date: December 13th, 2013 ( Friday) Time: 4pm – 6pm Location: HKTDC SME Centre
(Ground Level, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong)
Just a quick line today about our latest development.
We have just opened dedicated video studio facilities in Wanchai.
Back in 2011, when I started producing videos for the Hong Kong Visa Centre, video was seen as an important yet still an emerging content type for modern websites.
But that’s all different now. Video is really starting to come into its own.
As we inexorably move from an industrial economy to a modern network economy, there are seismic shifts underway in how you relate to your customers and others who do not yet have a relationship with you.
Today, with information on any subject matter just a Google search away, if you expect to grow your business and create a prosperous future, you have to be of real use, unconditionally, to the people who you wish to serve.
Harping on about what you sell is hardly useful to someone looking to solve a problem or have a question answered.
Instead you need to provide excellent information that is helpful and offered without any expectation of reward.
With our new bespoke video content production facilities we plan to continually disrupt the Hong Kong immigration services market with the introduction of new free-of-charge product offerings and the highest quality self-help educational content in our niche that you will find anywhere in the world today.
So, if you’re curious about our intentions, watch this space!
(ps if you’re an entrepreneur or start up wanting to borrow our facility cheaply please let me know +852 9667 4095).
