Mr Whelan once again got the date of my latest visit to him at RTHK Radio 3 completely wrong but I did finally get to see him on Morning Brew yesterday.
And no sooner had I sat down did he tear in to me about all manner of things Hong Kong visa and immigration related – as is his wont.
Phil runs an excellent Morning Brew Facebook page which I recommend you check out and Like. Phil told me the other day he has interviewed more than 6,600 people in his career – almost the Parky of HK!
In the main, the documents required for a successful Right of Abode application speak to the actuality of your last seven years of life in Hong Kong.
Of course, not everyone keeps complete and accurate records over time and most right of abode applications are approved even if there are certain deficiencies in the 7 year records submitted in support.
In general terms, therefore, these are the kinds of documents you need to think about preparing to progress a Hong Kong Permanent Residency application:
(1) A copy of your resume (but not for children and spouse).
(2) A full copy all passports held during the previous seven year period.
(3) Copies of salaries tax returns for the last seven years (for all adults who have worked).
(4) Copy of residential tenancy agreements (for renters) or land registry record of your residence in Hong Kong (for property owners) for the 7 years prior to submitting the application.
(5) Copies of utilities bills, bank and credit card statements and other papers which attest to a consistent period of residence in Hong Kong for the requisite seven years.
(6) A copy of your Smart Hong Kong Identity Card.
(7) Detailed supporting letter which sets out the chronology of your life in Hong Kong.
(8) Statement of Travel Records (HKID Form ID697) and,
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?
How effective is the Hong Kong Immigration Department’s website in educating and promoting Hong Kong to the outside world as a place to live and work and do business?
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?
Alas, the Right of Abode for foreign nationals is not strictly speaking a full and complete right as such – in one respect it is only a partial right.
Essentially as a non Chinese citizen, once you have secured PR in Hong Kong, you can lose it, although it is easy enough to maintain – you just need to be physically present in Hong Kong on at least one occasion in any three year given period.
However, if for any reason you are away from Hong Kong for more than 1095 days continuously you will, by operation of law, be automatically downgraded to the right to land only.
This means that you will not be eligible to vote, can be deported from Hong Kong and will not be availed of the privileges associated with property tax and other concessions generally available only to permanent residents.
It also impacts on availing your future children of their eligibility for the right of abode if they are born in Hong Kong too.
In all other respects you are free from any conditions or limit of stay – so the day to day practicalities of the loss of your right of abode are marginal all things considered.
That said, the single condition for maintaining your right of abode is simple enough. Just come to Hong Kong once in a three year period, pass through immigration and the 3 year clock then starts ticking all over again.
And if you do lose it, you can reacquire it by qualifying under the 7 years ordinary residence rule once again.
A few weeks ago we received instructions from a client who was needing to extend a Quality Migrant Admission Scheme visa on the strength of a new business she was in the process of implementing here in Hong Kong (after a few years of working as an employee under the QMAS programme).
Still relatively new, the business had only just fully coalesced to the point where the client was ready to start trading, when she got really ill, very suddenly: fighting-for-life-ill.
I will not go into any further details. There’s no need to do so for the purpose of this post.
But what is especially noteworthy was the tremendous support the Hong Kong Immigration Department QMAS extension team in Wanchai provided to us as we navigated the extension process in the full knowledge of our client’s parlous state of health.
They were sympathetic, sensitive, involved, concerned and incredibly supportive. And very very quick.
Actually, they were magnificent.
Thank you ImmD. Let no one in Hong Kong say that you do not care.
You must apply to verify your eligibility for a Permanent Hong Kong Identity Card via form ROP145.
This is submitted to the HKID at Immigration Tower via the Right of Abode section along with the completed the declaration on Form ROP146.
Alternatively you can initiate your application on line via the dedicated online submission process.
To speed up the exercise, it is preferable to submit all of your supporting documents at the same time as you file your application thereby enabling ImmD to efficiently assess your eligibility allowing you anticipate approval in the fastest time possible.
This can be very important if your present residence visa is due to expire on the same date as, or very soon after, your formal 7 year anniversary date.
The rules say you need to have a valid residence visa on the day you make your Right of Abode application and also on the date the Immigration Department approve your application.
So if your current limit of stay is set to expire just around your 7 year anniversary, it is undoubtedly best to have all your ducks lined up so that you can make an application 30 days before your 7 year anniversary, anticipating that ImmD might be prepared to quickly finalise your application on or soon after the formal 7 year date, thereby saving them the hassle of having to administer an extension to your present residence visa just so that the qualifying conditions for verification of your eligibility for PR can then be met.
By the same token, you need to be physically present in Hong Kong on the day you file your Right of Abode application and also again on the day that your eligibility is formally verified by the Right of Abode Officer at the time he inspects your original documents and signs off on your approval during the short interview which marks the completion of formalities.
Most ‘verification’ interviews do not require any formal question and answer session per se, but merely allow the originals of certain of your documents submitted in support to be examined for authenticity.
This is normally your passport and Hong Kong ID card – but can include other documents which ImmD believe are critical to your approval – it just depends on all the circumstances of your case.
Whilst you can apply 30 days before your 7 years are up, ImmD will not finalise your case until the 7 year anniversary has arrived or passed – this is a hard and fast rule.
Finally, you may find yourself out of work yet still in possession of an employment visa at the 7 year mark and the question is begged as to how ImmD assess you in these circumstances.
So long as you can demonstrate earnestness in your life circumstances, that you are settled in Hong Kong and have manifestly taken Hong Kong as your only place of permanent residence, present Immigration Department practice appears to mean that being ‘out of work’ yet still resident here is not held against you in the PR eligibility verification exercise.
Similarly, there is no enquiry as to financial means when you make your PR application so if you find yourself temporarily struggling financially at the time you apply, this too should not preclude you from qualifying for the Right of Abode.
