Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

Why Don’t Immigration Consultants Typically Help Aspiring Employees Find Jobs in Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says… / 4 responses

Given that some countries, like Australia, organise their immigration policy to address skills gaps in their economies with specific temporary visa types, you might expect that Hong Kong would have a thriving job finding + visa service industry.

We do, after all, issue more than 17,000 new employment visa approvals each year under the General Employment Policy and genuinely talented professional workers are warmly welcomed – on the basis they have a job offer from a credible employer here.

But in Hong Kong, most employers do not recruit foreign workers ‘sight unseen’, on the strength of a CV or even after an extensive series of video Skype interviews.

No, the typical scenario is that foreign national professionals visit Hong Kong ‘on spec’, make themselves  available for interview locally and, at the end of a traditional style recruitment process, an offer of employment will materialize and then the process of securing the employment visa is embarked upon.

This is, in many respects, a risky process for the intending foreign national worker as he will usually have to give up a job in one country just to pursue the chance of employment in Hong Kong.

And, until both an offer of employment has been secured and an employment visa issued by the Immigration Department, the pursuit of a new life in Hong Kong could go terribly wrong.

So, whilst it is natural to wish to pursue a ‘risk-free’ transfer to Hong Kong, unless you are an inter company transferee,  a ‘top notch talent’ and have won the prize of a Quality Migrant Admission Scheme approval or are a person of means to quality for a Capital Investment Visa Entrant Scheme visa you’re going to have to take some risks to get a new life started here.

Remember, it is not unlawful to look and interview for jobs as a visitor in Hong Kong.

And when (or if) you do finally get yourself established in the HKSAR, you’ll discover most every foreigner here took a certain amount of risk to get their start in Hong Kong.

Risk taking is, after all, what Hong Kong is made of!

More Stuff You May Find Useful

The perils of contriving a job offer just for the purposes of a Hong Kong employment visa application

Is it actually getting harder to get your Hong Kong employment or investment visa application approved

10 Must Have resources for a successful Hong Kong employment visa application

The 5 key factors that impact on your eligibility for a Hong Kong employment visa

Can you have 2 Hong Kong employment visa applications pending at the same time?

21 – How to Apply For a Hong Kong Investment Visa Without Any Professional Help – Case Studies

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Musing / 11 responses

On January 17, 2013 I gave a talk at Centre O in Wanchai on how to go about applying for a Hong Kong business investment visa without the need to pay for any professional help.

The 30 minute talk was broken down into 24 very easy to digest segments and each of these segments is presented here.

The talk is designed to allow the D-I-Y visa applicant to use the 100% free resources of both the Hong Kong Visa Handbook as well as the Hong Kong Visa Geeza Blog.

Please see:

10 Must Have Resources for Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application

and

The Hong Kong Visa Handbook

The videos will be added incrementally over the course of the next 2-3 weeks until the entire talk has been presented.

In the meantime, why not sign up for our D-I-Y Visa Kit here?

The Complete Series

1 – Introduction

2 – Relax & Enjoy The Talk

3 – Order of Business

4 – 10 Must Have Resources

5 – The Policy of It All

6 – Who Doesn’t Have a Visa Problem?

7 – The Pathway for Mainlanders

8 – What Can You Do as a Visitor?

9 – Employee or Investor?

10 – Investment Visa Approvability Test

11 – Three Pillars of Approval

12 – How  Much Cash Investment?

13 – The Catch 22

14 – What About Your Family?

15 – Why Do Cases Get Denied?

16 – Trying Again?

17 – 10 Must Use Resources

18 – 10 Must  Use Resources (Infographic)

19 – 10 Must Use Resources (Visa Factsheet)

20 – 10 Must Use Resources (Application Plan)

21 – 10 Must Use Resources (Case Studies)

22 – 10 Must Use Resources (Templates)

23 – 10 Must Refer Resources (All Good Stuff!)

24 – Your Questions Answered

Stephen Barnes What’s Up Hong Kong Interview: Immigration, Visas, the Universe, Life & Everything

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Investment Visas, Musing, Visitor Visas / 2 responses

Yours Truly was interviewed by What’s Up Hong Kong in my favourite corner of Pacific Coffee (Fenwick Street / Lockhart Road in Wanchai)  last week and today the session was posted on their website for download and listening.

Travis Jones, the founder of the site, has a vision to interview folks in Hong Kong who have something to say.

It’s a great addition to the Social Voice of the HKSAR and it was fun tussling with him as we gabbed on for almost an hour.

We talked quite a lot about visas and immigration (naturally) but Travis also pushed me on a few others topics too, not least atheism, the arts, business models, what Hong Kong looked like in 1987 when I first trapped here and a quiz where he cheated to let me win!

You can listen to the interview here.

More Stuff You May Find Interesting or Useful

STOP PRESS..! HItler’s HKSAR passport application has just been refused

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

The impact of Drain Brain on Hong Kong and resulting immigration policy development

Legal champion of human rights in Hong Kong – Mark Daly – speaks at the FCC

The Hong Kong Visa Geeza on RTHK Radio 3 – Jan 2013

19 – How to Apply For a Hong Kong Investment Visa Without Any Professional Help – Factsheet

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Musing / 18 responses

On January 17, 2013 I gave a talk at Centre O in Wanchai on how to go about applying for a Hong Kong business investment visa without the need to pay for any professional help.

The 30 minute talk was broken down into 24 very easy to digest segments and each of these segments is presented here.

The talk is designed to allow the D-I-Y visa applicant to use the 100% free resources of both the Hong Kong Visa Handbook as well as the Hong Kong Visa Geeza Blog.

Please see:

10 Must Have Resources for Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application

and

The Hong Kong Visa Handbook

The videos will be added incrementally over the course of the next 2-3 weeks until the entire talk has been presented.

In the meantime, why not sign up for our D-I-Y Visa Kit here?

The Complete Series

1 – Introduction

2 – Relax & Enjoy The Talk

3 – Order of Business

4 – 10 Must Have Resources

5 – The Policy of It All

6 – Who Doesn’t Have a Visa Problem?

7 – The Pathway for Mainlanders

8 – What Can You Do as a Visitor?

9 – Employee or Investor?

10 – Investment Visa Approvability Test

11 – Three Pillars of Approval

12 – How  Much Cash Investment?

13 – The Catch 22

14 – What About Your Family?

15 – Why Do Cases Get Denied?

16 – Trying Again?

17 – 10 Must Use Resources

18 – 10 Must  Use Resources (Infographic)

19 – 10 Must Use Resources (Visa Factsheet)

20 – 10 Must Use Resources (Application Plan)

21 – 10 Must Use Resources (Case Studies)

22 – 10 Must Use Resources (Templates)

23 – 10 Must Refer Resources (All Good Stuff!)

24 – Your Questions Answered

Hong Kong Visitors No Longer Get Visa Stamps In Their Passports

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing, Visitor Visas / 2 responses

As of March 19, 2013 the Hong Kong Immigration Department have changed the way they process and record Visitors entering into Hong Kong.

According to the blurb put out on the ImmD website…

“..all arriving visitors at immigration control points will be issued with landing slips in lieu of stamping on their travel documents. The landing slip is the same as that currently issued to Macao Smart Permanent Identity Card holders and Taiwan residents travelling under the Pre-arrival Registration arrangement. It bears the visitor’s English name, travel document number, arrival date, conditions and limit of stay in Hong Kong.”

In a practical sense, this should have no impact on Visitors arriving in Hong Kong, although if you lose your landing slip you should, ostensibly, report to Immigration Tower for a new one yet ImmD say that lost landing slips will not necessarily inhibit your ability to be cleared for departure at the time you try to leave.

The interesting upshot to all of this (to me at least) is how ImmD will now carry forward the SCL mechanism to control Visitors who’s bona fides are suspected.

The Department state in their news release that “stamping on travel document may still be applied in exceptional circumstances”. It remains to be seen if SCL will still be stamped in passports (indicating to the Visitor that time is now working against him) or whether it stays bound up in the record associated with the reduced limit of stay to such Visitors.

Time will tell. Watch this space!

More Stuff to Help You Along

How to establish your bona fides as a non business frequent visitor to Hong Kong

I will only be working in Hong Kong for 6 weeks – should I bother getting an employment visa

The Shenzhen Shuttle – a good way to extend your Hong Kong visitor visa?

Is it possible to get an extension to my Hong Kong visitor visa to stay with my girlfriend here

Will a criminal record for shoplifting compromise your immediate and long term plans for residence in Hong Kong?

18 – How to Apply For a Hong Kong Investment Visa Without Any Professional Help – Infographic

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Musing / 18 responses

On January 17, 2013 I gave a talk at Centre O in Wanchai on how to go about applying for a Hong Kong business investment visa without the need to pay for any professional help.

The 30 minute talk was broken down into 24 very easy to digest segments and each of these segments is presented here.

The talk is designed to allow the D-I-Y visa applicant to use the 100% free resources of both the Hong Kong Visa Handbook as well as the Hong Kong Visa Geeza Blog.

Please see:

10 Must Have Resources for Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application

and

The Hong Kong Visa Handbook

The videos will be added incrementally over the course of the next 2-3 weeks until the entire talk has been presented.

In the meantime, why not sign up for our D-I-Y Visa Kit here?

The Complete Series

1 – Introduction

2 – Relax & Enjoy The Talk

3 – Order of Business

4 – 10 Must Have Resources

5 – The Policy of It All

6 – Who Doesn’t Have a Visa Problem?

7 – The Pathway for Mainlanders

8 – What Can You Do as a Visitor?

9 – Employee or Investor?

10 – Investment Visa Approvability Test

11 – Three Pillars of Approval

12 – How  Much Cash Investment?

13 – The Catch 22

14 – What About Your Family?

15 – Why Do Cases Get Denied?

16 – Trying Again?

17 – 10 Must Use Resources

18 – 10 Must  Use Resources (Infographic)

19 – 10 Must Use Resources (Visa Factsheet)

20 – 10 Must Use Resources (Application Plan)

21 – 10 Must Use Resources (Case Studies)

22 – 10 Must Use Resources (Templates)

23 – 10 Must Refer Resources (All Good Stuff!)

24 – Your Questions Answered

17 – How to Apply For a Hong Kong Investment Visa Without Any Professional Help – 10 MUST USE Resources

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Musing / 18 responses

On January 17, 2013 I gave a talk at Centre O in Wanchai on how to go about applying for a Hong Kong business investment visa without the need to pay for any professional help.

The 30 minute talk was broken down into 24 very easy to digest segments and each of these segments is presented here.

The talk is designed to allow the D-I-Y visa applicant to use the 100% free resources of both the Hong Kong Visa Handbook as well as the Hong Kong Visa Geeza Blog.

Please see:

10 Must Have Resources for Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application

and

The Hong Kong Visa Handbook

The videos will be added incrementally over the course of the next 2-3 weeks until the entire talk has been presented.

In the meantime, why not sign up for our D-I-Y Visa Kit here?

The Complete Series

1 – Introduction

2 – Relax & Enjoy The Talk

3 – Order of Business

4 – 10 Must Have Resources

5 – The Policy of It All

6 – Who Doesn’t Have a Visa Problem?

7 – The Pathway for Mainlanders

8 – What Can You Do as a Visitor?

9 – Employee or Investor?

10 – Investment Visa Approvability Test

11 – Three Pillars of Approval

12 – How  Much Cash Investment?

13 – The Catch 22

14 – What About Your Family?

15 – Why Do Cases Get Denied?

16 – Trying Again?

17 – 10 Must Use Resources

18 – 10 Must  Use Resources (Infographic)

19 – 10 Must Use Resources (Visa Factsheet)

20 – 10 Must Use Resources (Application Plan)

21 – 10 Must Use Resources (Case Studies)

22 – 10 Must Use Resources (Templates)

23 – 10 Must Refer Resources (All Good Stuff!)

24 – Your Questions Answered