Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – The Approvability Test

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Long Stay & PR, Musing / 5 responses

10 Must Have Resources for A Successful Hong Kong Right of Abode Application

For long stay foreign nationals in Hong Kong, the approvability test for the right of abode is to show that you have been continuously and ordinarily resident here for a period of not less than 7 years.

You also need to demonstrate that you have taken Hong Kong as your only place of permanent residence and that any absences from Hong Kong during those 7 years have been of a  merely temporary nature as evidenced by your intention at the time you departed on each occasion that you left Hong Kong and what you left behind to return back to at the end of each temporary sojourn abroad.

For most people who have lived here without any break on back to back residence visas, who’s children have been educated here during the 7 years and have worked continuously in Hong Kong for Hong Kong employers, the test is readily satisfied without too much ado.

On the other hand, if your residence in Hong Kong for those 7 years does not fit that profile exactly, certain questions are raised which can make a Right of Abode application somewhat, to a lesser or greater degree, challenging.

And it is my intention in this presentation to help you navigate those out of the ordinary circumstances steering you in the direction of a successful argument to suitably satisfy the Hong Kong Immigration Department of your eligibility for a permanent identity card.

More In This Series

1. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Introduction

2. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Relax, No Need To Takes Notes!

3. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Order of Business

4. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Must Have Resources

5. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Are You a Foreign National?

6. How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – The Approvability Test

7.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Continuous Ordinary Residence

8. How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – 7 Years? Starting When?

9. How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – What is “Qualifying Residence”?

10.How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Are You Truly Settled in Hong Kong?

11.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Is Hong Kong Your Only Place of Permanent Residence?

12.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Security Objections & Outstanding Taxation Liabilities

13.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Paperwork, Process, Patience

14.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Losing It!

15.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Documents Required

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The Visa Geeza on RTHK Radio 3 – June 2013

The very real value a Hong Kong CPA adds to a Capital Investment Entrant Scheme application

 

Can an Offshore Company Sponsor a Hong Kong Employment or Business Investment Visa?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says…, Investment Visas / 6 responses

You may be a director, shareholder or an employee of a company which is not incorporated in Hong Kong but thinking about the possibility of setting up shop here.

In such a case, is it possible for the overseas incorporated entity to sponsor employment or business investment visa permissions for one of their officers or staff to  work in Hong Kong?

The answer is very much a case of “it depends”:

– It depends if the entity has organised itself to carry on a business here by registering with the Registrar of Companies as a Part Eleven company and secured a business registration certificate from the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

– It depends on what the Immigration Department make of the legal and financial constructs of that enterprise when assessing the overseas’ company’s credentials as a valid sponsor of visa permissions for foreign national staff, officers and shareholders.

– It depends on whether or not the proposed business activity bringing the foreign corporation to Hong Kong will be able to make a substantial contribution to our economy.

– And it depends on the business need for, and the special skills, knowledge and experience of, the foreign national proposed for sponsorship of Hong Kong employment or investment visa permissions.

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Will the Fact of 2 Previous Visits to Hong Kong Help or Hinder a Prolonged Visitor Visa Application for My Same Sex Partner?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Family Visas, Your Question Answered / 5 responses

Procedural question about same sex partner visa applications today – yet an important one all the same.

QUESTION

Hi Stephen,

I am in a loving committed and stable relationship with a same sex partner (both Irish citizens). I am already sponsored through my MNC but my partner has accompanied me here for the past 4 months on visitor visas granted at the airport upon arrival (he is entitled to 90 days each time given passport type).

 When applying for the prolonged visitor visa, does it ‘hurt’ his chances given he’s already been here on two visitor visa entries? Or will the merits of our case stand on their own?

And if we’re nearing the end of the 2nd visitor visa term, can we apply (and should we apply?) for the prolonged visitor visa before he leaves and returns or should we do it all in one go upon his next entry?

Thanks!

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>> MENTIONED IN PODCAST >>Understanding the procedure for a same sex partner visa application

10 Must Have resources for a successful same sex partner visa application

Hong Kong employment and same sex partner visas – a joint application strategy

How important are photographs when documenting relationship bona fides in a same sex partner visa application for Hong Kong?

How does legal marriage or a civil partnership impact on the visa application situation for same sex partners seeking to live and work in Hong Kong?

PODCAST ANSWER

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The Visa Geeza on RTHK Radio Three – June 2013

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Long Stay & PR, Musing / 1 response

When I appeared on Morning Brew over at RTHK Radio 3 yesterday, Phil kicked us off with a listener question about the interplay between Hong Kong and Chinese immigration.

He then proceeded to unleash a barrage of different topics on me – from the kind of documentation needed to process a dependent visa, through to the immigration options for temporary residents who’s marriages have irretrievably broken down during their time in Hong Kong.

All good stuff.

Then, right at the end, he stumped me with the question as to what had stumped me recently. Thinking about it in the taxi on my way back to Wanchai, I realised that the only thing that had so stumped me of late was Phil’s question itself! Almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy!

You can listen to us go at it here.

Phil runs an excellent Morning Brew Facebook page  – check it out!

Even if you’re nowhere near a radio, you can listen to Phil’s show daily live via the web here.

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The Visa Geeza Previously on RTHK Radio 3 Morning Brew

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Legal Champion of Immigration Rights in Hong Kong – Mark Daly Talks at the FCC (VIDEO)

 

Listen To The Show

Podcast: Play in new window

How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Are You A Foreign National?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Long Stay & PR, Musing / 9 responses

  10 Must Have Resources for A Successful Hong Kong Right of Abode Application

There are in fact several categories of individuals under the basic law who are eligible for consideration for the right of abode in Hong Kong (relating mostly to Chinese nationals) but this presentation is limited to just one type of person, namely, foreign nationals who have lived lawfully in Hong Kong continuously for a minimum period of time.

To qualify the right of abode such foreign nationals must be a person not of Chinese nationality who has entered Hong Kong with a valid travel document, has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and has taken Hong Kong as his place of permanent residence.

On the face of it, this seems straight forward enough but, as we shall see, there can be wrinkles which can make for uncertainties so in the next segments we shall look closely at the complete approvability test for the right of abode and learn how it breaks down and what does and does not pass muster en route to the golden ticket.

More In This Series

1. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Introduction

2. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Relax, No Need To Takes Notes!

3. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Order of Business

4. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Must Have Resources

5. How To Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Are You a Foreign National?

6. How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – The Approvability Test

7.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Continuous Ordinary Residence

8. How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – 7 Years? Starting When?

9. How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – What is “Qualifying Residence”?

10. How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Are You Truly Settled in Hong Kong?

11.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Is Hong Kong Your Only Place of Permanent Residence?

12.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Security Objections & Outstanding Taxation Liabilities

13.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Paperwork, Process, Patience

14.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Losing It!

15.  How to Apply for the Right of Abode in Hong Kong – Without Any Professional Help – Documents Required

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How does the right of abode downgrade to the right to land and what are the implications of this?

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The shiny new Hong Kong Visa D-I-Y Kit – Get Yours Today – 100% FREE!

Hong Kong Visa Information, Help & Guidance On Your Mobile – 100% Free!

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing, Resource / 5 responses

Actually, this is not new as such.

We first released the mobile version of our websites in February 2012 but with the recent redesign of the Hong Kong Visa Handbook, the Hong Kong Visa Centre and the Hong Kong Visa Geeza blog, it kinda slipped into the background.

So I’m taking the opportunity on this quiet Dragon Boat Day to get the fact of our mobile site into our content pool.

I don’t have a lot to say about it really other than you might find it really useful if you’re sat in Immigration Tower waiting for your number to be called and wondering what might be going on ‘behind the scenes’ of your all-important Hong Kong visa application.

Our mobile site is an amalgamation of the content from all three of our websites with live feeds in from our YouTube Channel, this Blog and direct access to all the information on the Hong Kong Visa Handbook via the D-I-Y Visa Kit (which we specifically developed to allow the consolidation of all of our visa-specific content into a single resource suitable for access understanding the dynamics of mobile devices).

‘Nuff said.

However you find and use our content, we hope it helps you solve a problem or answers a question.

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Are Such Facilities as Virtual Offices, Incubators, Serviced Offices & Co-working Spaces Deemed ‘Suitable Business Premises’ for the Purposes of a Hong Kong Business Investment Visa Application?

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

Hong Kong has an incredibly dynamic economy with the reality that the Hong Kong Immigration Department has recognized that entrepreneurs today have a wide variety of options in which to home their start up and early stage businesses.

Consequently, incubators, serviced offices and co-working spaces are generally acceptable to the Immigration Department as early homes for such nascent enterprises.

Indeed, applications for business investment visas are not often denied just because a foreign national entrepreneur wishes to surround himself with like-minded people in the cost effective business-friendly environment which incubators and co-working spaces afford.

Similarly, ImmD are prepared to accept the notion that a mere virtual office will suffice for the first few months in the life of a new business assuming that the business plan underpinning the application for a business investment visa provides a clear pathway to the creation of local jobs and with it an upgrade into more suitable ‘bricks and mortar’ type premises once the first employee has been recruited.

That employee, after all, cannot report to your spare bedroom or kitchen table to perform their duties for you!

However, suitable business premises are just one facet of the investment visa approvability test.

It’s important not to be lulled into a false sense of security expecting your visa to be approved just because  you’ve made business accommodation arrangements which are generally acceptable to the Immigration Department.

There’s quite a lot more to it that just where your business lives.

More Stuff to Help You Along

What visa category should I use to expand my SME business operations from Gibraltar to Hong Kong?

How a Hong Kong employment visa application can go completely wrong if you don’t know what you’re doing!

The anatomy of a Hong Kong investment visa application taking just 7 weeks to approval

Is there any advantage in being an existing resident of Hong Kong when you make an application for a Hong Kong investment visa?

Hong Kong investment visa wrongly applied for – clearing up the confusion and getting the correct employment visa instead