Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

Is It Possible for an SME to Sponsor a Work Visa for a Foreign National Employee in Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says… / 2 responses

Even if your business is relatively small, it is not totally impossible for you to serve as an immigration sponsor for a foreign national staff who you might wish to take up employment for you here in the HKSAR.

In these circumstances, not only must the visa applicant him or herself pass the approvability test of possessing special skills knowledge or experience of value to and not readily available in Hong Kong…

But your business must also demonstrate that you are justified in engaging the services of this applicant and you might also have to show that the skills involved can not readily be found within the local workforce.

Additionally, as this will be the first time your company has sought to sponsor such a foreigner to work for you in Hong Kong, the Immigration Department will expressly drill down on and request you to provide information on such things as:

–          Your financial turnover and profitability.

–          The local employees who work for you, their job titles and what they get paid.

–          Who your clients are and what your business is really all about, and

–          Your office accommodation arrangements

Moreover, if your company is less than 2 years old, the Hong Kong ID will also require specific information and representations to prove to them that your business will be able to, in not yet in fact, make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong.

More Stuff You May Find Useful

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Sometimes Large Employers Experience Hong Kong Employment Visa Refusals Too – Why Might This Be So?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says…, Refusals & Appeals / 8 responses

Most sizeable employers in Hong Kong have in house expertise when it comes to applying for employment visas for their foreign national staff.

And, unless they specifically outsource their immigration service needs to professional advisors, they are typically very comfortable in making and managing work visa applications when the need arises.

But sometimes, these applications can come a cropper!

You see, there are three types of employment visa cases which the Hong Kong Immigration Department see each and every working day.

These are cases which just the need the basic of administration, which otherwise require a lot of argument, or are a hybrid of the 2.

In 99% percent of all cases with a large employer sponsoring the application, the case tends to be just administrative in nature, meaning the forms must be filled in properly, the simple set of  supporting documentation presented in good order and the applicant is obviously  a ‘professional’ for the purposes of the General Employment Policy under Hong Kong immigration law.

The problem lies in the 1% of cases which are not just administrative but actually fall elsewhere on the argumentation-administration axis.

So, when employment visa applications sponsored by large employers get refused, it is always down to this reality: the internal human resources executive tasked with getting the visa has not understood the need to argue for an approval and has assumed that it is mostly just a matter of filling in the forms, just like always.

More Stuff You Might Find Useful

Getting a working visa is just a matter of filling in the forms, right?

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10 ‘must have’ resources for a successful Hong Kong employment visa application

Hong Kong Investment Visa – An Excellent Example of a Foreign SME That Could Expect Immigration Approval to Relocate to the HKSAR

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Your Question Answered / 1 response

Even modestly scaled SME’s with a track record of operations overseas can expect the Hong Kong Immigration Department to look favourably on an application from the owner for a business investment visa to, effectively, redomicile the business operations into Hong Kong. This question asked recently sets the scene nicely.

QUESTION

“Firstly thanks for providing such an excellent resource for HK visa information!

 I’m a 24 year from Canada currently working for myself as a sole trader developing and selling software on the internet with a view to applying for a business investment visa within the next year.

 My plan would be to register a company in Hong Kong, and perform all my business through it for roughly 6 months (whilst residing in Canada of course!) so that I can build up capital and have documented proof I have a profitable venture when presenting HKID with my visa application.

Currently I am the only person developing the software and I sell around 75,000 HKD each month, this figure is increasing month on month. I estimate I can make profits of 100,000 HKD/month by early 2013. I would have around 300,000 HKD I could invest into the business at the time of the visa application.

 Upon the visa being granted my plan would be to rent a small office in a cheaper part of Hong Kong (possibly the New Territories) and hire 1 local to begin with a plan to hire 1 more within a year. Both employees would work in a software development role where there would be a lot of scope for learning about and working with cutting edge web technologies. Their salaries would be around 10 – 15k per month.

What I’d really like to know is do you think the figures quoted above are realistic for a successful visa application? I know there’s most likely no official minimum figure but after reading your website a lot of the articles quote figures quite a bit higher so I’m slightly doubtful. Also would my age be an issue? do HKID favor slightly older more experienced business owners?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!”

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PODCAST ANSWER

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The Visa Geeza on RTHK Radio Three – Oct 2012

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Musing, Visitor Visas / No responses

On Mr Whelan’s show today, he was keen to learn more about visitor visas and also the immigration options for dependant visa holders who’s marriages have irretrievably broken down. We also had a short chat about the two-party nature of a Hong Kong employment visa application and the likelihood of small business owners actually being permitted by the HKID to employ a foreign worker.

You can listen to our conversation here.

I will be visiting Phil at the end of November, not exactly sure when at the mo.

In the meantime, why not check out Morning Brew on Facebook and also listen live to Phil’s show via the web here.

 

Listen To The Show

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Hong Kong Visas – The Long Stay Visitor’s Awkward Predicament

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in 60 Second Snapshot, VG Front Page, Visitor Visas / 25 responses

3 or 4 times a week I receive a call from people who have exactly the same problem.It happens so often now, that I can tell what the problem is within the first 5 seconds of our conversation kicking off.

And 9 times out of 10 these calls all follow a similar story line.

Namely…..

“ I have been here as a visitor for several months, coming and going to extend my visa. I’ve been checking out my options and I’m just about ready to make an application but I still need a couple of months more.

The problem is that when I came in last time Immigration gave me only one week and stamped SCL in my passport. I need more time, can you help me? “

And in almost every case, the answer is no.

Effectively once you have a Short Conditional Landing endorsed in your passport, your time in Hong Kong as a visitor is effectively coming to an end.

The only way to relieve this negative status is to leave Hong Kong for a minimum of 12 months or subsequently go on to secure a residence visa. But you will have to wait outside of Hong Kong until that residence visa application has been finalized.

So either way, it’s time to start packing your bags.

The conversations that I have with these unfortunate people all tend to end in the same way.

You see, whilst the Immigration Department do have a very flexible, friendly and liberal approach to visitors to Hong Kong, it is important to remember that visitor mean visitor.

It doesn’t mean quasi-resident or long stay comer and goer.

The Department are well aware that opportunities in Hong Kong for visitors present themselves all the time and are more than happy to allow a foreign national sufficient time to get his ducks lined up in a row whilst the conditions for a resident visa application manifest themselves.

But the generous 90 or 180 day limit of stay afforded to most western nationalities is, with one or 2 trips in and out, mostly enough time to get everything ready for the main application and any longer than this puts the Department on notice that something may be amiss, for example, that the visitor may be working illegally or has established a business without their approval.

So, when they suspect this may be the case, they simply come down hard.

Bang, here’s your short conditional landing and then off you go. Almost without exception.

With only limited resources, it’s the only way the Immigration Department can police the millions of visitors who come to Hong Kong each year.

When they act, they do so decisively and appeals for further extensions of time typically just fall on deaf ears.

Everyone seems to know someone who just keeps coming and going but eventually they go, and never come back.

More Stuff to Help You Along

Why internet forums are a cr@p source of Hong Kong visa & immigration advice

Will any time you spend in Hong Kong as a visitor count towards the magic seven years for the right of abode?

Is it possible to get an extension to my visitor visa in order to stay with my girlfriend here?

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

Britcham spills the beans on the Hong Kong Visa Centre’s biggest secret!

Why Do Some Hong Kong Visa Applications Take Months to Finalise (if Ever)?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Hadley Says…, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / 41 responses

If your application for a Hong Kong visa is taking a very long time to process any number of things could be going on to cause the delay.

For example, the Immigration Department may be doing deep background checks on you or any of your accompanying family members to assess your bona fides in respect of your identity and your relationship with people included in your application.

They may also be looking into the details of any employer and related overseas entities to better understand their origins and whether or not they could be said to represent a security threat to the HKSAR.

Sometimes, however, the Immigration Department choose not to finalise an application, keeping it open and pending on an indefinite basis as they have concerns about the bona fides and suspect there may be an immigration office being committed by the applicants – but don’t have the jurisdiction to prosecute as it is all happening outside of Hong Kong.

Similarly, if the applicant is in Hong Kong and the Immigration Department have concerns about an application but no evidence of any wrong doing when it basically should be approved all things considered, they may deliberately not finalise an application expecting that prolonged processing time will cause the applicant to withdraw and thereby solving a problem without the department needing to actually come to a decision.

As you can tell, these issues all relate back to the role that the Immigration Department play as part of the Security Branch of the HKSAR, so the bottom line is this.

If it’s taking a very long time, you can be very sure they believe there is a problem.

More Info You Might Find Useful

Getting a working visa for Hong Kong is just a matter of filling in the forms, right?

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

Why internet forums are a rubbish source of Hong Kong visa and immigration advice

Why do Hong Kong investment visas get denied?

Hong Kong Immigration… What Does It Mean… Slippers And Pipe Visa?

Do I Automatically Qualify for a Hong Kong Dependant Visa if My Partner Has a Work or Investment Visa Here?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Family Visas, Hadley Says… / 12 responses

The rule for dependant visas in Hong Kong is very simple and easy to understand.

In order to qualify, the family members must be either the legal spouse or unmarried children under the age of 18.

Where the principal applicant is moving to Hong Kong for work or investment, the family members simply follow in his or her wake, securing dependant visas as an adjunct to the main application, just so long as the main applicant can, as part of the application process, demonstrate that, as a family, they can all have a roof over their head in Hong Kong and will have food on the table without recourse to any kind of public assistance.

All pretty logical and sensible really.

Moreover, once the visas have been granted, the period of stay the dependants receive mirrors that of their main family sponsor exactly all throughout their time together in Hong Kong.

This means that, for example, if the principal changes jobs or immigration status, the family’s dependant visas will carry on unaffected unless the Immigration Department specifically intervene and change their limits of stay.

But it is very unlikely they will change any of the conditions though, so you don’t have to worry too much about that.

More Stuff to Help You Along

Married to a PHKID holder overseas – the Hong Kong visa situation for the foreign national spouse

What are your visa options in Hong Kong if your marriage has irretrievably broken down?

What Hong Kong visa options exist for unmarried trailing partners?

I have a PRC national spouse resident on the Mainland – can she get a dependant visa for Hong Kong?

Can I bring my elderly parents with me when I come to take up employment in Hong Kong?