Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

Will I Get My First QMAS Visa Extension if I Have Not Yet Taken Up Residence in Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Special Programmes, Your Question Answered / 1 response

I have made known my feelings about the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme in other posts on this Blog but, every once in a while, I get a question from a reader which allows me to add a bit more knowledge to the QMAS programme and I am grateful for the opportunity to share further with you. This time, about the conditions for a first extension. Please read through the following dialogue.

FIRST QUESTION

Hi,  I have been granted a HK QMAS visa. My first year is due to expire in March 2013.

I am currently in South Africa and don’t yet have a job in Hong Kong.

I plan to go to HK in January 2013 to prospect business opportunities and establish the frameworks for a venture funding business.

Can you tell me whether having a company in the early stages of establishment will be enough to renew my QMAS for an additional 2 years?

FIRST RESPONSE

Thanks for your email.

I assume you were admitted under the general points test?

If so, you need to get your skates on.

To get your first extension to your QMAS visa you need to show that you have taken steps to settle in Hong Kong by taking up residence here, e.g. by securing  gainful employment or establishing a business.

It is not sufficient to have just the bare essentials of a company in play (which is easily achieved by merely buying a shelf company, writing up a business plan and funding the bank account of the company to the tune of 6 months cashflow needed to finance the business) but you also need to show that you are actually resident in the HKSAR.

If you have good reason for why you’re ‘late’ in getting off the mark/taking up residence in Hong Kong, that will no doubt prove acceptable.

However, the QMAS programme is subject to a quota system.

If the HKID conclude you’re not actively in the throes of settlement, they may not agree to extend you.

So a January kick-off with a first renewal date of March is cutting it very fine indeed.

SECOND QUESTION

Thanks for your message. Very useful info.

Yes I am under the general points test. 

My current business is consulting and advisory to tech based and software start-ups throughout Asia.

In some cases I also take small investment stakes in new ventures and board positions.

My past year has been occupied with laying the groundwork for launching a small cap seed stage venture capital and advisory firm to capitalise on Asia’s mobile and internet growth.

I envisage Hong Kong to be a base for investing both in HK and the wider Asian region.

However, given my foreign investors’ locations and the outside of Hong Kong groundwork that needs to be put in, basing myself out of HK at this early stage is not feasible.

I am now at a stage where the bulk of the groundwork and due diligence has been done and I am now comfortable with establishing a business there. 

While I understand ImmD’s requirement re taking up residence, is there any requirement that that this needs to be done by a certain time i.e. is there a minimum amount of time that they like to see that you have taken up residence in HK?

And what proof do they like to see?

The ID(E)982 Guidance Notes appear not to require any documentation showing that you have taken up residence, just merely that you either have a Hong Kong employer (bank account, employment contract, pay slips) or have established a business.

Will they take into consideration work done out of Hong Kong to establish yourself  there so long as you have attempted to settle in at the time of QMAS renewal?

I guess the frustration for me is the sheer amount of time ImmD has taken to process the QMAS visa (over a year in my case) which leaves me in limbo and scuppers other opportunities arising during the time it took for ImmD to process my application.

Thanks for your help. Much appreciated.

FOLLOW UP RESPONSE 

There is no specific time (it is not hard and fast) but you need to show you have taken active steps towards taking up residence in Hong Kong.

This means that you need to have a residence here and, by this, it is a clear indication that you have begun your act of settling in Hong Kong.

That it took you a while to get going is not an issue in of itself, so long as you can set out how your delayed life in Hong Kong has been as a direct consequence of your business establishment preparations (timing driven by the unpredictable nature of the QMAS process itself), but all of that is now behind you as you have now manifestly relocated to the HKSAR as evidenced in the documentation you submit which speaks to your new business and the place where you lay your head each night is definitively ‘your home’.

The longer you leave it, the greater your burden of proof.

More Stuff to May Find Useful or Interesting

Is there such a thing as an Occupations-in-Demand list for the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme?

How important are prior employment testimonials in a Hong Kong QMAS application?

Is the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme just too competitive to be realistic

Realistically, what is the minimum number of points for a shot at a QMAS approval?

What Happens to Your Hong Kong Right of Abode if, as a UK Citizen, You Choose to Naturalise as a Taiwanese National?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / No responses

One of the really neat things about running this Blog, is the incredibly varied type of Hong Kong visa and immigration question I receive. Like this one today, which is a definite first for me!

QUESTION

Hello, I am a white British person considering applying for Taiwanese Citizenship.

I also have PR in Hong Kong. If I got a Taiwanese passport does the Hong Kong government consider me to now be ‘Chinese’ or do they not respect the authority of the Taiwanese government to issue such a status?

Eg, If I leave Hong Kong for 36 months will I keep PR or lose it?

More Stuff to May Find Useful or Interesting

Can you get the right of abode if you were a Hong Kong Belonger many years ago?

Why would you choose unconditional stay after 7 years residence in Hong Kong when the right of abode is available instead?

Will the 2 years that I spent studying in China break my continuity of residence for the purposes of a Hong Kong right of abode application?

I am an overseas Chinese and my mother holds a permanent ID card and a HKSAR passport – do I have the right of abode in Hong Kong?

10 must have resources for a successful right of abode application in Hong Kong

PODCAST ANSWER

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Why Would You Choose Unconditional Stay After 7 Years Residence in Hong Kong When the Right of Abode is Available Instead?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in 60 Second Snapshot, Long Stay & PR, Special Programmes / 9 responses

 

Unconditional stay and the right of abode are 2 very different immigration statuses but they both have one thing in common.

Namely, you need to have been continuously and ordinarily resident in the HKSAR for at least 7 years in or to qualify for either of these immigration consents.

But, whilst the right of abode is the Rolls Royce immigration status representing defacto Hong Kong citizenship (albeit without a passport if you’re not a Chinese national), unconditional stay is merely an administrative convenience afforded to you by the Director of Immigration.

If you have the right of abode in Hong Kong you get:

• to land
• to be free from any condition of stay (including a limit of stay)
• not to be deported; and
• not to be removed.

Moreover, so long as you make one entry into Hong Kong in any 3 year given period, you will not lose your right of abode. If you fail to meet this condition, however, you are simply downgraded to the right to land.

If you only go for unconditional stay, though, you are allowed to remain here unconditionally, meaning no sponsor or further permission of the Immigration Department are needed to live out your time in the HKSAR, but you will lose this status if you are absent from Hong Kong for more than 365 continuous days in a row.

So, most people who qualify for upgraded immigration status after living continuously in Hong Kong for 7 years go on to secure the right of abode bypassing unconditional stay completely.

However, for those long stay residents who have not taken Hong Kong as their only place of permanent residence or for Capital Investment Entrant Scheme visa holders who have not lived full time in Hong Kong during the 7 years of holding that status, Unconditional Stay is an obvious choice to go for.

More Stuff You Might Find Useful

Will the 2 years I spent studying in China break my continuous residence for the Hong Kong right of abode?

So, just what IS the deal with the right to land in Hong Kong anyway?

Hong Kong right of abode application – when does the clock start ticking?

Hong Kong unconditional stay vs the right to land for CIES visa holders?

10 must have resources for a successful Hong Kong permanent residency application

Is It Actually Becoming Harder to Get Your Hong Kong Employment or Investment Visa Approved?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in 60 Second Snapshot, Employment Visas, Investment Visas / 10 responses

One refrain about the Hong Kong visa process that I have heard constantly down the years is that ‘it’s getting tougher’.

In fact, it always seems to be ‘getting tougher’.

I heard this prior to 1997 when all the British nationals needed to bring their immigration status into line with the arrangements for UK citizens in light of the Handback to China.

I also heard it during the time of the Asian economic crisis, 9/11, the Iraq War, SARS and during the GFC.

In my experience, however, it never really gets tougher, per se.

What tends to happen is that, in times of economic doldrums, the Hong Kong ID will scrutinize marginal employment visa applications more closely, to ensure that, properly stated, job offers extended to foreign national applicants are in fact not best taken up by others from within the local workforce.

It’s worth restating, that this tends to happen only at the very lower end of the employment spectrum, where the compensation on offer is just at or barely above the bare minimum required for approval.

Most other employment visa applicants just have a normal time of it.

Conversely, when the economy is bad is tends to be easier to get investment visas approved.

This is due to the fact that any foreign national who is committing capital to our economy and is manifestly capable of creating a local employment position or 2 through the implementation of a business plan, is mostly warmly welcomed when the economy is not performing especially well.

In so far as the process goes, the Hong Kong Immigration Department tend not to be overly bureaucratic and focus on getting the job done with a bare minimum of fuss.

This means that, unlike so many other jurisdictions, they are usually happy to work with mere copy documents, often those supplied just by fax, in an effort to bring efficiency to the Hong Kong immigration application process.

So no, it’s not getting tougher, it’s always pretty much the same – and has been like this for 20 years at least.

More Stuff to Help You Along

10 must have resources for any Hong Kong investment visa application

10 must have resources for a successful Hong Kong working visa application

How and why Hong Kong attracts foreign national talent

Sometimes even large employers experience Hong Kong employment visa refusals – why might this be so?

How to gee up a Hong Kong working visa application that is taking too long to finalise

 

The 4 Essential Aspects of a Capital Investment Entrant Scheme Visa Application Approval

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

If you’re applying for a visa under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, it is vitally important that four specific issues be addressed positively before you submit your application.

Firstly, you need to have a minimum of ten million Hong Kong dollars to lock into certain Hong Kong dollar denominated permissible investment asset classes which, at this time, specifically EXCLUDES Hong Kong real estate.

Secondly, you must be able to show that you have beneficially owned the funds to be invested into the Scheme for a minimum of 24 months immediately prior to submitting your application – so you need to take care in your calculations if some of these funds have been held in joint accounts with other people such as your spouse.

Thirdly, in addition to the funds to be invested, you need to show that you have further funds, over and above the 10 million, which you can use to live while you get settled in the HKSAR.

Finally, you must be free of a criminal record involving serious crime.

Depending on the timing of your actual investment, either before or after you decide to participate in the Scheme, you can expect your application to take between 4 and 7 months to finalise.

Be aware, however, that once you have your Capital Investment Entrant Scheme visa endorsed in your passport, your money is locked into Hong Kong if you wish to maintain your status.

But your immigration prize is effectively unlimited permissions to work, study, join in a business or indeed any other activity in Hong Kong – just so long as its legal!

More Stuff You May Find Interesting

Unconditional stay vs. right of abode after 7 years residence in Hong Kong under a CIES visa

Can I swap from a dependant visa to a capital investment entrant scheme visa in Hong Kong?

Is the Hong Kong capital investment entrant scheme actually fit for purpose?

The 10 key reasons why foreigners seek visas to live and work in Hong Kong

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!”

More Stuff to May Find Useful or Interesting

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

The economy at home is very bad – so what investment visa options exist for you in Hong Kong?

I have a socially advantageous yet modestly capitalised business plan  – can I get an investment visa for Hong Kong?

10 must have resources for any successful Hong Kong investment visa application

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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