Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

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

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Long Stay & PR, Musing / 2 responses

I have known Mark Daly (and his partner Peter Barnes, no relation) since their time with (sadly departed) Pam Baker in the 1990’s. I have the utmost respect for Mark and Peter and in fact these are the only 2 lawyers in Hong Kong that I refer clients of the Hong Kong Visa Centre to when recourse to the courts is needed to achieve the right immigration outcome.

Mark is responsible for the recent legal challenge to the preclusion of Foreign Domestic Helpers from access to permanent residency in Hong Kong, litigation which at the time of writing is presently ongoing.

In this video recorded at the FCC in February of this year, Mark discusses strategic human rights litigation, refugee and convention against torture law, and the limits of Hong Kong’s judicial review process.

 

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What’s the Situation About the Need for Business Premises as Part of Your Hong Kong Investment Visa Application?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Hadley Says…, Investment Visas / 10 responses

The Hong Kong Immigration Department expect that, as part of any application for an investment visa, the entrepreneur will naturally establish a home for his or her business out of which the enterprise will operate.

Whilst it often makes financial sense for a brand new start up enterprise to initially work from the spare bedroom or kitchen at home, this arrangement, unfortunately, will not pass muster with Wanchai’s Finest down in Immigration Tower.

Where, for example, are the new employees going to report to work each day? Not from your home address, that’s for sure, not so long as the Immigration Department have a say in your plans, it won’t.

Instead, investment visas which get approved these days either:

–          Open their own offices right from the very get go, or

–          Establish a virtual office initially, and then grow into fully serviced offices subsequently, or

–          Take a formal agreement to share another party’s office, often with an aligned business or commercial partner

If you take the latter route, however, it is important that the other party has a formal stamped tenancy agreement to prove that the arrangements are genuine.

Oh, and it helps to submit photographs of your office premises as part of your application bundle.

More Stuff to Help You Along

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The Merits of Applying for a Reconsideration of a Refused Hong Kong Visa Application

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in 60 Second Snapshot, Refusals & Appeals / 8 responses

The saying goes that a lawyer who represents himself in court has a fool for a client.

The same could be said for a refused visa applicant who remains serious about his residence prospects for Hong Kong in the wake of the HKID refusing his application for immigration status here.

Why do I say this?

A Reconsideration application is an appeal and consequently an uphill struggle.

If you were not successful the first time around, you have to ask yourself if you have what it takes to get it right if you have second run at it.

Making a request for Reconsideration is a big step and there is a lot at stake. You can have only one proper go at it so you need to get it right.

Do you have a strong sense of what has gone wrong or are you actually just being driven by the emotion of disappointment?

The application calls for new and previously unsubmitted information which has come to light since the time your refusal was notified to you.

Do you really have this lined up, do you appreciate its strength and do you know how to use it to articulate your augmented story – and actually, is it compelling enough?

Are you too close to this application that you are not being objective? Have you considered, instead, moving past this refusal and going on to progress an alternate application based on revised plans for your life in light of the fact that the HKID are not presently buying into your rationale for you wishing to remain in Hong Kong on the terms enunciated in your refused application?

Have you prepared yourself for another refusal and all that this would entail for you?

It is important to remember that, as a foreign national, especially if you are here as a visitor, you are using the resources of the HKID each time you make an application down at  Immigration Tower.

And with the official fees being as modest as they are, how realistic are you in expecting the HKID to continue to pour resources into your application when they have given full and due consideration to your Original case and found it wanting?

These, and quite few other considerations, are in play in deciding whether to apply for a Reconsideration or not.

So please decide wisely. You only get one good shot.

Do you really want to do it yourself?

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Work Ended – What Visa Options Do You Have to Stay in Hong Kong For Another 2 Years to Get Your Permanent Residency?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Family Visas, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Special Programmes, Your Question Answered / 5 responses

This is a popular topic that people query our websites about, so it’s timely that we received this question out of the blue yesterday. In my answer I refer to the following content resources: QMAS, Dependant Visa, Business Investment Visa.

QUESTION

“I have been working in HK since 2007 on a working visa, which expired in August 2012. Is there any legal status that I can apply for, except getting another job in HK or investing HK10m, to extend my past 5 years so that I can apply for a permanent residency in HK in 2 years time?

I travel often to other countries but I have been practically living in HK and renting an apartment since 1997.  I hold a Canadian passport.   Currently I am here as a visitor.”

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PODCAST ANSWER

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Will Any Time You Spend in Hong Kong as a Visitor Count Towards the Magic 7 Years for the Right of Abode?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Hadley Says…, Long Stay & PR / 24 responses

To get the Right of Abode in Hong Kong you need to:

– Spend seven years continuously resident in the HKSAR

– Have taken Hong Kong as your only place of permanent residence

– Be obviously settled here, and

– Have no outstanding taxation liabilities

Moreover, you need to have held a resident visa in all of that time, except for short periods when your immigration status was in a state of administrative flux.

This means that you can start counting the 7 years from when your first residence visa was issued through to the 7^th year anniversary.

In that time, any short periods where you unexpectedly had to have a visitor visa  (say, if you were changing employers at the time your employment visa expired, or you had to leave Hong Kong temporarily and your visa expired while you were away) will not count against your ‘continuity of residence’ for the purposes of your permanent residency application.

But it is absolutely vital that you have a valid residence visa at the time you file your application for the Right of Abode AND at the time of its approval – otherwise you simply will not qualify.

More Stuff to Help You Along

10 Must Have Resources for a Successful Hong Kong Permanent Residency Application

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The Visa Geeza on RTHK Radio Three – Sept 2012

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Musing / 7 responses

Phil and I covered some interesting ground on Morning Brew yesterday morning, driven mostly by recent posts to this Blog.

If you’re interested in hearing more analysis on the Mike Tyson situation, the crazy American who tried to sue his way into an employment visa and the long stay residence options for people holding Capital Investment visas, then you’ll not want to miss our conversation.

Phil also wanted to know if the Hong Kong employment visa process system under the General Employment Policy administered by the HKID is essentially fair or not.

You can hear how it all panned out by clicking here.

I will be visiting Phil next sometime in October, date to be arranged.

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 Unconditional Stay Status vs. the Right of Abode for CIES Visa Holders

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / 9 responses

The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme is a really neat visa for those well-off enough to be able to afford it. Permanent residency is available at the end of 7 years continuous ordinary residence, but it is not sufficient just to hold the visa – you have to have lived here too…

QUESTION

“Hi Stephen,

I would like to clarify something please. In your article on the Right of Abode you said, “…unless it is obvious, that you have indeed spent a great deal of time continuously outside of Hong Kong during the requisite 7 years.”

Does this apply for Capial Investment Entrant Scheme visa holders? Because we we were absent for quite a significant amount of time (according to the immigration office), but only because we are capital investors, so we are still running businesses outside of HK.

Is there any chance of arguing this? Once again, thank you for your time.”

ANSWER

When the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (“CIES”) was first implemented it introduced, for the very first time, a category of ‘potential’ resident that had, until that time, not existed in the realm of immigration statuses (stati?) in the HKSAR.

Namely, foreign nationals could secure residency in Hong Kong ‘merely’ through the locking in of a set amount of capital into Hong Kong ‘assets’ as defined by Immigration Regulations from time to time; presently HKD10 million, previously HKD6.5 million.

Under the CIES programme the HKID allow holders of this visa type, and their dependant families, the privilege of residence in the HKSAR all throughout the time they have locked their assets into Hong Kong, ostensibly to benefit Hong Kong through that value seemingly flushing around in the economy here.

Whilst the CIES visa provides the opportunity for the holder to take up residence, there is no compulsion for them to do so. There is, unlike other jurisdictions, no ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ quality to the CIES visa.

Consequently, the question was then begged as to what would happen to CIES visa holders at the end of seven years when, essentially, it becomes possible to apply for permanent residency and thereby be freed from the asset lock in conditions which had prevailed previously?

For those CIES visa holders who have indeed taken up full time residency in the HKSAR throughout the prior 7 years and who can demonstrate that they have taken concrete steps towards making Hong Kong their only place of permanent residence (the “approvability test”) the process of converting to PR is relatively straight forward.

But, where the CIES visa holder manifestly does NOT qualify for the Right of Abode, the HKID inadvertently created a policy lacuna in that, such people should also be able to have access to their locked up capital once again and so should be granted an immigration status which rewarded them for committing their capital whilst not punishing them for not qualifying for the Right of Abode.

For those such CIES visa holders, seemingly yourselves included, you are entitled, automatically, to Unconditional Stay (“UCS”) 7 years after your first CIES period of stay was granted.

The difference between the UCS and the Right of Abode is quite straight forward.

UCS is an administrative convenience afforded by the Director of Immigration, whilst the Right of Abode is a statutory right, enshrined in the Basic Law.

I have laboured the answer to your question in this way to illustrate to you how the HKID will be viewing your circumstances. Namely, the nature of the CIES visa anticipates people in your situation and sets out a ‘post-CIES’ immigration status where, by necessity or otherwise, you were never in a position to fully reside in Hong Kong nor put in place the vestiges of a life where you can properly declare that you’ve taken Hong Kong as your only place of permanent residence.

The bottom line is that possession of a residence visa alone, supported by frequent visits to Hong Kong, is not sufficient to qualify for the Right of Abode.

So the argument you are suggesting will not hold any water I’m afraid.

The best you can expect to get is Unconditional Stay and, even then, you need to ensure that you all enter Hong Kong on at least one occasion each 12 months to maintain it – otherwise your 7 years of asset commitment to Hong Kong will all have been for naught.

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

The role of Unconditional Stay in Hong Kong today

Can I swap from Hong Kong dependant visa to a Capital Investment Entrant Scheme visa?

Hong Kong Right of Abode application – arguing away missing periods of residence