Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

Is the Hong Kong Capital Investment Entrant Scheme Actually Fit for Purpose?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing / 6 responses

The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (“CIES”) came into effect on October 27, 2003. The purpose of the CIES is to encourage financial investment in Hong Kong, granting residence to qualifying applicants who invest a minimum of HK$10 million into qualifying Hong Kong financial assets (not, for the moment, including real estate – but that might change).

Residence is granted for an initial period of two years and is extendable in two year increments upon furnishing of proof that the qualifying investments have been maintained throughout. Permanent residency is available after seven years continuous ordinary residence, subject to satisfaction of normal criteria for qualification for issuance of a Permanent Hong Kong Identity Card.

The CIES applies to foreign nationals, residents of Macau and Taiwan and stateless persons enjoying permanent residence in a third country. Chinese nationals who have obtained permanent residence status overseas are eligible but Mainland residents have traditionally been excluded from the CIES due to foreign currency controls (but that might change too!)

To qualify for admission under the CIES the entrant must have net assets of not less than HK$10 million to which he is absolutely beneficially entitled throughout the two years immediately preceding his application – and also have further funds to be able to live independently without recourse to those HK$10 million.

An applicant must then invest HK10 million into qualifying assets (permissible asset classes) which comprise HKSE listed and HKD denominated equities, debt (government and HKSE listed corporate), Certificates of Deposit and government approved mutual funds. The list is updated relatively often and can be found here.

The money must remain continuously invested for seven years before the applicant and his family can apply for the Right of Abode (or Unconditional Stay if the residence in Hong Kong has not been continuous throughout that time or the applicant cannot put his hand on his heart and validly declare that he has taken Hong Kong as his only place of permanent residence).

Participants in the CIES are subject to a Portfolio Maintenance Requirement. Investments are ring fenced for assurance of portfolio integrity to ensure that the participant in the CIES does not reduce his investment amount during the currency of his residence in the HKSAR.

Proof of continuing ownership of the qualifying financial assets throughout his residence is required up to the minimum HK$10 million (sum total asset value) and the CIES entrant is required to transact only in permissible investment assets in a designated account opened with a single financial intermediary. Moreover, the CIES entrant is required to undertake that he will abide by the CIES rules all throughout his time in Hong Kong as an entrant under the Scheme.

CIES entrants are not allowed to cash in any capital appreciation of their qualifying portfolio. Conversely, if the value of the portfolio falls below the original HK$10 million, no topping up is required.

The CIES entrant is allowed to switch investments from one permissible asset class to another provided that the entire proceeds from the sale of the initial assets are reinvested. A complete record of every change and movement in the asset portfolio should be kept for the purposes of applying for an extension of stay when the present period of stay expires.

Applicants are subject to security vetting. Those who have committed serious criminal offences are not accepted under the CIES.

Time line to approval is 4-6 weeks after the Immigration Department are in receipt of all the documentation needed to consider an application.

A successful CIES applicant is allowed to bring in his spouse and unmarried dependant children under 18 years.

However, he must be able to demonstrate that he is capable of supporting and accommodating himself and his dependants on his own without relaying on any return on the Permissible Assets, employment or public assistance in Hong Kong.

This notwithstanding, once approved, the CIES entrant may freely take employment or join in a business without further restriction. Dependants admitted under the CIES are not allowed to take up employment or join in any business without first securing the consent of the Director of Immigration.

The initial period of stay granted is two years, renewable subject to continuing portfolio eligibility.

Applicants first secure an Approval in Principle (based upon proof of net worth and security vetting) and are granted a six month Visitor visa to allow them to land in Hong Kong.

They then acquire the qualifying investments under the CIES and, upon furnishing of proof to this effect, convert their Approval in Principal to a Formal Approval, procuring their ‘full’ CIES period of stay at that time.

Applicants who have already invested HK$10 million in permissible asset classes within six months of making their application are granted Formal Approval at the outset (subject to successful completion of the normal security vetting procedures).

Related Posts for Further Information

Hong Kong business investment visa approval where the funding was running out

One man business investment visas for Hong Kong – what’s required

Do you have a business plan template I can use for my Hong Kong business investment visa application?

How about you? What has your experience been with the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme visa?

Hong Kong Investment Visa Approved Where the Funding Was Running Out

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Case Study, Investment Visas / 7 responses

Our clients were UK nationals, he was an RFID engineer and his wife was a marketing expert. They had an interesting business plan to use Hong Kong as a hub for a new business manufacturing and distributing a radio frequency identity device to be incorporated into consumer electronics working seamlessly with smart phones.

Their intention was to complete the prototype in Taiwan, manufacture in China and manage the business through Hong Kong. They were both visitors to Hong Kong although his wife had many years previously held an employment visa as part of her earlier career before she had married in the UK.

Their business plan was an interesting one although it was not incredibly well funded. They had sufficient funds to finance their business in Hong Kong for the first six months of operations, which is typically sufficient for the purposes of an investment visa approval, but most of their capital had already been expended on the R&D and prototype development work undertaken in Taiwan.

When they came to us we had a long discussion about the pros and cons of the submission methodology for their application and settled on an entry visa application.

What this means is that we would make the application whilst they were physically outside of Hong Kong and promote the contention that their business planning was principally being undertaken ‘pro-forma’.

In this regard we would set out for the HKID exactly what the clients INTENDED to do once their visas were approved and allow the Immigration Department to rule on their case as though they were not yet landed in Hong Kong and so did not need to satisfy some of the more stringent requirements of the investment visa approvability test  (for example, taking immediately positive steps towards establising business premises or recruiting employees early on in the piece as the business plan, post approval, called for).

This approach was really necessitated by the fact that whilst the prototype was almost ready but it had been subject to several months of delays in Taiwan as they sought to overcome an unforseen engineering challenge. This had eaten into their ready reserves of capital and meant that they didn’t have too much excess capital beyond the first six months of operating expenses to fund their Hong Kong plan.

So, even though as UK citizens, they could have easily sat out the 2-3 months case processing time with their 180 days period of stay as visitors, it made  more sense for them to apply while they were outside of Hong Kong, which we did submitting the application directly to the 24/F entry employment (investment) section.

Their intention was to stay close the action in Taiwan as the prototype neared completion and if the timing lined up nicely, have their investment visa approved in Hong Kong at about that time they were ready to tool up for manufacturing at a factory in China which they had already contracted with.

After submission, the normal process played itself out. About 10 days later we received an official acknowledgement of receipt card from the HKD with the case reference number included. 10 days or so after that we got  a veritable laundry list requesting further and better particulars of our clients business plans for Hong Kong and next level detail of supplementing the quite considerable information and documentation that had been inclued in the original application bundle.

One key element of the HKID requests was proof of source of funds, as well as their amounts.

As our clients has been active in Taiwan, Hong Kong , China AND the UK since they had started work on their product, they had bank accounts scattered across these four countries and each account contained an element of the funding they would need for the purposes of their business plan.

This meant the HKID’s request for updated information was, certainly in the case of China, slightly problematic as it was not always possible to get an updated statement due to a lack of internet banking facilities on the accounts.

Another curve ball which was thrown into the case consideration process mix related to the sponsor of their application, an eminent professor at a Hong Kong university.

As the technical aspects of the application were extremely complex to fathom, it became apparent that the HKID needed to be able to rely on the express testimony of someone forming part of the application who was professionally qualified to speak to the validity of the engineering concept and also its significant potential in the market place once they had moved on to production.

As a result, the HKID came back as asked our clients sponsor to provide an professional opinion as to the engineering and commercial merits, which he did, and this box was ultimately ticked and the case progress further forward.

In addition, we received three phone calls out of the blue from the HKID officer tasked with the application who wanted us to confirm certain points on the application and supply updated information. All told, we counted 7 discrete sets of submission and interactions with the HKID on this case before it went on to be approved.

To complete the process, we collected the approved visa labels from the HKID on behalf of our client, couriered them to Taiwan and coordinated their arrival dates in Hong Kong so that we could make the appointments for their HKID cards the day after they arrived with their new residence visas.

Related Posts For Further Information

Hong Kong investment visas – 3 case examples which would not get approved

Hong Kong investment visas – what’s involved?

One man investment visa for Hong Kong – what’s required?

 

How about you? What kind of experience have you had in progressing an investment visa application with the Hong Kong Immigration Department?

The Visa Geeza on RTHK Radio Three – June 2012

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Musing, Refusals & Appeals, Visitor Visas / 9 responses

After a bit of confusion over scheduling, on the 11th of June I finally made it back to the studios at RTHK in Broadcast Drive to once again appear as a guest on Phil Whelan’s Morning Brew show. This morning we talked about a lot of stuff, but Phil was keen to press the issue of foreigners who spend a great deal of time in Hong Kong as visitors and what the Hong Kong Immigration Department make of their constant to-ing and fro-ing to extend their limit of stay. Phil also pushed me on my view as to what might actually be going on when high profile personalities are denied visas to come to the HKSAR.

You can listen to the session here.

I will be visiting Phil next sometime in July, date to be decided.

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

 

Listen To The Show

Podcast: Play in new window

The Visa Geeza on RTHK Radio Three – May 2012

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Musing, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / 2 responses

On May 3rd Phil Whelan had me back on his Morning Brew show on Radio Three to talk about Hong Kong visa and immigration matters. It had been a while since I had seen him and spoken on the show, but it was as though almost nothing had changed (not least the stunning decor of the studio!).

You can listen to the session here

I will be visiting Phil next on June 11.

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

 

Listen To The Show

Podcast: Play in new window

Hong Kong Employment Visa – Teenage High School Graduate Gets Approved!

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Case Study, Employment Visas / 11 responses

There are about 15,000 Hong Kong employment visas granted each year. Every one of these applications is unique with its own particular qualities and circumstances.

Consequently the application of the approvability test for permission to work in the HKSAR, obviously, differs from case to case.

The test for approval places a burden on the applicant to show that he or she possesses special skills knowledge or experience of value to and not readily available in Hong Kong.

Additionally, the proposed sponsoring employer has to demonstrate it is justified in engaging the services of the expatriate applicant as opposed to a ‘local person’ (defined as any local resident who does not need the approval of the Immigration department to take up that job.)

However, in order to shed a little light on how the test can be applied by way of an exception which proves the rule, I do have one case example which serves to illustrate not only how the approvability test is applied in practice but also how the Immigration Department are prepared to accept a well articulated argument that, once the facts have been fully assessed and appreciated, simply adds up and will lead to the much desired Hong Kong employment visa approval.

Our client was just 19. He was Japanese and the son of an eel farmer.

He had only a high school graduate diploma to his name but had been working on the family eel farm from a very early age.

His father’s family business was part of a local fish farming cooperative which had made an agreement to provide technical and support services to a newly established eel farming concern just over the border from Hong Kong, in the SAR of Shenzhen.

The intention was, in due course, for our client’s cooperative in Japan and the Shenzhen eel farming business to work together in supplying the finest quality eel products to the Japanese market.

The shortage of suitable land in Japan meant that the cooperative was missing out on high volume supply opportunities at the right quality to Japanese consumers who simply demand the best produce.

The cooperative therefore established a subsidiary entity in the HKSAR with the plan to fulfill their technical and advisory responsibilities to the Shenzhen eel farm from within Hong Kong.

This would involve commuting across the border to visit the China facility every day, laying the ground for a very tax-efficient cross-border trading business with Hong Kong managing the export operations once quality product in the right volume could be supplied ex Shenzhen into the Japanese market.

Therefore, our 19-year-old client was appointed as the Registered Representative in the HKSAR for the Japanese cooperative and dispatched to HK to oversee the Shenzhen eel farm in pursuit of the agreement between the Japanese and Chinese parties.

We were approached by the 19 year old for advice on his employment visa situation and, initially, we were quite skeptical.

At first blush it could not be said that there was an approvable visa opportunity in this case with its highly unusual circumstances.

The applicant was very young; had only limited formal educations; had nothing special about him per se, beyond the fact that he had a solid family connection to the president of the local cooperative (his father).

On the plus side he was learning (and picking up quite quickly) Cantonese but his English was very limited. Moreover, he was sufficiently responsible and capable enough to be entrusted with the implementation of the technical advice into the Shenzhen operation which was, after all, slowly coming good.

Another problem was that the amount of capital committed to the Hong Kong side of the project was quite modest all told as it was planned that only after the technical challenges had been definitively addressed would truly substantial investment be injected to scale the operations on both sides of the Hong Kong/Shenzhen boundary.

Consequently, when you combine youth, limited education, lack of language skills and only modest funding for the Hong Kong side of the equation (and also that the farm itself is in China, not in the HKSAR) we were not very hopeful that an employment visa for his in these circumstances could in fact be approved.

So we rolled our sleeves up and questioned him at length about what, in fact, was so special about him and his appointment to the project beyond the fact that he was the son of the president of the cooperative. To our surprise, we learned about an inherent skill to eel farming that not everyone possesses.

This esoteric skill is akin to chicken sexing.

Namely, when handling a juvenile eel from a cohort of the newly hatched, it is possible to innately appreciate from the strength and manner in the way that they flick their tails whether or not the genetic make-up of that batch is likely to grow out to market weight within the acceptable production time frames.

When held in the palm of the hand, the viability of such juveniles can be assessed accordingly and this skill is a vital part of the technology transfer arrangements which underpinned the collaboration between Japan and Shenzhen – and our client had it!

In the pursuit of our client’s application, we provided the Hong Kong Immigration Department with all of the data and academic papers attesting to this phenomenon which was, albeit strange, completely true.

To their credit, the Hong Kong ID accepted the argument and approved our client’s visa.

More Stuff You Might Find Useful

The reality behind the Hong Kong Immigration Department’s ’4 Weeks’ visa application consideration time frame

How onerous is the sponsorship role in a Hong Kong investment visa application?

What do both Hong Kong employment and investment visa applications share in common?

How is the Hong Kong investment visa process typically experienced by the foreign national visa applicant?

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

How to Ensure You Are Not Breaking the Law by Operating a Business in Hong Kong as a Visitor

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in 60 Second Snapshot, Employment Visas, Investment Visas / 4 responses

The fabled Catch 22 applies if you are a visitor to Hong Kong, have started a business here and have become defacto resident without the correct visa permissions in the process. Eventually, the immigration hounds will catch up with you and you will have to deal with the question of an investment visa. But what will the HKID make of all that time you have been working in your business as a Visitor?

More Stuff to Help You Along

Hong Kong investment visa applications – what’s involved?

One man investment visas for Hong Kong – the challenges you face

Business plan template for a Hong Kong investment visa (?)

How to apply for a Hong Kong investment visa without any professional help

How can Mainlanders establish businesses in Hong Kong under the General Employment Policy?

Hong Kong Investment Visas & Joseph Heller – What’s the Connection?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Hadley Says…, Investment Visas / 3 responses

If you’re in Hong Kong as either a Visitor or a resident and you want to start your own business you need to make an investment visa application at the Hong Kong Immigration Department.

But there is a Catch 22

It goes like this:

– You cannot join in a business until the consent of the Hong Kong Immigration Department is secured.
– You can’t secure the consent of the Hong Kong Immigration Department without showing contribution to Hong Kong.
– You can’t show contribution to Hong Kong without joining in a business
– You cannot join in a business until the consent of the Hong Kong Immigration Department is secured!

The Hong Kong ID understand this problem and will help you with it.

What they do is encourage you to apply for your  investment visa right at the very start of your business not later on after ‘it’s all moving forward’.

If you don’t apply at the outset, they could choose to prosecute you.

So best to apply early!

More Stuff to Help You Along

How to ensure you are not breaking the law by operating your Hong Kong business as a visitor

Is it better to apply for your residence visa before or after you arrive in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong investment visas – what’s involved?

How to apply for a Hong Kong investment visa without any professional help

What happens if you inadvertently breach your conditions of stay by taking up unauthorised employment in Hong Kong?