China Introduces 5-Year Mainland Travel Permit for Foreign Permanent Residents of Hong Kong and Macau
Unless you’re a PR of Hong Kong and have been living under a rock this last week, you will no doubt have caught the buzz around Hong Kong at the moment about visa-free access to China for Non Chinese PRs.
Starting July 10, 2024, foreign permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macao can apply for a five-year multi-entry Mainland Travel Permit. This initiative is designed to facilitate travel within the Greater Bay Area for purposes such as investment, family visits, tourism, and business. The permit allows stays of up to 90 days per visit but does not permit working, studying, or engaging in journalism. Applications must be submitted in person at designated China Travel Service offices with the required documentation, and processing takes up to 20 working days.
Eligibility and Requirements
Eligible applicants include foreign permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macao who hold valid permanent resident ID cards. The application process requires the submission of relevant documents, including proof of identity, permanent residency status, and reasons for travel. The permit is intended to promote the integration of the Greater Bay Area, enhancing connectivity and cooperation between Hong Kong, Macao, and Mainland China.
Application Process
Applicants must visit designated China Travel Service offices in Hong Kong or Macao to submit their applications. Required documents include valid identification, proof of permanent residency, and any additional documents supporting the purpose of travel. The processing time for the permit is up to 20 working days, and applicants will be notified upon approval.
Duration and Conditions
The Mainland Travel Permit for Foreign Permanent Residents of Hong Kong and Macao allows multiple entries to Mainland China over a period of five years. Each visit can last up to 90 days. However, the permit holders are not allowed to work, study, or engage in journalistic activities while in Mainland China. Violating these conditions may result in penalties, including revocation of the permit.
This new policy reflects China’s efforts to streamline travel procedures and enhance the integration of the Greater Bay Area. By providing a convenient travel option for foreign permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macao, the initiative aims to strengthen economic ties and promote cultural exchange within the region.
The Hong Kong Immigration Department are not especially receptive to what can appear to be family reunion via the back door…
Can you use the Foreign Domestic Helper visa to employ your mother in Hong Kong?
QUESTION
Hello,
My wife and I are on work visas in Hong Kong and are expecting a baby in the Autumn.
My wife would like to keep working, and wants to bring her mother over (she is from Central America) to look after the baby, possibly for up to a year.
Her mother would only be eligible for a 30-day visitor visa.
Whilst it’s a perfectly logical conclusion to draw that it would make sense to employ your mother or your mother in law as a foreign domestic helper sponsored by you in Hong Kong, unfortunately such an approach won’t hold water with the Immigration Department for a number of reasons. One set of reasons that are specific to the nature of the foreign domestic helper visa and the second reason relates to the nationality of your mother dealing with the nationality issue.
First, the foreign domestic helper visa has been constructed in Hong Kong by the Immigration Department as a result of a series of bilateral negotiations between a variety of different countries that are prepared to allow their nationals to come to Hong Kong to work under very strict conditions as foreign domestic helpers. And principally in this regard strict conditions are relating to the protection of the interests of the nationals that are going to be coming to do the work under foreign domestic helper visas. So, if you’re from, or your wife’s mother is from a country that does not have such a bilaterally negotiated arrangements in place, then citizens of that country cannot participate in the foreign domestic helper programme, unfortunately.
So given that there are no countries in Central America today that have got a bilaterally negotiated arrangement in place, the foreign domestic helper visa will not be available to her, end of story, unfortunately. But in terms of what the Immigration Department do when they receive applications from very close relatives, effectively they look at these applications with a very let’s say cynical set of eyes because whilst it makes perfect sense to want to have a mother or a mother in law in Hong Kong taking care of a new grandchild, especially during the first year, effectively the Immigration Department will see this as an application for family reunion by the back door because there’s non-permanent residents seeking to have their mother, or a parent physically present in Hong Kong with them, that means that you precluded from sponsoring such a dependent visa for that would be the visa type that you would normally use because the dependent visa for a parent normally requires the sponsor to be a permanent identity card holder and the parent to be over 60 years of age and with clear proof of dependency.
And in your circumstances this is obviously not going to apply. So the Immigration Department, for another reason are not going to be receptive to an application for a foreign domestic helper visa notwithstanding the fact that there is an expectation that there is going to be an arm’s length commercial arrangement between the two parties in relation to the provision of employment services. Clearly, where you have a family member that’s going to be providing those services, then this is not going to be a typical arm’s length commercial arrangement. So now that we’ve kind of sort of buried the idea that the foreign domestic help of visa might work for you in your circumstances, what are the other options that are available to you?
Well, you could make, and I would suggest that you do this in any event, make an application for an entry visa for your mother in law to come and join you for an extended period of time on the strength of the fact that you are having a child, and it would be exceptionally useful to you to be able to have your mother physically present in Hong Kong for a few months at least to be able to help out with the new child rearing duties. And you do this by making a visitor visa application, as I say, on an entry visa that is not relying on the 30 days that you are granted upon arrival at the airport, but actually setting out in detail all the circumstances that are giving rise to you seeking to sponsor an extended visitor visa for your mother in law.
You may get a three-month limit of stay depending on how the Immigration Department respond to the application. Additionally, you could conceptually make such an entra visa application for her let her arrive and enter on that perhaps, 60 or 90 day limit of stay, depending what the immigration department give you.
And then at the end of that limit of stay, she could make an exit and then reenter again and get another 30 days, and in that intervening period you could make another application for another entry visa, and again get another 60 or another 90 days, and at the end of that limit of stay you could make another exit and possibly do that twice more before you get to the kind of magic number that the immigration department hold to be quite dear.
And that is, a visitor should not be spending more than half of their time in Hong Kong over the course of a twelve month given period. So I think you’re probably going to be able to finagle possibly six or seven months as visitor visa status for your mother in law in those circumstances.
Not exactly twelve months I appreciate, but if you work the system in a good and logical way and set out all the facts surrounding the need for the need for extended visitor status for your mother and the fact that you’re clearly going to be responsible for her health and welfare while she’s here, I think you’ll find that you’ll end up getting a reasonable amount of time that will allow you to be together during these important months, whether you get a full year or not.
Difficult to say, I would suspect probably not. You’ll be testing the Immigration Department’s patience somewhat, if you made a third or a fourth application for an intra visa on that basis; but you know, the Immigration Department appreciate that this is an important time for you and wonder, actually, what’s wrong with having your mother in Hong Kong, helping you raise your new grandchild in the early months of his or her arrival in Hong Kong.
It’s just a matter of working the process, setting out all the facts, allowing the Immigration Department to understand what the reasons are for this extended period of stay in Hong Kong as a visitor, and I think you’ll find that, all things considered, as far as they’re able to help you, they probably will do so.
Okay, I’ve appended the link to the visitor visa information on the Hong Kong visa handbook that will help you navigate the labyrinth of the visitor visa application process that you’ll no doubt be going through. And also, I hope you found this useful.
VisaGeeza.Ai – Making Hong Kong Immigration A Lot Easier
Can you swap a Foreign Domestic Helper visa into a Regular employment visa? This is a reasonable question that has an obvious answer although not for the reasons you might typically expect. In 20 years of practising Hong Kong visa and immigration consultancy, the only successful change of status application from FDH to residence visa that I have ever experienced, naturally enough, is from FDH to dependant visa where there has been a legal marriage.
QUESTION
“I have an Indonesian furniture retail and design store in Aberdeen. I was wondering if I could apply for a work visa for an existing domestic helper to come and work in my business. My shop is specialized in Indonesian furniture, both standard design and also bespoke.
She is Indonesian and has immense knowledge and skills in this field, having been educated to Bachelor level in design and with 7 years of experience working for a producer in Bali. Our store is an interactive and educative shop where we educate the local community on design possibilities and ways to get excellent value for money in buying furniture from Indonesia.
I have advertised locally extensively for a shop assistant but no great response. I got only one response and have had to hire her despite the person not being qualified. It has been very hard to recruit.
This FDH is good and has good qualifications. Is it possible to apply for a work visa for my business?”
ANSWER
This question actually comes up more often than you might imagine, and unfortunately the answer is – it’s not possible to convert from a foreign domestic helper visa through to an employment visa issued under the General Employment Policy. You see, the problem really is twofold. Firstly, it is now impossible to secure employment visa permissions for any kind of retail sales position in Hong Kong simply because, let’s face it, Hong Kong is driven by primarily a Chinese population and the retail industry as such is serviced primarily by a Chinese population.
So, in principle, in our experience it’s been very difficult to persuade the Immigration Department of the merits of issuing an employment visa under the General Employment Policy for any kind of retail position. So that’s problem number one. Problem number two actually drives to the heart of the foreign domestic help visa permissions that your helper is holding.
You see, in securing the foreign domestic helper visa initially, she had to satisfy, believe it or not, the Immigration Department that she was kind of qualified to be a foreign domestic helper. And so the profile which the Immigration Department has on her is in relation to providing domestic duties.
So now if you were to go back to the Immigration Department and argue that, notwithstanding, she is actually incredibly experienced in the design and the display of retail furniture in an Indonesian context, the Immigration Department, I think, would be loathe to buy into that anticipating that there may be misrepresentations either on the case of the foreign domestic helper visa application, or in fact on this application where you’re now stating that she is qualified to undertake this retail job.
I think thirdly, the problem is that retail jobs typically don’t command the kind of salaries that the Immigration Department expects to see for probability purposes under the General Employment Policy. So even if the first two challenges could be overcome, you’d still be looking at paying this lady in the region of HKD200,000 a month for the work that she’s doing for you. Whilst that might be possible, I suspect you’re going to probably struggle tremendously under the first two challenges that we’ve already discussed.
VisaGeeza.Ai – Making Hong Kong Immigration A Lot Easier
More than 20 years in the business of Hong Kong immigration and this is the first time I can remember this question ever being raised. So, now you know how to go about HIV Health Checks Hong Kong Visa Application!
QUESTION
Hi Stephen,
I do not see this issue addressed on your web site (which, by the way, is fantastic).
What are the medical requirements for a Canadian citizen applying for a Hong Kong work visa (sponsored through current employer)?
Does Hong Kong require HIV testing or other testing, and if so, can those tests be done in the home country? How will the immigration authorities treat an applicant who is HIV+?
Thanks.
ANSWER
Interestingly, unlike most other first world jurisdictions, Hong Kong doesn’t actually have any requirement for health status cheques as part and parcel of the Hong Kong immigration process that covers every single aspect of Hong Kong immigration, from visitor visas through to temporary residence visas, all the way up to, indeed the Right of Abodeand becoming permanent residents.
So in relation to your health status, when you make an application, the entire process is silent as to health, so it doesn’t appear in the equation. So don’t have any concerns about the status of your health in any way impinging your ability to become a contributing member to Hong Kong society.
VisaGeeza.Ai – Making Hong Kong Immigration A Lot Easier
What’s the Best Hong Kong Visa Option for a Recently Graduated British National?
QUESTION
Hi Stephen,
From May through November 2013 I was employed in a well known and large company in Hong Kong under the training visa for a period of 6 months.
During the end of this tenure the company decided to offer me a permanent position however I had to apply for this job under the employment visa.
Unfortunately this was rejected, as the Immigration Department feel this is a job that can be taken up locally.
I’m 23 years old with one years work experience after graduating from university but really want to stay in Hong Kong now I have embedded myself within the team I was working in and learning all the appropriate skills and practices for the role I was undertaking.
I have now become a highly valued member of my working team.
I want to ask whether already having a training visa then having a working visa rejected would affect my chances of getting a working holiday visa?
I also have the option to move to Dubai where I have been granted a visa which can be used as a stop gap to get more experience then look to re-apply in Hong Kong.
But as my primary desire is to stay in Hong Kong can I use the working holiday visa as an additional years experience until the time comes that I need to re-apply for a working visa next year?
And how should I re-apply for that differently?
Can you kindly advise what is the best course of action?
Thanks
ANSWER
In the vast majority of circumstances, whenever you have been able to secure a training visa, usually for six months, sometimes for a maximum of twelve months, depending on the nature of the training that you’re due to receive, it is almost impossible to swap from a training visa through to an employment visa because the issue of the training visa was done on the basis that you would acquire the training and then you would leave.
So it’s natural in many instances where you have undergone that period of training, you’ve inculcated yourself into the working fabric of your team there and clearly your manager at the end of the training, doesn’t want to lose you, recognises your talent, wants you to remain in Hong Kong to work full time, and so you make an application for an employment visa.
Now, two challenges associated with that stated is that as part of your training visa application, there is an undertaking that you will leave Hong Kong at the end of the period of training. And the second challenge is that, to actually convert to an employment visa, you have to pass the employment visa provability test, which is you need to show you possess special skills, knowledge and experience of value to and not readily available in Hong Kong.
And normally this requires, at a very minimum, for you to be a university graduate with two years post graduation working experience in a supervisor in a managerial capacity. And normally if you’re in a training visa situation, by implication you’re not managing anybody or supervising anybody. Quite the contrary, you’re on the receiving end of such management and such supervision.
So when you do make that application to a justice status from training visa to employment visa, uh, in your circumstances, it’s quite, uh, normal to expect that you will be, um, refused in that application. So now the question is begged as to how can you continue to remain in Hong Kong so that you can do the things that you’re doing now.
Fortunately, because of the introduction of british nationals to the list of, uh, qualifying nationals under the working holiday scheme, as of December 2013, you can apply for a working holiday visa which will give you a twelve month limit of staying, uh, and you’ll be able to work for any single employer for twelve months.
So the fact that you’ve had a prior employment visa refused and the fact that you’ve previously held a training visa should not, in normal circumstances, preclude you from accessing the working holiday visa on the basis that you do qualify for the working holiday visa in your own right, which is that you’re under 30 years of age, you’ve got about HKD20,000 in your bank account and you’ve got the necessary medical insurance to cover your staying as a working visa holder in Hong Kong.
And that there’s still a quota available to you. That is that a lot of other British nationals haven’t gotten ahead of you and stolen your opportunity to acquire one of those visas because of the number that are issued each year. So have no fear that you can’t get a working holiday visa so long as there’s quota available and you can meet the conditions.
And then once you’ve got your working holiday visa, you can certainly rejoin your working team, and away you go, so that will then take you twelve months down the road. And then the issue is, well, how do you then get from a working holiday visa through to an employment visa again. And will, in all the circumstances, the time that you spent in Hong Kong as a training visa holder and the twelve months that you had as a working holiday visa holder, will all of that again qualify you, ostensibly for the minimum two years post graduation working experience in managerial or supervisory capacity. That’s a question that can really only be answered at the time that you make your next application, depending on effectively what’s gone on in, in all the time that you were holding the working holiday visa. And frankly, whether or not even one year hence, you’ll be able to argue to the Immigration Department that your skills can’t be found locally, because it may well be that the work that you do there could clearly be a ready pool of local employees, potential local employees, new graduates from university or others that have the necessary skills in the industry that you’re working in department might not be persuaded in any event, that given the nature of the work that you do, that work can’t be uptaken by somebody from within the local workforce.
So that’s always a risk and it’s not something that I can give you any concrete advice upon at this stage in the game. All that I can suggest is that once your working holiday visa expires, go back to the immigration department with a new application for an employment visa and argue your case stridently and forthrightly and see what they make of it as another option.
Given that you do seem to have the ability to go off, in this instance to Dubai, to what I assume is a group company to work there, if all else fails, you could secure employment in Dubai and go spend maybe a year or two in Dubai working for that group company, building up your knowledge, building up your experience, ensure that experience is gained in managing and supervising others and then at the end of that period, you make an application again to transfer back to Hong Kong from that Dubai Group company on an intercompany transferee basis.
And nine times out of ten, if it is a straightforward intercompany transferee application for an employment visa where you clearly now have the necessary post graduation working experience and that given the nature of the work that you’ve been doing for the group company in Dubai, it’s clear that a local person can’t be expected to uptake that work, then you stand an improved chance of approval next time around on the basis that you have been an intercompany transferee.
So all of this sounds really quite long and convoluted and complex, but, strategically, you do have a pathway to your ultimate end game, which is to be working full time, lawfully, for your proposed employer in Hong Kong, doing the work that you clearly love to do; but, you’ve still got a few sort of months ahead of you and a few applications ahead of you before, you get the security and comfort of knowing that finally, the Immigration Department deem you professional for the purpose of the general employment policy.
And you’ve created the circumstances where you can definitively argue that the work that you’re going to be doing in Hong Kong can’t be taken up by somebody locally. Okay, I hope you found that useful.
VisaGeeza.Ai – Making Hong Kong Immigration A Lot Easier
What’s the story where a new company in Hong Kong has not yet set up shop in the HKSAR but want to hire staff? What do the Immigration Department make if this situation when it comes to visa sponsorship for foreign employees?
QUESTION
Hello Visa Geeza,
Thanks in advance! Your website has brought clarity on a number of questions I had on the visa process.
I do however have a few more.
I’m currently employed by a Hong Kong limited company, in the professional services industry, as a U.S. citizen.
I was originally invited to Hong Kong to work for this company, and arrived in Hong Kong in June 2011 (approximately 3 years and 3 months ago) under an employment visa sponsored by the said company.
I have since renewed my employment visa with the same company in June 2014, and it will expire in June 2016.
I have since been offered a new job with a different company located in Singapore that has no currently business dealings in Hong Kong.
The new company in Hong Kong does not deal in professional services, but industrial chemicals.
The parent company has been established in Singapore for the last 15 years with offices in the U.S. and Europe.
The new company in Hong Kong does not currently have any employees, nor do they have a current/valid business registered.
As part of the new job, they have asked that I set-up an office and register a new business in Hong Kong focusing on sales/trading of their products with me being the sole director/shareholder of the intended new Hong Kong office.
The intentions are to leave my current company, and establish/register the new business within the next couple of months.
As I begin the process to apply for an investment visa (I believe this is the appropriate visa rather than an employment visa) and register the new business, I have yet to notify my current company of my intentions to resign.
No official documents have been filed on either end for the investment visa or business as I’m trying to determine the right course of action.
Given my intentions to apply for an investment visa and register a new business as the sole director, I’m wondering what steps need to be completed first to ensure I have the correct visa application process in place (sponsored by the new company in Hong Kong) to avoid any visa breaches, and which does not jeopardize the business registration, or vice-versa.
This seems like a chicken versus the egg dilemma…
My goal is to successfully apply for the investment visa under the newly formed company, and to keep my path towards Permanent Residency uninterrupted since I’m already half way there!
I have rented my apartment for the 3 years 3 months I have lived in Hong Kong, established bank accounts, utility services/accounts, and etc in Hong Kong.
Again, thank you for your help! This site and your services are invaluable for foreigners looking to establish ourselves in Hong Kong!
Hopefully, I have given a detailed account for your guidance.
ANSWER
Very interesting question with lots of moving parts. So, I’ll get straight into it. Effectively, if you’re going to change your employment visa category through to investment from employment, then you need to pass the approvability test that shows to the extent that you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong.
However, I suspect in the way that you’ve couched the language of your question, you’ve interpreted being a director and a sole shareholder as effectively representing ownership by the Singapore parent entity, with you being the single executive that’s responsible for the development of the legal establishment and the commercial operations going forward.
So on the basis that it’s the parent company who’s going to be the shareholder, that is essentially the new Hong Kong entity is going to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Singapore office, then you will not be an investor, you will be an employee for the purposes of your immigration status.
So you would be applying to change your visa sponsorship from your current employer through to this new employment scenario. Now, because it’s a completely new business situation without any legal establishment or any commercial operations or infrastructure at all on the ground here, effectively, what you’re going to have to do is to steer your parent company employer in Singapore to fund the necessary infrastructure arrangements so the Immigration Department can be satisfied that the new subsidiary in Hong Kong is going to be a suitable and credible sponsor for the purposes of your employment visa permissions.
And to that end, clearly you’re going to have to incorporate a new company and get it registered under the business registration arrangements and get a business registration certificate issued to you. You’re going to have to procure suitable business premises for you to report to work to each day. And you’re going to have to set out what your staffing plan is as you roll the operations out in Hong Kong, in the wake of having successfully secured the Immigration Department’s permission to change your sponsorship into the hands of this new employer accordingly.
Now, as part and parcel of that exercise, because the Singapore entity doesn’t have a presence here in Hong Kong yet, effectively, as a new business scenario, you’re going to have to show to the Immigration Department documents as to the Singapore business, its commercial performance, its accounts, what it’s doing in Singapore, how long it’s been in business, all of that kind of good stuff to allow the Immigration Department to rest assured that the new Hong Kong operation, as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Singapore business is resourced sufficiently enough to satisfy the Immigration Department’s requirement that the new Hong Kong entity can be a suitable and credible sponsor for your immigration permissions.
So in that respect, assuming that you are going to be the founding director, but the shareholding is going to be held in the hands of the uh Singapore company, then, effectively you are on your way on the basis that you can get the infrastructure in place and your plans laid out for the Immigration Department to be satisfied that this business arrangement is suitable for the purposes of Hong Kong’s requirement for Singaporeans to make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong.
Now turning, to the question of you switching industries from professional services through to chemicals trading. Well, as long as you’ve got in your background the requisite skills, knowledge and experience to be undertaking these types of activities, then as a founding executive in this situation if you’ve got a good track record as a professional previously, then I suspect that there’ll be sufficient enough meat in your sandwich, as it were, to persuade the Immigration Department that you do possess the requisite skills, knowledge and experience to do the job and that somebody locally can’t be expected to uptake that work instead of you. But aligned with that will be a requirement for the Immigration Department to be advised as to what the future staffing complement of the business in Hong Kong is going to look like and where you fit in the overall sort of organisational framework what you’re going to do as regards implementing those new jobs.
So all things considered, this is an application that from the sounds of it appears approvable; you’re just going to have to grasp the nettle and recognise the fact that this would not be an investment visa application as such, although the Immigration Department as it is a new business situation, will apply elements of the investment visa provability test to it, that is Singapore companie’s to show that through the establishment of its operation in Hong Kong, it can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong.
And that from your perspective as an incoming employee, that is employee number one, you do possess special skills, knowledge and experience of value to and not readily available in Hong Kong. So if you can put all that together then it seems to me that you’re probably on your way.
On the other hand you stated that you are going to be the sole shareholder. Now if you are a sole shareholder then, effectively the situation is completely different because it’s not going to be a wholly owned subsidiary scenario. It’s going to be effectively the Immigration Department looking at your ability to make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong.
And in that regard then I suggest that you look really in detail at the investment visa approvability criteria detailed elsewhere on the website. But, as I say, my sense is from how you’ve couched your question that you are in fact not going to be an owner of this business, the business in fact will be owned by the Singapore parent, and given that you’ve got a sufficient period of time left on your current limit of stay, you need to make an application to change your sponsorship, and you’ll only be able to do that once you’ve laid down the infrastructure for the new commercial presence and legal presence in Hong Kong. So the sooner you crack on with that the better. And, insofar as your, permanent residency scenario goes well, as long as you maintain your continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong all throughout the period of transitioning from your old employer to the new employment arrangements. And then in the wake of getting the permission of the Immigration Department to change your sponsorship into the new employer arrangements, you continue to be ordinarily resident in Hong Kong. Then you’ll maintain your present trajectory through to an eventual seven years continuous ordinary residence so that when the moment comes for you to be able to make an application for the Right of Abode, you’ll be able to do so.
And now just a note on the practicalities of this type of application: it’s firstly incorporate, get the business registration certificate, secure clear arrangements for your business premises where you’re going to be reporting to work to each day. Don’t expect that you’ll be able to run this business from your spare bedroom or your kitchen table. The immigration department won’t buy into that. You’re going to have to have dedicated business premises. Immigration Department are going to want to see, as I said, a staffing plan and that the new company bank account is properly funded to be able to finance operations. You then, once all that’s in place, make an application to adjust your sponsorship from your old employer to this new arrangement. It’s a fifth floor application and you’ll find that it probably takes about between six and ten weeks for the Immigration Department to finalise your case, given that it is a new business situation. Okay, so as I said, there’s quite a lot of moving parts to this but I see this scenario happen all too often and as long as the Singapore parent, in your instance, is a decent sized operation, I think you’ll find once you’ve got your infrastructure on the ground here that the immigration plan will more than likely buy into the plan and allow you to adjust your sponsorship accordingly.
Okay. Hope you found that useful.
VisaGeeza.Ai – Making Hong Kong Immigration A Lot Easier
I have been in Hong Kong for 2 years as a Visitor and my work visa application was denied for the second time a couple of weeks ago.
My visitor visa doesn’t run out until next week. I wanted to ask if my refused visa application will have an impact on my re-entry when I go to Macau to renew my visitor visa. I’ve been going to Macau for renewal every few months and there hasn’t been a problem but all of those times, I either wasn’t applying or it was in progress.
Now that it has definitely been denied, how heavy is the risk that I will be told to go back to Switzerland? (I have a Swiss passport).
I also applied for a Work Holiday visa a couple of years ago that was denied.
My boyfriend lives here with an Italian passport and so I’m very worried about possible separation.
ANSWER
When you present yourself for admission as a visitor to Hong Kong, the examining officer at the airport or at the boundary is assessing your bona fide as a visitor. And in this regard, it takes into consideration a number of factors. He does a risk assessment in terms of, you know, who you are, how old you are, possibly what you look like, an assessment into your means, have you got a return ticket, etc.?
They will also look to see your pattern and frequency of visits to Hong Kong. And essentially, if you’ve been coming and going nonstop for two years now, engaging in what I’ve couched as the Shenzhen shuttle, albeit going by Macau, you are, in any event, irrespective of what’s happened down at the Immigration Tower, regards your previous visa refusals, at risk of not being assessed as a bona fide visitor to Hong Kong if for no other reason that the officer can see you’ve been here for two years and may suspect that you’ve been breaching your conditions of stay by uptaking unauthorised employment.
So, presently, when you present yourself, you may get an experience with an officer where he essentially waves you through at the point of doing the assessment. The immigration officer at the border or at the airport won’t have immediate access to the knowledge that you have had previous visa applications refused. But once they do stop you and inquire into further details as to what’s keeping you in Hong Kong, then clearly that will come out. And, the fact that you do have efforts on file of trying to take up residence for employment purposes that have been repeatedly refused makes you a very high risk candidate for admission as a visitor.
So, you are essentially at risk in any event, but elevated. So because of your history of prior refusals, by the way, your working holiday visa was refused not because there’s anything wrong with you as an applicant other than the fact that you’re a nationality that doesn’t qualify for one.
So it’s your two prior employment visa refusals that are an issue for you. But then you see, you’ve got the issue as regards your relationship with your boyfriend and that is clearly a reason for you spending as much time here as you are. Is it sufficient for the immigration department to just admit you nonetheless? Well, given that they won’t have all the facts and information and evidence on hand at the time that they’re assessing you for admission as a visitor the next time around it’s difficult for them to essentially rely on the representations that you’ll be making to them as to the nature and the state of your relationship with your boyfriend.
So what I would suggest that you do to try to at least ameliorate this, if you do get stopped, is to have with you all his information. A copy of his passport, his visa label, a copy of his ID card, his mobile number. Indeed, a letter from him addressed to the examining officer at the airport or at the border stating that you’re in a loving, committed relationship and that he’s prepared to assume responsibility for you during the currency of your next visit; and it may well be that information could be just enough in a go or no go situation for the officer to admit you for a further three months.
However, that approach is certainly not sustainable and you are in a sense relying on the discretion of the examining officer to cut you some slack in real terms. Because two years as a visitor is a long time. Your nationality gets three months. That’s a reasonable timeframe to be visiting Hong Kong as far as policy goes.
Of course I know that you do have a reason for being here longer than, but unfortunately immigration rules all over the world are such that they don’t allow unlimited de facto residents to people who visit; and you are at risk of the steam running out of your engine in this respect.
Now a longer term solution might be that if you’re in a loving committee life partner relationship and you and your boyfriend are both free to marry but choose not to, and you can show to the Immigration Department that during these two years you have been cohabiting in Hong Kong, then you may be able to secure a prolonged visitor visa upon application to the department on the strength that you are essentially de facto spouses.
Your boyfriend will clearly have to participate in this application and sponsor you for this; it’s an out of policy application. So there’s not even a section in the immigration department that’s set up to deal with these applications. You really are once again throwing yourself at the feet of the immigration officers to positively consider an application for you not to be separated from your boyfriend given the nature and the longevity and the committed sense of your relationship with them.
So there are plenty of resources on our websites that speak to prolonged visitor visas; the mere fact of having one in the pipeline, again, doesn’t automatically address your bona fide as a visitor when you are undertaking the Shenzhen shuttle; and because it does take between, well, six to eight months for these things to play themselves through, normally could be a little bit quicker; but normally, because it’s out of policy, they are quite sort of long in the applying. So you will have to run the gauntlets of the Shenzhen shuttle probably on two or three more occasions to you get an outcome on that application. So that’s really the sort of the lot of it for you, I’m afraid.
In a nutshell, there’s a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, but you keep relying on the Shenzhen shuttle, then I think you’re going to find sooner or later, the hammer’s going to fall, and the sword of Damocles will have worked to end your time with your boyfriend.
I hope you found that useful.
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