Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

Is It Ever Possible To Seek An Early Extension To A Hong Kong Investment Visa For A Non-Immigration Related Reason?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Your Question Answered / No responses

What will the Hong Kong Immigration Department make of a very early application for an extension to a business investment visa?

QUESTION

I am 6 months into my first 12 month stint of an investment employment visa. 

I am looking to move into a new apartment and the landlord is requesting a minimum of 12 months remaining on any visa.

Nothing has changed in my circumstances since my application was approved in March.

Am I allowed to apply for an extension to my current visa at this early stage and if so, should it be straight forward?

ANSWER

Unfortunately, the Immigration Department are quite rigid when it comes to seeking extensions of stay; they have only limited resources and they anticipate in the overall extension exercise that the requisite period of time for the delivery of services in the case of an employment visa, or in respect of an investment visa that period of time will have been fully completed so that they’ll be able to properly assess the merits of an extension once the application goes in.

Consequently, if you have a need, for whatever reason, to attempt to secure an extension four or five months prior to the expiry current limit of stay, I think you’ll find that the Immigration Department will not be particularly receptive to it, citing the fact that they believe that you don’t need the extension, even though you have got a good ancillary reason for requesting that extension, in this case, in order to assist you get a new residential tenancy grant because of a condition which the landlord seems to be imposing upon you. So unfortunately, whilst you can certainly attempt to make the application, I think you’ll find that you’ll get rebuffed at the first barrier where the initial officer will say: hang on a minute, you’ve still got five months left on your current limit of stay, we can’t see any compelling reason as to why we should grant you the exercise of considering an extension application at this time because your reason is not that compelling. On occasion, the Immigration Department do come to the party, but you do have to have a compelling reason.

In my experience those compelling reasons usually come down to matters of ill health, and that’s probably about the shape of it when it comes to the Immigration Department assisting with early extensions.

I’m sorry the news isn’t good, but I hope you found this information useful.

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Can I Remain In Hong Kong As A Dependant Visa Holder If My Spouse Has Died?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Feature Article, Your Question Answered / 3 responses

What can you do about your dependant visa status in Hong Kong if you have sadly lost your much loved spouse-as-sponsor?

QUESTION

Hello,

I came to Hong Kong on a dependent visa (my wife, a PR, sponsoring me).

I have already completed 3.5 years and my visa is about due for extension.

The dilemma I face is that I lost my wife who died last year and now I am left with no sponsor in Hong Kong.

Will I be repatriated back to my origin of country or do have any chance to remain in Hong Kong?

My earnings here presently average HKD 345,000 per year.

Can I remain in Hong Kong as a dependant visa holder if my spouse has died?

Please advise. Thank you.

ANSWER

Unfortunately, due to the death of your spouse, the prevailing conditions that are needed to extend the dependent visa are no longer present. Therefore, the availability for you to get an extension to your dependent visa is really non existent. However, having said that, the Immigration Department are, in my experience, sympathetic to scenarios such as that which you face and therefore normally they will look to see if you have an existing employment that can form the basis of your ability to remain in Hong Kong as a resident, thereby clearly not penalising you through your unfortunate loss.

So, in essence what happens is that you need to make an application for an extension of stay on your own merits, and those own merits will be factored into your application given that you’ve got an existing employment and that, through clearly no fault of your own, your ability to get an extension of stay through the death of your wife is not going to be available to you.

So the Immigration Department look at these applications usually positively, they have a process called on own merits and I expect that when you make your application for an extension of state they will ask to see all the documents that you need, typically for an employment visa, and when I’ve seen this in the past they’ve actually approved these extension applications in 48 hours; therefore, I believe that you’ll probably be in good shape, all things considered. So head off to the fifth floor of immigration tower with your ID91 extension of stay form. I would also include the ID990A and ID990B from your employer. Assuming that you’ve uh, got an employer and you’re not working for yourself otherwise, it might well be that you need to use form ID999A and form ID999B along with the ID91, and all the kind of information that is normally required for business investment visa. As I say, typically I’d expect the Immigration Department to kind of approve you quickly on your own merits because of your circumstances.

I hope you found that useful.

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How Can I Go From Being A Sponsored Hong Kong Employment Visa Holder To Working In My Own Business As I Wait Out The 7 Years To Permanent Residency Here?

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

If you leave your job and want to start your own business in Hong Kong, what are the immigration implications of this if you are a temporary resident foreign national employee?

QUESTION

Hi Stephen,

I am in a bit of a pickle, I am currently waiting for my PR and I have a visa extension til next year. I have quit my job with my employer as they are unable to pay me the rate I need and that was on the contract due to the economic downturn.

I want to set up my own company and be a service provider for both local and international organisations in Hong Kong as well as grow my own consulting practice.

How do I do this ?

Though I quit my job am I still OK to be in Hong Kong until I set up my business and have it up and running?

Thanks

ANSWER

This is quite a common scenario in actual fact, and whilst your question is silent as to when exactly the seven-year anniversary arises in your instance, the immigration situation that you’re facing is pretty routine and quite constant, so it’s relatively straightforward for me to address this question for you.

When you have an employment visa sponsored by a third party employer – as you have in your situation, when you stop working for that employer, of your two privileges the privilege to work ceases, but your privilege to reside continues and that’s the state of affairs until your current limit of stay expires, whereupon you’re expected to leave Hong Kong.

Or as I surmise in your situation – prior to that, you will have been continuously not a resident here for seven years and therefore you’ll be making an application for the right of abode. Therefore, questions begged as to if you do intend to start your own business prior to the seven-year anniversary and you’ve already stopped working for your current employer is it lawful for you to join in that business while at this time the only privilege that you have in relation to your continuing immigration status here is the privilege to reside, and naturally enough, the answer is no, you’re not allowed to join in a business and you’re not allowed to start a business without the consent of the director of immigration first. So effectively, what you need to do is to make an application to the Immigration Department to adjust your status from sponsored employment visa through to business investment. And, as I’ve detailed elsewhere on the blog, so I don’t intend to labour it too much here, the approvability test in your situation for that investment visa is that you need to show that you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong. And in the context of the business that you’re putting together, ostensibly you need to show that it has the possibility and the very real potential for the creation of local jobs, that it’s going to be home in suitable business premises, you’ve got the requisite levels of cash to finance your business so that it stands a reasonably good chance of becoming a solidly entrenched commercial enterprise and all manner of other resources that you’d normally have around you in determining to move ahead with your application to start the business in the first place. All of those things the Immigration Department take into positive consideration when assessing your ability to make, as I say, a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong. So that’s really how it all sits. In a nutshell, don’t start the business until you’ve made the application of change of visa category to the 5^th floor of Immigration Department (as you’re a current resident) using form ID999A and sponsorship form ID999B, along with ID91 if you’ve got less than six months remaining on your current limit of stay.

I hope you found this useful.

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What’s the Minimum Sum Needed In Your Bank Account To Successfully Sponsor A Hong Kong Dependant Visa?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Family Visas, Feature Article, Your Question Answered / No responses

Got an income but no savings? What impact will this have on your ability to successfully sponsor a Hong Kong dependant visa?

QUESTION

Hello!

I have a work visa and will apply for my husband to stay by applying for a Hong Kong dependant visa.

Alas I have no savings, is there a minimum amount I should have in the bank?

ANSWER

For an application for a dependent visa, the Immigration Department will call for the last three months bank statements of the sponsor to be able to satisfy themselves that there’s sufficient means on hand to allow successful financial sponsorship for that dependent visa. However, the Immigration Department are principally interested in the income that the sponsor has.

So, if you don’t have any savings, much will turn on the quantum of the money that you receive by way of salary compensation each month. Additionally, the Immigration Department will look quite closely at your tenancy agreement, which will form the basis of the family home and will assess whether or not in light of the amount of rent that you’re paying and the salary that is indicated as being received each month, whether there’s sufficient disposable income to mean that the sponsor is able to suitably sustain the financial wellbeing of the spouse that’s being sponsored in this instance.

So, if you don’t have savings, it’s not an absolutely terrible scenario for you, but it will depend on your income. If you’ve only got a marginal income and say half of your income is going on rent, then the immigration department might look closely at that in relation to sustainability.

On the other hand, if your spouse is a professional and it’s clear that once he’s been able to secure a dependent visa, there’s a reasonable chance that he’ll be able to join the workforce – because he will be lawfully employable on receipt of his dependent visa, then you could make an argument that there is a clear possibility for him to be able to secure additional income for the family and thereby you’d have two working adults in your family and that would be more than sufficient to warrant the approval that you’re looking for. But that is ancillary. It isn’t the main thing the Immigration Department are looking for because there’s no guarantee that such a job might be forthcoming.

In a nutshell, it boils down to income, what the rent is and essentially what you have potentially also as a family, if your husband has got savings, what those amount to; so the Immigration Department will look at everything in the round. I hope you found this useful.

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How Accommodating Are ImmD To Foreign National ‘Job Hoppers’ Seeking To Change Their Hong Kong Employment Visa Sponsorship All-Too Frequently?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Special Programmes, Your Question Answered / No responses

So what DO the Immigration Department make of applicants who too-frequently seek to change their Hong Kong employment visa sponsorship?

QUESTION

I was previously working in Hong Kong for a company for the past 2.5 years and switched jobs 32 days ago.

My previous employer is now offering me a much senior position and really wants me back.

I had been with the company for more than 12 years out of which 2.5 were here in Hong Kong and would love to rejoin.

I have now been with the new employer for only one month and am wondering that if I resign and accept the role at my previous employer will the Hong Kong Immigration Department change my work visa again or will they make a big fuss about it and say NO?

Thank you for your assistance.

ANSWER

I’ll work on the basis or the assumption that when you ceased working for this particular employer some time back, you then made your application to change your employment visa sponsor through to your present employer, and in this regard then the Immigration Department are fully appraised of your exact circumstances insofar as you’re no longer working for your old employer, but you’re clearly working for your new employer and sponsored by them accordingly.

So then, in terms of how the Immigration Department are going to approach this, you’re only going to know once you’ve submitted your application. So, essentially, what you do is rather than resign from your current employer before taking up this new job (with your previous employer), then you need to get the Immigration Department’s permission before you take up that new work with your old employer. So, in making your application to change your sponsorship again, clearly you have to set out all the facts and circumstances that gave rise to the situation that you find yourself in: that you were working for this employer for twelve years previously, that in the wake of your departure a new opportunity has presented itself with that employer on improved employment terms and all the rest of that good stuff.

Essentially laying out that it was your intention, quite dutifully, to leave that employer behind and start your career with this alternate employer, and now you find yourself with this other opportunity which you feel that it would be advantageous for you to uptake; and therefore, could you please have the permission of the Immigration Department to re-join that employer with that new employment, with a new contract, and then see what they make of it. Now, the way the process works is that you file your application before you’ve resigned from your existing employment, and then during the currency of the application, if the immigration department are minded to approve you, they will send you a signal, in so much as, they’ll request a copy of your resignation letter from your present employer, speaking to the final date of your employment with your present employer. 

Subsequently, when you get that missive request from the Immigration Department, if it comes, then you can generally resign and begin to serve out your notice period. And the correspondence that’s generated between you and your current employer will speak to their last date of your employment with your current employer.

And if, as I say, the Immigration Department reminded to approve you, they will then issue you with an approval letter to uptake the new employment with your old employer, once again, from the day after the date that was recorded on the resignation letter that you adduced to the Immigration Department in support of your resignation from your current employer.

So that’s the way that you manage that. Again, essentially, you just have to make your pitch to the Immigration Department and explain, you know, why you’re troubling them with this application to re-join your old employer once again, when really only the course of a month has gone by. So, that’s the kind of the cut and thrust of it – you can certainly make your application, the existing employer needn’t know about your motivations and intentions until the Immigration Department have sent you a signal that they are minded to either approve or refuse your application; so, in that regard, I think you’re on pretty safe ground, all things considered, but I would make the application on the terms that I’ve just essayed for you. I hope you find that useful.

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If You Start A Company Based In Hong Kong Do You Always Need To Have An Investment Visa To Be Able To Run It?

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

The question of investment visa or not is actually quite straight forward. It’s all about ‘living’ in Hong Kong…

QUESTION

Hi Visa Geeza,

I’ve a question regarding putting up a company in Hong Kong.

I’ve been reading about how “easy” it is to set up a company in Hong Kong, however, it sounds too over simplified to me.

I’m thinking of putting up an Internet business start-up (media-related, think of a web publication) in Hong Kong while running it in another country.

I don’t plan on staying in Hong Kong (as that would mean a much higher cost of living) but I do want to run this business from outside HK while occasionally flying in from time to time.

Is this possible? Do I still need a specific Hong Kong visa of sorts to set up that company, register it with the authorities and run it?

Well, basically, can I ask for basic pointers on how a foreigner can put up a small start-up company in Hong Kong and run the company from outside Hong Kong (no intentions on staying there in the long term at the moment.)

Thanks for your time.

ANSWER

Hong Kong has a very well-earned reputation for being a jurisdiction where it’s extremely easy to establish a business, and to use Hong Kong as a launching pad for any kind of commercial activity, whether you are a Hong Kong resident or a foreign national alike, the actual process of establishing a business is very, very straightforward indeed. It’s arguably one of the most convenient and most efficient jurisdictions to launch a new company, and there is no statutory requirement under companies law that a director or a shareholder of a Hong Kong company needs to be a Hong Kong resident; however, to be a company secretary, yes, but not to be a director nor a shareholder.

So the question is begged then is if you do establish a company in Hong Kong as you’re thinking of doing, what are the immigration implications of so doing this? Well, the bottom line is that if you are a shareholder and a director of a Hong Kong company, and your intentions in relation to that Hong Kong company are such that you believe you need to be physically present in Hong Kong for the majority of your time in order to run and direct the affairs of that enterprise, then you will need to have a business investment visa in order to fulfil those practical roles on the ground in Hong Kong, as it were.

The difference between coming here as a visitor on a frequent basis, albeit occasionally, for example, that give you the ability to oversee and manage occasionally the operations of your affairs in Hong Kong, such as opening bank accounts, having the occasional meeting, perhaps coming to solve a few sort of commercial or corporate problems that have presented themselves. That’s all permitted activity under the visitor visa that’s granted to you when you arrive at the airport. However, if your intention to reside, and that’s very important intention to reside has crystallised, then the visitor visa is no longer an appropriate immigration status for you and you need to go through the process of acquiring a business investment visa.

The business investment visa approvability test involves that you need to show that in the context of your commercial endeavours in Hong Kong, through that Hong Kong company, that you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong. Now, I don’t intend to labour the approvability test for the business investment here because I’ve dealt with that on many, many occasions elsewhere on the blog.

But for all practical purposes, if you intend to live outside of Hong Kong and you want to use the convenience of Hong Kong as a jurisdiction for the purposes of launching your business and you want to manage that company remotely, and when you do come back to Hong Kong to oversee the affairs of the business, you’re only going to come for a temporary basis, and your intention is not to live here in support of that business, then you do not need any particular immigration permissions. You can certainly achieve those outcomes quite lawfully as a visitor, once you have arrived at the airport, or indeed, across the land boundaries from China or Macau. So that’s it. It really is as simple as you would read on the Internet and elsewhere. Hong Kong welcomes people like you, that are determined to use Hong Kong as a jurisdiction for your international business activities. So, go for it and welcome.

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What Visa Options Exist Where A Couple Have Met On-Line & They Wish To Live Together In Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Visitor Visas, Your Question Answered / 4 responses

So, what would the Hong Kong Immigration Department make of a relationship forged via the Internet?

QUESTION

Hello, I’m resident in Peru,  South America.

I met a Hong Kong woman by chat; she lives in Hong Kong.

We have been planning for me to go there and stay, only problem is that she’s still legally married.

Which would be my best option to get a permanent visa there so that we can live together in Hong Kong?

Get a job?  Can I be her dependant?

If she gets a divorce I can marry her and get the visa?

Any help or article you point me to read will be a big help.

I have been looking for an answer for a long time and I can’t find it.

Thanks

ANSWER

This is an excellent question and certainly reflects common practise of our times, so I’m really grateful to you for having raised it. The bottom line is that you’re going to struggle to secure any kind of residence status in Hong Kong on the strength of a relationship with your girlfriend for a number of different reasons.

Firstly, if you were in a position to marry this lady, which clearly you’re not because she’s presently married to somebody else, you would have to show to the Immigration Department to their satisfaction that your relationship is a genuine one, and that she would be able to sponsor you by way of financial capacity and also the ability to put a roof over your head.

Now just leaving aside the two challenges associated with food on the table and roof overhead, and we just look at the nature of your relationship with her, it’s very difficult if it’s been an Internet based relationship for you to show to the Immigration Department that, in fact, your relationship is genuine.

So one would assume that you’re going to have to come into Hong Kong on some of their immigration status first, pursue your relationship with your girlfriend, and at the same time look for other ways to remain in Hong Kong during the currency of that relationship maturing as it were, then clearly your girlfriend can finalise the divorce arrangements in respect of her present husband, and through the passage of that time it would become clear on all the facts that even though your relationship started by remote, subsequently the nature of how you spent your time together leading to a legal marriage, can be said to represent good evidence that your relationship is in fact genuine.

So there’s no possibility of the strength of your relationship with her today availing you of any kind of immigration privileges, as regards being resident in Hong Kong.

My second point to make is that there isn’t any permanent visa that you can pursue as such, really because under the basic law the only permanent immigration status that’s available is the right of abode which only accrues after you’ve been continuously a normal resident in Hong Kong for not less than seven years as a resident.

So whilst you may be able to secure an immigration status that’s commensurate with your rationale for being in Hong Kong other than the facts of your relationship with this lady effectively until seven years have accrued, you’re going to be a mere temporary resident in any event. So that kind of deals with the notion of a permanent visa so that you can spend time together.

Finally, then really you need to look to the other immigration state eye that, are available to foreign nationals that want to take up residence in Hong Kong, and you do need to have a rationale for being here, and that rationale then drives the nature of the immigration permissions that you get. I don’t propose that I labour the individual immigration state eye that you might want to consider because I’ll attach them to a couple of links at the bottom of this post so you can review that content there accordingly, albeit to say that the rationales are if you come into study, you need a student visa, if you’re coming to join a legal spouse, you need a dependent visa, which, as we’ve seen, doesn’t apply to you, if you’re coming to take up employment, you need an employment visa, if you’re coming into establish or join an existing business, you need a business investment visa, if, you are of particularly high talent, you could apply under the quality migrant admission scheme, and if you are a man of considerable means, then you could make an application under the capital investment entrance scheme. Of course, you could always come as a visitor and you’ll be granted a certain period of time upon arrival, and, in that regard, that’s probably your early bet to, progress the relationship with your girlfriend in the flesh, as it were.

If I may not be so direct to couch it in those terms but certainly arriving as a visitor, assessing facts on the ground, determining what your longer term immigration options are, is the way forward, I believe. Anyway, I wish you all the very best.

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