QOTW: What Documents Are Needed To Extend A Hong Kong Business Investment Visa?

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

Extend a Hong Kong business investment visa?  Not so long ago the Hong Kong Immigration Department made life quite easy for certain entrepreneurs when it came time to extend a business investment visa…

QUESTION  OF  THE  WEEK

For extending my Hong Kong investment visa for the first renewal, do you recommend submitting any other materials aside from the cover letter, employment letter and the ID91?

ANSWER

Getting a business investment visa extended can be a challenging, or it can be a very simple process. It all depends on the circumstances of your initial approval, your last extension and where your business is today.

The essential starting documentation for an extension to a business investment visa is the simple cover letter explaining that you’re still in business and you’re confirming that you’re engaged in the business.

The ID 91, which is the extension application form, and also a copy of the updated business Registration certificate which tells the immigration department that the business still is ongoing. The question is asked though is if you need to supply any other information to assist the processing of that application.

Now normally it all depends on whether or not your last extension was subject to business review or indeed if it’s your first extension, if your original approval was subject to business review. This can be a double edged sword if you are subject to business review, because what will happen is the immigration department will want to see proof of the nature and the type of the business that you’ve been engaged in over the previous twelve months.

And that’s so that they can be reassured that you continue to satisfy the approvability test showing that you are making a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong. So in pursuing this particular objective, what you need to do is to anticipate the kind of information the Immigration Department would be asking for at the time that they respond to your initial request for the extension.

These documents include proof that you’ve been employing local people through the provision of MPF documentation, proof that you’ve got a properly set up office through the provision of a stamped tenancy agreement and also a copy of your management accounts or your audited financial statement (if you’ve completed an audit since your last extension was approved).

By looking at these documents, the Immigration Department will be able to satisfy themselves that you can or are indeed making a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong. Whether you should apply with these documents from the get go, or whether you should wait for the Immigration Department to come back to you after the application has commenced, is really a personal decision.

My advice and what we do for our clients is to always anticipate that every investment visa extension will be subject to some kind of review of one sort or another. And in this regard, by submitting the information in advance of these formal requests of the Immigration Department, you can expect to reduce the timeline to the formal consideration process, normally from what should be about a two and a half or a three-week exercise, potentially down to one week. This means that once the Immigration Department have received all the information from you in advance, they don’t have to go through the correspondence exercise, and you then don’t have to running around, try to find all the information that they’re asking for.

Thus, my advice is definitely submitting the application for your extension with a full portfolio of information, and not wait for the Immigration Department to come back and raise these requisitions that you have to answer in response.

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Sometimes, There Is Just NO Possibility For A Hong Kong Residence Visa – No Matter How Earnest You Might Be…

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

Hong Kong is such a draw but sometimes it’s just not going to be…

QUESTION

Hi Stephen,

I am 25 Years old Indian National. I don’t have any kind of degree. I own a business from past seven years in India.

I am applying for jobs from past 4 months but in most of the cases I just get rejected since I can’t speak Cantonese or my employer is not willing to sponsor my Employment Visa.

I have a girl friend in Hong Kong who is PR. I want to shift with her but financially she is not strong enough so that she can sponsor me for Dependent Visa after marriage.

I want to start a business in Hong Kong but I can’t go for it since I don’t have enough capital to apply for a  Business Investment Visa or Capital Investment Visa.

The employers are not ready to sponsor my case cause I don’t have any special talent which can be justified in front of Hong Kong Immigration Department.

I do not qualify for QMAS and lastly it is too late for me to apply for university so that I can come as a student and even if I come as a student, I fear it would be very difficult for me to support myself without a job.

It is very difficult every time to come to Hong Kong on Visitor Visa and leave country after 14 days.

I would like to know is there any special visa category under which I can  shift to Hong Kong?

Someone suggested me to apply as a domestic helper or imported worker and once I am there for 2 years I would get enough time to check out other possibilities but getting a job as domestic helper or imported worker seems impossible for Indian National.

Can you please suggest me something which can sort out my issue or I should just forget about starting a new life in Hong Kong.

Please let me know.

Thank You.

ANSWER

Yes, I can understand how extremely frustrated you may be given that you principally don’t have any means for qualifying for any kind of residence visa for Hong Kong. But if you think it through, actually the policy behind the current immigration arrangements in Hong Kong for foreign nationals is designed to ensure, just like every other nation, in fact, that the brightest and the best, if you will, are able to come and contribute to Hong Kong society.

And in that regard, you know, they’re looking for certain qualities from foreign nationals who can take up residence here. And as I said, clearly, unfortunately, in your circumstances, you don’t qualify. So if life in Hong Kong is serious for you, I would suggest that you look closely to the various criteria for approval under the various immigration programs and make sure that you qualify for at least one of them.

Just turning quickly to the idea that you can become a foreign domestic helper or you can participate as imported labour well, effectively, even if you come under the supplemental labour scheme as imported labour, you’re still going to have to have a certain skill set that will be deemed not locally available in Hong Kong.

So given that you have a business background, it’s difficult to understand what might carry the day in that respect and you would still need to have a job offer; and given that foreign domestic helper visas are based on a contract that is bilaterally negotiated between the government and Hong Kong and other governments, and that India not part of that scheme, you would not be able to remain in Hong Kong as a foreign domestic helper in any event.

Sorry to say it doesn’t look very good for you, all told. But thanks for reaching out with your question and letting us know how things have been for you, it’s certainly useful to the leadership generally. Thank you.

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How Can I Prove The Veracity Of My CV For My Hong Kong Employment Visa Application If A Prior Employer Is No Longer In Business?

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

How Can I Prove The Veracity Of My CV For My Hong Kong Employment Visa Application If A Prior Employer Is No Longer In Business?

If you’re claiming skills, knowledge or experience on your CV as part of your argument for a Hong Kong Employment Visa Application – what’s the gig if you can’t fully  support your claims with references or testimonials?

QUESTION

Hi, I am 8 weeks into applying for an employment visa (I’m British).

I have given the documents and a couple of weeks ago had to supply a reference which I managed to get hold of.

And yesterday my would be company heard from them again asking for another reference that was listed on my CV.

However.. the person has now left the company (the company may have even closed and now they have changed careers (it was a 5 year ago position I was referencing).

Do you think it’s OK for this person to state that they have left the company and just provide a letterheaded reference from their current place?

My other friend said it may be tricky.

Please help if you can. I’m not sure what to do.

Thanks a lot!

ANSWER

Naturally enough if you are claiming certain skills and experience on your CV and you’re expecting the Immigration Department to rely on them as being a true and accurate statement of your experience and work capabilities, it’s incumbent upon you to produce the kind of documentation which speaks to the veracity of your CV.

Now, of course, on occasion, it might prove impossible as you’ve encountered to pick up a particular reference from sometime prior particularly if that employer is no longer in business. So usually what the Immigration Department is prepared to do is to at least receive the second best evidence that you can supply and if that happens to be a reference or a document that speaks to your time in that business, or that employer organization and it’s from someone who knew at that time or possible was your superior, the Immigration Department will certainly take that into consideration. Whether it will prove ultimately satisfactory or not, in the final analysis, depends on just how important the time spent in that employment is to the relevance of your current application.

If for example, you’re saying that you’ve been responsible for producing moon widgets for that company and your special skills knowledge and experience for the new employer is to show that you’re going to be producing moon widgets and the Immigration Department have got no way of concluding effectively that you have the experience that you claim, then you know, it could speak to the approvability all told. However, it’s just general affirmation that you spend time in that role in that position, it’s nothing too sensational about it from the approvability perspective, and then you can expect that second best evidence will suffice.

But the final analysis you have the burden of proof in relation to the extent of your CV. So, as far as you can satisfy the requirements the stronger you’re putting yourself forward for an eventual approval.

Okay, I hope you find this useful.

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Can You Claim Right Of Abode In Hong Kong If Your Deceased Spouse Had PR Here But You Didn’t Live With Him At The Time Of His Death?

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

Is the Right of Abode in Hong Kong passed along to the spouse of a permanent resident such that is claimable after the death of your PR holding husband..?

First Published November 20 2013 – Still of Interest Today

QUESTION

This query is for  my cousin who is an adult.

She was born in Pakistan and got married to a Hong Kong non-Chinese permanent resident.

She has been in Hong Kong many times first after her marriage in 1994 then various times up to  2003.

She has two children one of which was born in Hong Kong.

She currently resides in Pakistan.

She was in Pakistan with her 2 children when she found out her husband passed away in Hong Kong.

She returned once to Hong Kong to verify this,but then came back to Pakistan with her children who were infants at the time.

She now feels able to cope with life in Hong Kong without her husband now that he children are older.

My query: Is there any basis or chance that she may be able to gain right of abode?

I would be grateful if you could help.

ANSWER

As a foreign national seeking to become a permanent resident of Hong Kong, there is a very defined way to go about procuring permanent residency status and unfortunately it doesn’t transfer to the spouse of a deceased permanent resident by virtue of the fact of death, as the Right of Abode in Hong Kong is directly tied to having been continuously an ordinary resident in Hong Kong for a period of not less than seven years immediately before you apply for the status.

So if we look at your cousin’s immigration profile in Hong Kong, it would appear that sometime after 1994 when she got married, assumingly to a person who subsequently went on to become a parent resident of Hong Kong, after 1997 she would have during her time together with her husband have had a dependent visa sponsored by him.

So from the period after 1997, if she did not live continuously in Hong Kong for at least seven years in her own right, then she at best would have at the time that she made her last departure in 2003 have been merely a dependent visa holder, and if that dependent visa on the one hand was not extended whilst she was in Pakistan, and two, even if it had been extended, if she was not having residence in Hong Kong with her husband and indeed her children at that time, it would be very difficult to sustain the idea that she was continuously an early resident in Hong Kong after 2003.

But I don’t have any specific instructions as to what her immigration status was at that point in time, so I will just make the assumption that as of 2003 she was not a permanent resident, and that she would not be entitled to apply for permanent residency by virtue of the fact that she was not resident in Hong Kong. She was indeed at all times after 2003 resident in Pakistan.

So given that her husband subsequently died holding permanent residency for Hong Kong, unfortunately in her own right, notwithstanding her marriage to an individual with that status, if she’s not in Hong Kong herself holding a dependent visa, she can’t claim ordinary residence. So she’ll never be able to qualify for the Rights of Abode. So, unfortunately that closes the avenue in relation to her husband.

You also make the point that one of her two children was born in Hong Kong again without any evidence as to the immigration status of the child; it’s difficult to advise whether this would apply to her or not, but I will make an assumption that one of the children did secure, or at least have the eligibility for the Right of Abode established at the time of his or her birth. And on the basis that, until he’s 21, he can show that he’s been settled in Hong Kong, he will at the age of 21 be able to become a permanent resident in his/her own right.

And on the basis that, your cousin is then over 60 years of age, and this child who is holding the Rights of Abode can show to the Immigration Department that he’s settled in Hong Kong rather than being settled in Pakistan, then that child will be able to sponsor its mother who will be over 60 years of age for dependent visa permissions as a dependent elderly parent.

But thats a couple of  initiatives sort of down the track, as it were. But that would appear to me an option going forward.

It’s not sufficient just to have the status at the age of 21 as a child. You need to have been settled in Hong Kong to be able to be a valid sponsor for elderly parents, dependent visa permissions and then assuming that your cousin comes to Hong Kong, lives in Hong Kong continuously for seven years as a dependent elderly parent sponsored by a permanent resident child who settled in Hong Kong, she will be able to then go on to secure Rights of Abode subsequently. But she won’t be able to do it while she’s living in Pakistan. She’ll have to be in Hong Kong.

I hope you found this useful.

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What Are The Obligations Of An Employer To A Prospective Employee When An Application For A Hong Kong Employment Visa Has Been Refused?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Musing, Refusals & Appeals / 4 responses

Foreign nationals seeking to work in Hong Kong have a lot of stake in an employment visa application so when it doesn’t work out positively where does that leave their proposed relationship?

QUESTION

Hi,

After the recruitment process in a multinational company in Hong Kong, they decided to employ me, so I signed the offer job letter with all terms and conditions and I provided them all documents requested for the visa.

After about a month, a received an email from the company: my employment visa application was refused, as ImmD consider my position could be filled my a person from the local labour market.

I tried to convince my boss to make the application again but they denied saying that a successful result was not guaranteed and they could not wait longer.

Basics of the position:

– Native spanish, fluent english, experience in sales and customer service.

– Salary 16,000 hkd per month

My questions are:

(1)  Doesn’t the company have any responsibility in the application process about starting again the application (in the offer letter says the employment is subject to the Visa working permit)?

(2) Is it common that after a visa application is rejected the company does not provide any help or solution?

(3) Taking into account that companies try always to employ people who already has visa to save money and time, how much is the cost of the working visa for them?

Thank you in advance.

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If I Marry A Local Girl, Get A Dependant Visa For Hong Kong Then Move To China For Work, Can I Still Get The Right Of Abode After 7 Years?

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

Does being married to a Hong Kong permanent resident whilst living in China impact on continuity of ordinary residence for the purposes of a right of abode application subsequently?

QUESTION

Hi,

Your website is incredibly helpful! However, my situation doesn’t seem to have an answer yet, so here goes!

I’m a UK national and have been working in Hong Kong on a work visa since October 2009.

I have recently resigned from my position but my work visa is valid until February of 2015.

I am going to get married to a HK permanent resident (she was born in Hong Kong) before my work visa expires and apply for a dependent visa for Hong Kong.

My question is, will my 7 years continue through this dependent visa and in 2 years time will I be eligible to apply for my PR?

Separately, there is a good chance my future employer will relocate me to Beijing on a China work visa, but my fiancé and I will frequent Hong Kong since her family is here, and ultimately we plan to permanently return to Hong Kong within the next few years.

Will this disrupt my 7 years?

Thank you in advance for your advice!

ANSWER

At first blush, this question appears to be quite complicated, but in actual fact it’s a very simple scenario to address for immigration purposes. The first question as regards changing your status from sponsored employment through to dependent, and will that have a negative impact on your deemed continuous ordinary residence for the purposes of your eventual Right of Abode application?

A short answer is no, because as long as you’ve had a residence visa or throughout the requisite seven years, irrespective of the type, then that counts towards the immigration sailors as needed to secure the Ride of Abode. Subsequently, the bigger question really is this issue about you leaving Hong Kong to go and work in China?

If you’re going to work in China, surely you’d expect to have a work visa there to be able to do that. But you need to be careful that you don’t inadvertently abandon your continuity of ordinary residence in Hong Kong. Ostensibly, what you need to do while you’re in China is to ensure that any future deployment to China is couched as a second from your primary Hong Kong employment, which is maintained in Hong Kong throughout all that time that you’re in China; and that the temporary second and the language that surrounds that project should clearly state that you will go there, you will work there, but you’re being seconded ex Hong Kong on a temporary basis, and that it’s the full intention of you and your employer to return back to Hong Kong to recommence your formal employment in Hong Kong at the end of that temporary secondment there; if you couch it in those terms, then the reality is that the Immigration Department will allow you to have continuity of ordinary residence because it is in fact just a temporary absence from Hong Kong whilst you’re in China, even though it might be of a long or possibly short duration.

So the test for approval is continuous ordinary residence for a period of not less than seven years, where any absences from Hong Kong in that time have been of a merely temporary nature, as evidenced by what you leave behind to return back to at the end of each temporary stay abroad.

So given that you will be married to a Hong Kong permanent resident, a local girl, and your assignment in China is going to be promulgated, your employment in Hong Kong into China on a temporary basis, even if it does transpire to be a few years that you’re there and you come back to Hong Kong frequently and when you do return to Hong Kong, you will recommence your Hong Kong employment once all over again with your employer that sent you to China in the first place.  If you can couch it in those terms, you should be fine. Okay, I hope you found this useful.

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Can You Keep Your Hong Kong Employment Visa If You Are Being Transferred To Live & Work In China?

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

Can you live in China yet remain a HK resident with a valid Hong Kong employment visa?

QUESTION

We are a married couple with children and have lived in Hong Kong for 3.5 years. 

We are moving to Shanghai soon (my husband’s employer is moving us).   

We currently have a Hong Kong employment visa for my husband and dependent visas for myself and kids; these expire a couple months after we move. 

We still plan to visit Hong Kong reasonably frequently (every 3-4 months) after we leave. 

 Is there any way for us to maintain Hong Kong residence after we move, (i.e. renew and maintain our existing visas)? 

 In case it’s relevant, while we have been living in Hong Kong, almost all of my husband’s work has actually been conducted in mainland China (he travels there all the time) we just live here.

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