Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

Can My Dependant Child Go On To Become A Hong Kong Permanent Resident If I Am Not Married To His Mother?

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

Children born in Hong Kong to a Hong Kong permanent resident have their eligibility for permanent identity cards established at birth. But what if the child is born to a Hong Kong permanent resident not married to its mother and where the child was born outside of Hong Kong?

QUESTION

First, many thanks for your time.

I’m a permanent resident of Hong Kong and my son (now 2 years and 5 months) was born in Malaysia and has a Malaysian passport.

I applied for a dependency visa for him in 2012 and was granted a one-year visa in November of that year. He has spent 8 months in Hong Kong so far.

His mother is not a dependant (indeed I’m still married to another woman) but there is no conflict between us – we want what’s best for the child.

Is it correct to say that if I can get my son on the 3 x 3 dependant visa pattern he will be able in the end to apply for a permanent ID card?

ANSWER

A child of a Hong Kong resident can go on to secure a dependent visa sponsored by that resident on the basis that both parents agree that the child should be resident with one of the others if not both of them in Hong Kong.

So in a traditional family situation, this doesn’t present itself as a problem because both the parents and the child naturally together in Hong Kong. But in a scenario such as this where one parent is a permanent resident of Hong Kong and the other parent is not a resident of Hong Kong, but the couple have mutually decided that their offspring best interest would lie being resident with the permanent resident in Hong Kong.

As we’ve seen from this example, it is possible to secure a dependent visa for the child so that the child can live with its permanently resident parent in the HKR. And so once, they get the dependent visa typically it’s one year granted in the first instance and normally where both parents are in Hong Kong and both parents are permanent residents if the child itself isn’t a permanent resident because it wasn’t born in Hong Kong, then the dependent visa that’s issued goes on a three-year pattern and a three-year pattern, so that altogether in this instance you can anticipate that once the dependent visa has been held for a full seven years, issued for one year and then renewed twice at three years on each occasion, then you get a full seven years continuous residence status endorsed in the child’s passport all throughout this time and on the basis the child has been resident in Hong Kong, been educated and all the rest of that good stuff in that seven years, then you can make an application at the expiry of the second dependent visa period of stay for verification for eligibility for a permanent identity card for the child and at that point, if the child is verified as being eligible for the issuance of a permanent identity card once they become of age to procure one, that’s the 11^th birthday. So you get the juvenile ID card, then, the passport of the child is endorsed to the extent that the eligibility for that permanent identity card has been verified and so a label is placed in the back of the passport and that then dispenses with the need to have a formal dependent visa. And so the child is then allowed to exit and enter Hong Kong and live here unconditionally as though it was a permanent resident at that point in the game.

So once the child gets to eleven years of age and application is made for a juvenile identity card a cheque is made at the time of the application. Consideration as to whether the child has been continuously or nearly resident with his parents in Hong Kong, and as they are juveniles, invariably they have been. And on the basis that has been satisfied then the child will be issued a juvenile permanent identity card and then they are effective permanent residents of Hong Kong.

I hope this helps.

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How Is My Dependant Visa Affected Under The Mainland Talents & Professionals Scheme If My Sponsor Father Goes Back To China To Work?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Long Stay & PR, Special Programmes, Your Question Answered / 4 responses

What happens to a Hong Kong resident dependant visa holder sponsored by a parent holding a visa issued under the Admission of Mainland Talents & Professionals Scheme where the parent is unlikely to remain in Hong Kong – but the dependant wants to stay?

QUESTION

I am currently holding a dependent visa of which my father is the sponsor, under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals.

 The situation is that:

(A). There is a chance that my father, the sponsor, would not be able to extend his stay since he has to spend more time working in mainland than in Hong Kong (i.e., his visa would expire in 2014 if not successfully extended, which technically means my dependent visa would expire at the same time) (B). However, I myself has an offer to start working at a multinational company this September.

 Given the prime goal of attaining permanent residency for me, I need your expertise and suggestions on the following questions:

1. If there’s a large chance that my father will not be able to claim permanent residency two years from now (when 7 years has been reached since first got HKID), shall I switch to employment visa as soon as I am eligible to do so?

2. I have held dependent visa for 5 years now. After year 7, can I apply for permanent residency independently (given that we have successfully extended our sponsor/dependent visas till then?) Or does my outcome depends on my father’s application/status?

3. If I do switch from a dependent visa to an employment visa, say in September of this year. Will the accumulation of residency start over from the new visa? i.e., Say I work in Hong Kong under employment visa for 2 more years. Does that give me a total of 7 years, or only 2, for the application for permanent residency? 

4. Aside, I understand that 7 years is only a precondition for application of PR. So if I do get 7 years from the scenario above (5 dependent + 2 employment), yet I didn’t stay much in Hong Kong in the 5 years as a dependent. Would that significantly impact my chance of claiming PR?

Thank you very much for answering this long list of questions.  I really appreciate your time and help.

ANSWER

A question that’s got quite a few components to it, but the answer is relatively straightforward, so I don’t think it’s going to take too long to be able to clear things up for you in relation to your ability to remain in Hong Kong on a dependent visa.

If your father’s admission of Mainland Talents and Professional Scheme visa isn’t available for extension, then correct, you’re going to have to leave Hong Kong unless you’ve been able to adjust your status into another type of residence visa; and from the facts that you’ve saved, it would appear that you have potentially a sponsor, ideally a large multinational who will be prepared to sponsor you for employment visa permissions.

In order for you to get those permissions, you will definitely have to pass the approvability test for an employment visa, which is that you’re going to have to possess special skills, knowledge and experience of value to and not readily available in Hong Kong, and also the multinational is going to have to conceptually show that they’re justified in engaging your services rather than those of a local person.

But the reality is that the Immigration Department very rarely second guess the hiring decisions of large multinationals. If your sponsor in this instance is in fact large multinational, it’s a fair assumption that you will be able to successfully adjust your immigration permissions through to an employment visa from a dependent visa if it does transpire that your father’s not in a position to continue to sponsor your visa accordingly.

Now, insofar as part two of your question – yes, once you have had seven years continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong, and as long as you’ve had back to back residence visas in all of that time, which means time spent as a dependent and indeed time subsequently spent as an employment visa holder cumulatively, those two visa types over the course of the seven years will qualify you for the purposes of a Right Of Abode application; and there is in fact no direct association in relation to your own application for the Right of Abode with that of your father’s, assuming of course, that you’re over 18 when you make your application for permanent residency subsequently, I think that effectively gives you the answer in relation to question three, so I don’t need to discuss that any further.

As regards question four, at the point of making the application for the Right of Abode, you’re going to have to demonstrate to the department that any time that you spent spent away from Hong Kong in the seven years was of a merely temporary nature only as evidenced by what you left behind to return back to at the end of each temporary stay abroad.

Now, assuming that you have maintained your vestiges of your life in Hong Kong throughout all of those seven years, and even if you have spent a bit of time up in China for the purposes of your sort of the normal pattern of your ordinary life, then that type of time spent in China should not derogate from your ability to claim ordinary residence all throughout the time that you suggesting to the department that you have been resident in Hong Kong.

If for all practical purposes, though, you fundamentally upped sticks went back to China and spent maybe a couple of years cumulatively with only one or two months in that time back in Hong Kong, then it’s difficult to argue with the department that you have remained settled in Hong Kong throughout all of this time, because it could be deemed that Hong Kong was really just a jurisdiction of convenience and that your real time from a settlement perspective, was spent up in China, not in Hong Kong. So it will all depend on the nature of the time that you spent in China and the length of that time and what you were doing there. But fundamentally, if you’ve, for all practical purposes, maintain a full life and education and a professional career in Hong Kong, then the Immigration Department would likely conclude that any time spent out of Hong Kong will have been of a merely temporary nature, and so your continuity of ordinary residence should have been maintained accordingly.

I think that really covers all those bases for you, so I hope you find this helpful.

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If I Live And Work In China But Have A Hong Kong Employment Visa Can I Get Dependant Visas For My Family?

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

To live in Hong Kong requires a place to lay your head here each night. What happens to your application for dependant visas for your family if you don’t have anywhere for them to live?

QUESTION

I have held a Hong Kong employment visa for the last 3 years.

 But most of the time I work in Shenzhen, China.

 I am here with my family  but I am thinking about moving them to Hong Kong finally for good education and other reasons etc.

 Now I want to apply dependant visas for them, my wife and two kids .

 But I do not have tenancy lease agreement to show residence proof .

 Please advise!

ANSWER

The very bottom line to this question is that in order to get dependent visas for your family to come and live in Hong Kong you need to be able to show that you can put food on their table and a roof over their head. Now, the fact that you have an employment and an employment visa, that will be sufficient for you to be able to show the immigration point where you can put food on their table, roof over the head is mission critical.

The problem that you’re facing is that because you presently have an employment visa the expectation is that right now you are resident in Hong Kong because usually the Immigration Department will not afford residence visas to people who are actually working in China; because you need visa to work in China, not in Hong Kong.

However, they’re cognizant of the fact that a lot of travelling goes on across the border. So in the main, they typically don’t second guess what the residential arrangements are if you’ve got a good Hong Kong employer and your employment in Hong Kong continues. However, insofar as making an application for a dependent visa goes as an existing resident and certainly having been here for three years at the point of making your application for the dependent visa, you will need to show that you have got accommodation for your family.

So in order to facilitate dependent visa applications, my advice is that you get to Hong Kong, rent a place, and once you’ve got a tenancy agreement, submit your applications for the dependent visas, and I think you’ll find that they will be granted to you without too many problems. But you are going to need to have a tenancy agreement for sure.

Okay, I hope you find this useful.

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Can A Non-Graduate Get A Hong Kong Work Visa To Work As A Language Teacher?

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

Hong Kong  work visa to work as a language teacher but no degree?

The challenge of securing a Hong Kong work visa for language teachers is rife with contradictions. This question speak to what might work in the very unusual set of circumstances posed.

QUESTION

“Hi, one of my friends has just recommended you guys to me so I decided to write about my case to see if there is something I can do. First of all, here’s a bit of information on my current situation.

I came to HK approx. 2 years ago to continue my studies. I got into university and studied for 18 months (the student visa was not a problem at all), then for some strong reasons I had to withdraw from university. That was almost six months ago. Then, I went back to my home country and came back. Since then I have been living with my boyfriend in HK and I’ve been trying to get a job. but even that I have got some offers none of the companies have been able to get me a working permit. I’d like to point out that I had to travel outside HK a couple times to renew my tourist visa.

I recently had an offer to teach French at a small learning centre which just opened around 7 months ago. I got plenty of experience teaching but I don’t have a certificate or relevant studies on this matter. Although, I studied a higher diploma and I got a couple of university certificates, one in Computer Studies (2nd year – Hong kong) and also I studied Business management (3rd year – Montreal).

Long story short, I would like to work in HK for some time and then get back to school. What could you recommend me in this case? Do you think there is a chance for me to get the visa permit for this job? The centre does not know the procedures to follow in a case like this. I hope you can help me to get this through.

Thanks!”

ANSWER

This is quite a complex question and it’s not clear on the face of it if you’ve actually graduated from university or not.

Having had a student visa in Hong Kong previously neither helps nor hinders you in your subsequent visa applications. Although if you had graduated from a Hong Kong university, you could have secured easy working permissions under the Immigration Arrangements for Non-Local Graduates (IANG).

And of course, on the basis that you do eventually go back to university in Hong Kong and graduate in the future, securing employment visa permissions for any kind of work that you want to engage in will be really very straightforward. But anyway, back to the challenge at hand, it’s not clear from your question also, if the companies who previously extended job offers to you had tried to secure an employment visa for you, and in actual fact, you were rejected in those applications, which can also have an implication, or whether or not they were actually interested in helping you go through the immigration process.

If you have had previous employment visa applications rejected, then to the extent that the Immigration Department have a record of the things that you have submitted to them previously (on file) the representations and the information that are presently sitting on your file will serve as a backdrop to any future applications that you make, so that’s kind of an important element of where we sit at the moment. If you have submitted applications previously in respect of those job opportunities that came your way. Now, as for the current French language school, if you don’t try, you’ll never know.

I’ve recently come across a case where a non-graduate police officer from the UK, in actual fact, was able to secure an employment visa for her to teach English in a non-governmental organisation in Hong Kong, which came as quite a surprise. But there is some experience in my hands that show that the mere fact that you don’t have a university degree doesn’t automatically preclude you from qualifying as a language teacher in Hong Kong. Although, in fairness, in this particular instance, we were talking about an NGO employer rather than a commercial employer.

So if we piece together your sort of chequered educational background the fact that French is your mother tongue, and the fact that you’ve stated that you’ve got lots of experience teaching, it’s worthwhile giving an application for an employment visa sponsored by this new French school, a try.

You’ll have to make a good argument, possibly tying your prior education in Hong Kong university as some kind of benefit to your Chinese students of French in this instance. And it may also be worthwhile stating to the Immigration Department that this is just a temporary measure, this employment that you going to be taking up as it’s your intention to return to full time education in Hong Kong in due course, and show them proof of this.

And it may be that the Immigration Department will see that this is just an opportunity to tide you over to the time that you can get back into school and on the basis that you can properly document the fact that you have taught French extensively in the past, as you stated in your question, that together with your elements of a tertiary education until now, could see you getting the visa application approved; but as I say, if you don’t try, you’ll never know. And then finally, it’s important to remember that the school itself plays a role in your application. And if they’ve got no experience in the process, they’ll need to work with you really closely during the visa application. And to that end, please show them the video that I’ve linked to. This answer deals specifically with those challenges faced in the hands of your employer.

Okay, I hope this helps. Good luck.

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Can I Still Get Permanent Residency In Hong Kong If I Lose My Job And My Visa Work Expires On Exactly The Same Day As My 7 Year Anniversary In Hong Kong?

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

Tough question this – so what’s the answer…?

QUESTION

Hello Hong Kong Visa Geeza,

This website is simply wonderful and resourceful!! Thanks.

I had a question and was wondering if you can please help.

I finish 7 years in Hong Kong in November and my current employment visa expires on the same day

I would like to continue my life here as a Hong Kong Permanent Resident.

However, my employing company is not doing that well and it may shut down or a few of us might be fired this summer.

Unfortunately, if it happens in September or October, it will leave me very little time to find a new job/apply for any academic course to be able to remain resident here under a new employment or student visa.

I am already looking for jobs but it’s not easy to get one currently.

Please let me know your opinion about the best course of action I can take now or in the coming days and what is the usual course of action if someone is fired 15/20 days before end of 7 years, for example.

Thanks again 

ANSWER

If you find yourself having been continuously and ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for the requisite seven years to go on to qualify for permanent residency, when you make your application, you need to have a valid residence visa endorsed in your passport on the day that you apply and you need to have a valid residence visa endorsed in your passport on the day that the Immigration Department finalise your application.

So in your circumstances, if you find that you lose your job for whatever reason in the weeks running up to your seven-year anniversary and your present residence visa expires on exactly the seven-year anniversary, you’ve got a couple of options available to you: the first option is that you earnestly try to arrange another residence visa, possibly through an extension to your employment visa because you have secured an alternate job offer and you’re suitably qualified, both professionally and immigration wise to take up that employment and the Immigration Department approve it and that will then carry you over the seven year line with the one year visa you get at that point which will then make you eligible, all things considered to promote an efficient right of abode application.

Alternatively, you could do it via a student visa as well, that’s also an option to you; but as you’ve pointed out, you don’t have a high level of confidence that you’ll be able to create those circumstances, and therefore what’s going to happen if you get to the seven-year anniversary and you’re not in a position to have a new residence visa available to you?

Well, effectively what you do is you make an application 30 days before your seven-year anniversary and ensure that every single piece of paper that the Immigration Department will need to look at your case positively and be ready to approve you so that there’s no need for them to engage in any ongoing correspondence with you to get other documents such that when you make your application and your supporting letter you indicate that you’re no longer employed, that you won’t be in a position to have a residence visa the day after your seven-year anniversary and therefore could the examining officer kindly see fit to finalise and approve your right of abode application on the seven-year anniversary when your current limit of stay expires; that’s one technical way to address the challenge that you’ve got. However, in the final analysis it boils down to the workload of the immigration officer and the disposition of the immigration officer to entering into that kind of arrangement; it’s certainly not guaranteed and effectively means that the immigration officer who is tasked with your application is prepared to organise his or her workload to accommodate you, all things considered.

So that’s, effectively one way that you can go about doing it; and we’ve seen instances on two or three occasions in the past where the right of abode officer has been able to come to the party, as it were. But if you do find yourself not able to finalise your right of abode application on the exact seven-year anniversary, then no matter, as long as you continue to earnestly look to create the circumstances so that you can get a new residence visa in due course during the currency of the transition from your old situation to the new situation that is going on to get a student visa, or continuing to interview for new jobs, and thereby going on to get an employment visa subsequently, any time that you spend in Hong Kong as a visitor, during that process, because that’s the only immigration status that you’ll have available to you, will not, in normal circumstances, break your continuity because the act of trying to create the circumstances for a student visa or new employment visa show your continuing intent to remain settled in Hong Kong. And therefore the Immigration department won’t allow any time as a visitor as long as it’s a reasonably short period of time to break your continuity of your residence. And therefore, subsequently when you do get your new residence visa, you can then make your application for the right of abode and I think your family goes through without too much of an ado.

I hope you found that useful.

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Hong Kong Investment Visa Extension – I Have Only Been Granted An Initial Six Months Limit Of Stay – Help!

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

Hong Kong investment visa extension after being granted only an initial 6 month limit of stay?

QUESTION

Dear Visa Geeza,

I’d like to thank you for building such useful resources online.

I followed your advice when preparing my business investment visa.

My visa got approved and with a six month review condition.

I have already rented a part time office. I’m not sure about the hiring employee part.

In my business plan, I said I would hire one employee in the first year. 

I feel it’s a rush to hire someone within six months.

However, you warned that immigration is more strict now at Hong Kong investment visa extension review.

Could you please give me some advice regarding hiring employees?

 1. Do I have to hire an employee within the six months of business visa approval?

2. Does it have to be a full-time job? Will part-time job be ok?

3. Do I have to hire a Hong Kong permanent resident? Can I hire someone on dependent visa?

4. What if I could not find a person qualified for the job within six months? Can I explain to immigration that I’m trying and hope for a pass?

Thank you again for helping me. 

ANSWER

I am very pleased to hear that you did manage to get your investment visa having used the resources of our website. That’s very good news indeed.

Turning to the fact that you only got a six-month limit of stay, effectively what the Immigration Department is saying to you when you get a six-month limit of stay on first approval is that they believe that you were marginal for your approval that prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt. So in this respect, you’ve got a green light to now to implement your business plan and appreciate that your business plan has anticipated that you’re going to achieve certain things in the first twelve months rather than the first six months. However, the fact that you’ve had this six-month limit of stay, is kind of a clear sort of signal to you that the Immigration Department have got expectations of certain kind of commercial activities on your part. Now I appreciate that commercially at the present it may not make much sense for you to be going after full time or part time or dedicated office premises and all the rest of it, but the best way to approach this would be to view the six months that you’ve got as your testing time where you can clearly move the business forward in those six months and you can take the steps that you need to take in implementing your business plan that are defensible at the time of your six month extension renewal exercise. So do bear in mind that the six months that you received is a kind of message to you, that there’s a certain expectation that you will crack on with your business and not seek to be reticent in implementing your plans and that the Immigration Department won’t have an expectation that you can show to them in those six months that you’ll create the new facts on the ground so that they can be persuaded that you are in fact making a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong, which is the aprovability test for investment visa in the first place.

So understanding that’s the kind of the backdrop to this, let me turn my attention now to your specifically questions. Firstly, do you have to hire an employee within six months of business visa approval? Again, my answer to that is no, but you need to be explaining to the Immigration Department why you haven’t recruited in the context of the overall performance of your plan heretofore.

Secondly, does it have to be a full time job or will a part time job be? Again, the Immigration Department are not prescriptive as such. They will look to see how you are moving your business forward. And if it just so happens that for the moment a part time staff is sufficient for your needs to allow you to achieve the early objectives in the first six months, then that is what that is, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.

Number three, do you have to hire a Hong Kong permanent resident or can you hire someone independent visa? Well, the definition of local recruitment for the purposes of immigration in Hong Kong is really being able to create a job for somebody who doesn’t need the permission of the Immigration Department to uptake that employment. So, in this respect, if you’ve got a dependent visa holder who is in a position to do work for you, then that’s fine.

And then finally, what if you can’t find a qualified person for the job within six months? Can you explain to immigration that you’re trying and hope for a pass? Well, again it’s a question of showing to the Immigration Department that you’re earnestly recruiting – submit copies of the advertisements that you’ve put out on social media, jobsDB and the like, and, if you have received CVs, make sure you create a compilation of all of those CVs and explain to the Immigration Department during your extension exercise that you are committed to recruiting such people; and, given the efforts that you’ve made thus far reflected in the CVs that you’ve received, that you will be submitting copies of as part of your extension exercise, you haven’t been able to find the talent that you’re looking for at this point in time so you continue your search. So effectively what you’ve got to do now is persuade the Immigration Department that you’re not sitting on your hands, you’re getting on with your business, you’re implementing your plan as best you possibly can. Show to the Immigration Department at the time that you come up for renewal all of these things and you may very well find yourself with a twelve-month limit of stay; at the end of that exercise if they feel that there’s still work to be done in that respect, they may just extend you for a further six months. But I wouldn’t be concerned that they’re not going to extend you and just anticipate that you’re going to have a job of work ahead of you dealing with the paperwork persuading the Immigration Department that you’re worthy of that approval in the first place.

I hope you found this useful.

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Can I Go From A Hong Kong Investment Visa To An Employment Visa And Back To An Investment Visa Again?

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

Entrepreneurship is a fluid beast! This post deals with special situations around the Hong Kong Investment Visa.

QUESTION

Hello,

I was on an investment visa for a year when I started my own business and then took on a full time role with another company. 

I was transferred to an employment visa. 

I am now considering leaving this role and going back to actively work in my business. 

Can I apply for an investment visa for a second time or does it simply get transferred to my own company as an employment visa?

ANSWER

Great question and I’m so grateful to you for asking it.  I have seen this situation probably a dozen times in the last 20 years, and in every single instance the Immigration Department have come to the party and have indeed allowed a previous investment visa holder who has then changed status to an employment visa, and who then has a change of heart and decides that paid employment is not really for them and they wish to go back to their own business pursuits once more; and the Immigration Department have approved these applications, as I say. So there’s no reason to suggest that you won’t be successful in your application too.

The way that you go about it is to effectively treat the application as a change of category application going back from employment visa sponsored by a third party through to business investment on the strength of your own enterprise in Hong Kong.

The approvability test is just the same as it always is for an investment visa. That is, in light of your present circumstances, given that you once in a sense, put your business on the shelf while you went off to work for another employer. Your business now moving forward, if the Immigration Department allow you to do so, will uh, mean that you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong. And I’ve dealt with the investment leisure aprovability test elsewhere on the blog, so I’ll let you go and research that and understand effectively what’s required for you to be successful. However, as the essential premise of your investment visa activities were originally approved, it’s certainly feasible to expect that you’ll get approved this time around.

Generally speaking, you’ll certainly need to have at the requisite level of resources, you’re going to have to have a pathway to the creation of local employment opportunities once again, and you’re going to have to have business premises that are suitable for you and your proposed activities; the Immigration Department will effectively put you to that test. And I think, as I say, it’s fair for you to be able to pass it, but you’re also going to have to sort of plug the gap as to kind of what happened whilst you’re an employee in the business. I assume, as I mentioned, it was probably on the shelf in the meantime.

My advice therefore is for you to talk to the Immigration Department about how you sort of put the business into a deep freeze and that you are now ready to sort of bring it out into the open and go for it one more time. So, just as I say, the key thing is to pass the approvability test all over again.

The fact that you had an investment visa once previously, all goes well, on the basis that you can explain the gap as to what happened to the business during the time that you were an employee and that on the basis the Immigration Department approved you to join in this business one more time, you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong.

Do it on the fifth floor of Immigration Tower, via a change of category application, and you should take between, I’d say, four and six weeks to finalise.

Additionally, if your current limit of stay has got less than six months on it, use not only the ID999A application form, use also the ID91, which will allow the Immigration Department, once they approve you, to grant you an extension to your current limit of stay by a further year. As I say, assuming that you’ve got less than six months remaining on your current limit of stay, then include the ID91.

I hope you find this useful.

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