Will Extended Time Spent In Hong Kong As A Visitor Between Employment Visas Negatively Impact Any Future Application I Make To Work Here Again?

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

Extended Time Spent In Hong Kong As A Visitor Between Employment Visas?

What do ImmD make of foreign nationals who hold an employment visa for a period of time, then remain here as Visitors again for a protracted time, then apply once again for an employment visa?

 

 

Practice Update 2026 – This content must be read in light of changes to ImmD practice since it was first published

Under Hong Kong immigration practice, foreign professionals who conclude one period of employment and remain onshore as visitors while seeking new opportunities often worry that extended transitional stays will prejudice their subsequent work visa petitions. In Will Extended Time Spent In Hong Kong As A Visitor Between Employment Visas Negatively Impact Any Future Application I Make To Work Here Again?, Stephen Barnes, the Hong Kong Visa Geeza, explains:

 

Accumulating substantial time in the territory under visitor permissions between employment roles does not automatically disqualify an applicant under the General Employment Policy. However, it does trigger acute evidential scrutiny from the Immigration Department. Case officers examining a new employment sponsorship will closely evaluate the gap period to confirm that the applicant did not breach their conditions of stay by engaging in unauthorized “shadow work,” informal consulting, or premature onboarding.

Stephen Barnes – The Hong Kong Visa Geeza

 

Provided the employment visa candidate can demonstrate that their stay was sustained entirely through independent personal funds, that activities were strictly confined to permitted pursuits such as attending job interviews, and that no unapproved services were rendered, the new application will be adjudicated on its ordinary substantive merits. To understand how contemporary immigration policy creates legitimate mechanisms for temporary professional contributions without generating suspicion during transitional periods, Stephen Barnes provides the definitive analysis in Practice Update: The 2026 Immigration Facilitation Scheme – Short-Term Work for Visitors to Hong Kong.

The vital operational boundary highlighted in the Practice Update is that the regularised and expanded Short-Term Visitor Facilitation Scheme—now covering 18 designated sectors as of 1 October 2026—provides a transparent, pre-approved channel for short-term professional engagements, completely distinct from unendorsed interim visits. Under the facilitation arrangements, qualifying international specialists invited by one of roughly 490 government-endorsed host organisations can lawfully undertake specified professional activities for up to 14 consecutive calendar days without securing a conventional employment visa. However, as Stephen Barnes emphasizes across both analyses, this facilitation framework is strictly institutional, non-proprietary, and activity-specific; it cannot be repurposed by a transitioning resident to perform ad-hoc tasks, provide handover assistance, or deliver preliminary services to an incoming corporate sponsor while holding visitor status. Any substantive employment duties performed during an inter-visa gap without prior departmental authorization violate Section 41 of the Immigration Ordinance and will severely prejudice a pending sponsorship. For foreign professionals navigating transitional periods between career appointments, maintaining unblemished compliance remains essential: brief professional contributions must be anchored within formal institutional facilitation, while interim job seekers must ensure their time on the ground remains purely passive and compliant until formal employment sponsorship is officially granted.

QUESTION

I was previously employed in Hong for a number of years, but have been not been working here for the past 2 years, so have had to make multiple re-entries into Hong Kong as a Visitor (consecutive re-entries over a span of 2 years). 

Hong Kong Immigration has never rejected my re-entry as a visitor into Hong Kong, nor have I over-stayed any visits. 

I have family ties in Hong Kong, and would like to remain here. 

I also have financial/bank accounts in Hong Kong. 

I was wondering if I were to get sponsored by an employer to work in Hong Kong again, would Immigration look at my work visa application unfavourably as a result of my previous years as a “visitor”?

Thank you for your most helpful service.

 

ANSWER

Each time that you present yourself as a visitor in Hong Kong there is an examination of your bona fide as a visitor and if the examining officer is satisfied as to your bona fide you get admitted and effectively no further questions asked about what you’re going to be doing and how you’re spending your time here.

So the fact that you’ve had protracted stays in Hong Kong as a visitor since the time of your last employment visa will not negatively impact in any way on future application that you make for an employment visa; the facts are what they are and, as I say the examining officer at the point of presenting yourself as a visitor has looked at your bona fide and has been satisfied with them and as long as you have no bistaid then there is no issues associated with any time spent in Hong Kong is visited negatively impacting any future application.

I hope you find this useful.

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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?

PRACTICE UPDATE: How the content must now be read in light of current ImmD policy:

This analysis on applying for an extension of stay ahead of schedule (for example, to satisfy commercial counterparty requirements or long-term lease signings) must now highlight the substantial risks of triggering premature departmental scrutiny. Requesting an early extension pulls the business into an immediate, forensic review under the hardened standards. Unless the business already possesses 2 to 3 local permanent residents on active payroll, an executed standalone commercial lease, and verified multi-year financial sustainability aligning with the TTPS Category A operational proxy, triggering an unscheduled review invites unnecessary requisitions and risks curtailing the 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 / 5 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?

PRACTICE UPDATE: How the content must now be read in light of current ImmD policy:

Historically, this advisory mapped out a strategic pathway for mid-career expatriates seeking to break free from corporate sponsorship and run their own boutique business while running down the clock on their seven-year permanent residency milestone. The Geeza framed this transition as a routine status pivot under the General Employment Policy, reassuring seasoned residents that ImmD viewed their established local ties favorably. Case officers were receptive to qualitative continuity: an applicant could comfortably bridge the remaining years by launching a lean consultancy from a serviced office, injecting modest capital of a few hundred thousand dollars, and promising gradual local hiring as the business matured.

The game has changed from a convenient, discretionary holding pattern into a high-stakes institutional audit that risks shattering years of accumulated ordinary residence. Pivoting from an employment visa to one’s own business to “wait out” permanent residency now triggers the full rigor of TTPS Category A operational standards. ImmD no longer grants leeway for personal history or boutique solo ventures; the newly minted business must immediately substantiate HKD 1.5M–2.0M in deployed corporate liquidity, exclusive commercial premises (“four walls”), and active MPF payroll for 2–3 local permanent residents. Attempting to bridge the final stretch to PR without this heavy corporate balance sheet or an accredited government incubation backing will trigger an outright refusal, abruptly breaking continuous residence and wiping out the seven-year tally.

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

Do You Always Need to Have an Investment Visa?

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

 

 

PRACTICE UPDATE: How the content must now be read in light of current ImmD policy:

Under Hong Kong corporate and immigration law, a sharp jurisdictional distinction exists between incorporating an enterprise and securing the legal right to manage it on the ground. In If You Start A Company Based In Hong Kong Do You Always Need To Have An Investment Visa To Be Able To Run It?, Stephen Barnes, the Hong Kong Visa Geeza, explains:

 

While Hong Kong company law permits non-residents to serve as shareholders and directors of a local private company, physical presence and day-to-day operational control trigger strict immigration scrutiny under Section 41 of the Immigration Ordinance. If a foreign founder lives outside Hong Kong, operates the venture remotely, and enters only occasionally as a visitor to attend high-level board meetings, resolve corporate matters, or open banking facilities, such activities are recognized as lawful permitted visitor pursuits without an investment visa.

Stephen Barnes – The Hong Kong Visa Geeza

 

However, once an intention to reside crystallizes—or if the business requires the owner’s regular physical management on the ground—an Investment as Entrepreneur visa under the General Employment Policy becomes mandatory. As highlighted in current practice updates, modern Immigration Department policy strictly enforces this line: foreign founders cannot perform hands-on operational establishment (such as executing leases, running payroll, or directing staff) under visitor status without exposing themselves to unlawful work allegations, necessitating legitimate local governance structures until formal entry clearance is granted. To examine how contemporary entry frameworks accommodate short-term specialist inputs without requiring formal investment visas, Stephen Barnes provides the definitive analysis in Practice Update: The 2026 Immigration Facilitation Scheme – Short-Term Work for Visitors to Hong Kong.

The vital operational boundary detailed in the Practice Update is that the regularized and expanded Short-Term Visitor Facilitation Scheme—spanning 18 designated sectors as of 1 October 2026—is strictly non-proprietary and cannot be used by business owners to run their own Hong Kong enterprises. While the facilitation arrangements permit qualifying non-local talent invited by roughly 490 government-endorsed host organizations to lawfully carry out pre-approved activities for up to 14 consecutive calendar days without a conventional work visa, this mechanism requires an external institutional sponsor. A foreign founder cannot issue an invitation to themselves through their own newly incorporated entity, nor can the scheme serve as a temporary operational bridge for an unapproved entrepreneur. As Stephen Barnes emphasizes across both publications, proprietary business management remains subject to the substantial-contribution approvability test: foreign investors who wish to direct commercial operations locally must secure formal entrepreneur visa approval, whereas short-term institutional facilitation remains strictly confined to visiting external experts participating in endorsed sectoral events.

ers, or legal counsel to execute contracts and run payroll—to keep the foreign investor strictly passive until ImmD issues entry clearance.

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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