Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Family Visas, Visitor Visas, Your Question Answered / 11 responses

” I Want to Bring My Girlfriend to Hong Kong”. This is a common challenge for people in serious, yet relatively new  relationships. The Hong Kong visa options are few and far between. You absolutely have to make sure that you stay on the right side of the law on this one. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of the crap advice offered on the public forums…

QUESTION

“I am Canadian & have just got my working visa for HK but my girlfriend is Thai & lives in Malaysia.  We want her to be able to come & stay with me but have been getting lots of contradictory advice so far.  I have been here for 3 months on a tourist visa while sorting out employment & my visa.  She has been over a couple of times for her 30 day allowance but last time was taken to the office at immigration & asked lots of questions.  They let her through but I now know there is a limit to how often can do this.  I am looking for some advice & help as to the best option so she can move here with me & hope you can help in some way.  She doesn’t have any work experience so a work visa is out of the question.  I have been trying to find out about study visas to see if she can do an English course as she needs to improve & have even been suggested FDH visa. 

I would be grateful for any advice & service to help us in our situation.”

ANSWER

If you were cohabiting prior to your arrival in Hong Kong you could apply for a Prolonged Visitor Visa. Check out the Hong Kong Visa Handbook on the section re defacto spouse’s here.

Otherwise she needs to have a visa rationale for remaining here independent of her relationship with you.

I  would urge you strongly to resist the temptation to try to bring her into Hong Kong as your Foreign Domestic Helper as you would be making false representations to ImmD with serious penalties for both of you (prison).

As for studying English, it all depends on the course and the institute which teaches it. For any kind of meaningful period of stay you’d be looking at degree or at least tertiary institute studies at Diploma level. But in the final analysis this would only be a temporary solution.

Please do not get married for visa purposes either!

Your options are a bit thin on the ground I’m afraid.

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

First Published February 4, 2019

Permitted activity under the Visitor visa category seems to be something of a grey area and in the final analysis it all boils down to the attitude of the Immigration Department for a breach of conditions of stay. However, some activities are self-evidently ‘employment‘ in nature and the answer to this questions addresses it squarely.

QUESTION

“Hello,

I work for a German company involved in the pharmaceuticals industry and I am traveling to Hong Kong for work related reasons (installing equipment) and wondering if I require a work visa?

Every place I look, it says ‘to take up employment’. If I work for a German company, do I need a visa to do business with another company there? Such as have a meeting? I will only be there for one week.”

ANSWER

This is a commonly asked question in actual fact because there seems to be something of a gray area between what is permitted activity and non-permitted activity under the visitor visa.

The law works in effect that if you come into Hong Kong to take up or join in any employment whether being paid or unpaid you need to secure the consent of the director of immigration in advance and that translates itself into an employment visa application.

And in my experience if for example, you were to present yourself at the airport seeking admission as a visitor and you told the officer that you were coming to “install equipment”, I believe the immigration officer will take you to task for that and quite possibly deny you entry on the basis that you didn’t have the requisite immigration permissions to engage in that activity.

There is a world of difference, however, between being compliant at law and non-compliant but being practically able to get away with things. A, because it’s a very short-term deployment and B, you may well be sort of hidden away in the depths of some commercial building somewhere out of sight of prying eyes and being practically able to sort of get on with the things that you need to do in order to discharge your duties as they were but none of that will of course would alleviate the issue of you having the incorrect immigration status to do that.

So under the visitor visa, engaging in business meetings or speaking at conferences and making sales calls, concluding contracts, fact-finding missions, participating in product orientation, all of this is primitive activity but in my experience if you are discharging your employment duties in Hong Kong for your overseas employer and then an employment visa will be needed and it seems to me that this joint discharging your employment duties in this situation will definitely cover installing equipment.

So that’s the bad news. The good news is that such visas are readily available and quite quickly issued. Of course, it’s still a process to be followed but in my experience installing equipment for sure requires an employment visa if you are to be compliant.

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PODCAST ANSWER

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Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Feature Article, Resource, Special Programmes, VG Front Page / No responses

Hong Kong Government Continuing Immigration Policy Enhancements – December 2022

After recent updates provided by the Hong Kong Immigration Department (ImmD) at the end of October, the Government of Hong Kong (GovHK) has announced additional measures to further streamline the Hong Kong immigration process for foreign national visa applicants.

Top this end, visa applicants can now complete online the entire process of application submission, payment for and collection of visa/entry permits through the ImmD mobile application, the ImmD’s website or the GovHK website, without having to visit an Immigration Office in person.

Moreover, effective November 29, 2022, electronic services for visa applications have been extended to all visa application types including visas/entry permits for visits, employment, investment, training, residence and study.

At the same time, Temporary Measures were extended for 6 months. The remote filing arrangements for applicants outside of Hong Kong SAR seeking to extend their stay has been prolonged until June 30, 2023.

This technically means that, as long as this measure is in place, applicants don’t have to be physically present in Hong Kong SAR at the time of submission of their application for extension of stay and/or the collection of the ‘e-Visa’.

Another important update concerns certain new applicants under the General Employment Policy (GEP), Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (AMTP) schemes and renewal applicants under the Technology Talent Admission Scheme (TechTAS) and the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) schemes.

Under these Enhancement Measures, proof of labour market testing is no longer required and evidence of academic qualification and work experience is not required for:

(a) applicants employed by a well-established (non-start up) company with a total annual salary package (including allowances and other guaranteed earnings) of 2 million HKD or above, and;

(b) applicants who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher level obtained from an internationally recognized institution.

Essentially you need to have graduated from one of the Top 100 Universities that are listed as part of the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (“QMAS”) which provides extra points for qualification under the QMAS scheme.

Likewise, evidence of academic qualification and work experience are no longer required for applicants who have been previously approved as principal applicants under the GEP or AMTP or under the TechTAS or QMAS.

On December 29, 2022 ImmD announced details of the Top Talent Pass too.

In a nutshell, all the above measures are the natural consequences of the Chief Executive’s maiden policy address where he laid out certain Enhancements to our immigration policy which are designed to both attract foreign businesses to Hong Kong and also prescribed Talents.

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

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Why pay for professional help in your QMAS application when you really can do it all by yourself?

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

Are tenancy agreement copies absolutely vital for a successful Hong Kong right of abode application?

QUESTION

For my Hong Kong PR application, what happens if I am unable to provide copies of my tenancy agreements? 

I never thought I would still be here for 7 years so I every 2 years I get rid of old documents i.e. bank statements, tenancy agreements, utilities etc. 

Also for years 3~7 I was living with my ex partner so the tenancy agreement was in his name or his employer’s name.

What can I do? 

Will utility bills be enough?

ANSWER

A really good question that has been raised this week, that presents itself all too often, and I thought to take this opportunity to share a little bit of light on the whole question on Right of Abode and the kind of documents you need in order to get an application approach.

The test for permanent residency, otherwise known as the Right of Abode, is that you need to be able to show to the Immigration Department that you’ve been continuously an ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for a period of not less than seven years.

And then in the absences from Hong Kong in that time have been merely of a temporary nature as evidenced by what you leave behind to return back to at the end of each temporary stay abroad.

And the certain documents that the Immigration Department are looking for can sort of anchor you in Hong Kong throughout all of that time, and if you can produce those documents, if you can’t come up with the other sort of ancillary type of paperwork, then it doesn’t really sort of matter that much.

So, the key documents are back to back resident visas throughout the entire seven years claimed and also consistency-reserved tax filings so the Immigration Department can see that you’ve been engaged with the Inland Revenue department throughout all those seven years, which again speak very clearly to the fact of your ordinary residence in Hong Kong.

And the Immigration Department will also as part of the application due diligence look to see where you’ve been spending your time so that you spent an extended period of time outside of Hong Kong particularly on a consistent basis you may be asked to provide information about what was happening in your life at that time. But in so far as tenancy agreement and utility bill copies go, its normal that documents get lost – we move homes we don’t think about keeping a consistent pattern of documentation that will speak to semi-continuous residents.

So, if you can’t produce tenancy agreements for the time that you’re claiming as you haven’t been resident here, don’t worry about it just make sure you’ve had back to back tenancy agreements, make sure that you got good solid tax returns and just throw into the mix any other documentation that you can lay your hands on that show you with an address in Hong Kong throughout those seven years.

And it can be one document for each year and all things considered the Immigration Department will take that documentation in around focusing, as I say, particularly on your tax returns, and the fact that you’ve been holding back to back resident visas throughout the seven years so it shouldn’t be a problem and wish you all the best.

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Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Feature Article, Investment Visas, Sherpa, Special Programmes, VG Front Page / 10 responses

INITIALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 2, 2021 – UPDATED DECEMBER 10, 2022

The Immigration Department Accepts Applications for Extension of Stay from Hong Kong Non-permanent Residents Outside Hong Kong (Extended Until June 30 2023)

https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/ext/npr.html

(Temporary Measures Update)

https://www.news.gov.hk/eng/2022/12/20221209/20221209_191044_925.html

The Immigration Department has extended the facilitation measure that allows eligible non-permanent residents who are outside Hong Kong to apply for an extension of stay, to June 30, 2023.

Implemented on April 8, the facilitation measure is originally set to expire on December 31.

Now, eligible non-permanent residents who are admitted into Hong Kong under nine immigration policies or schemes, whose limit of stay will expire within four weeks but are presently outside Hong Kong, may apply for an extension of stay before June 30, 2023 under the measure.

*****************************************************************************

Happy New Year Everyone.

Bit of good news just before the new year break:

In general, persons admitted into Hong Kong under various immigration policies/schemes may apply for extension of stay within four weeks before their limit of stay expires. Applicants should be physically present in Hong Kong both at the time of applications and collection of the relevant labels.

Due to the pandemic, if persons (except foreign domestic helpers and imported workers) are outside Hong Kong, with limit of stay expiring within four weeks/expired for less than 12 months, and are not able to return to Hong Kong timely to apply for extension of stay, they may submit a duly completed application form together with the required supporting documents for application for extension of stay under the relevant immigration policy/scheme. They are also required to furnish a letter setting out the details on their inability to return to Hong Kong timely for the extension of stay formalities. If the application is approved, the applicant will be issued with a visa/entry permit for their return to Hong Kong within the validity of that visa/entry permit. For details on the arrangement, please visit the Homepage of ImmD: www.immd.gov.hk.

For information on the latest quarantine arrangements upon arrival in Hong Kong, please visit the relevant webpage: www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng.

More Stuff to Help You Along

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Is there such an animal as a ‘flexible working visa’ for Hong Kong?

How to get a Hong Kong working visa automatically with no questions asked!

Can I study then get married all whilst holding an employment visa for a company I no longer work for?

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Posted by The Visa Geeza / in COVID CHRONICLES, Feature Article, Long Stay & PR, Musing, VG Front Page, Your Question Answered / No responses

Can I ‘Touch And Go’ At Hong Kong Airport To Keep My 3 Year PR Active During Covid19?

I’ve answered this question several times via email by now so it’s time to explain it here …

https://www.bio-hk.com/quarantine-procedures-for-entry-via-airport/

QUESTION

Hi Stephen

It will be 3 years this festive season since I was last in Hong Kong. I intend returning to maintain my permanent ID but I’ve no wish to stay overnight given all the Covid restrictions in place.

Will it suffice if I merely pass through immigration, don’t leave the airport and immediately return through security to board a flight out of Hong Kong that same day, or do I need to spend a minimum amount of time in Hong Kong?

Would it make any difference if I already hold a boarding pass for my subsequent flight when entering Hong KongK?

Many thanks indeed.

ANSWER

Yes, you can do this.

No minimum time needed is needed in Hong Kong but you MUST pass through immigration airside arrivals to landside arrivals and then pass back through immigration to achieve this ‘touch n go’ outcome.

You will need to undertake the normal post-arrival medical surveillance routine (starts with a PCR test before clearing immigration to enter Hong Kong), register your ‘under-medical-surveillance-as-a-recent-arrival’ status on line with the QR code they give you (ostensibly to report your daily RAT test results) and then report the fact of your ‘early departure’ via this on line portal when you leave to avoid being fined for not complying.

Ideally have a Hong Kong mobile number as they SMS you your bits and pieces.

Do-able.

Administratively awkward.

The sooner it ends the better!

USEFUL LINKS

Health Quarantine Arrangement on Inbound Travellers
https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/inbound-travel.html

Quarantine for Inbound Travellers – Frequently Asked Questions
https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/inbound-travel-faq.html

Designated Quarantine Hotels
https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/designated-hotel.html
(Designated Quarantine Hotel is not applicable for persons who have stayed in Mainland China or Macao only.)

Vaccine Pass
https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/vaccine-pass.html#faq
(For Non-local Vaccination / Recovery Record QR code and “Provisional Vaccine Pass”)

Information From Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP).

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Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Your Question Answered / 5 responses

This question really is all about the Catch 22 which I have posted on quite a few times previously. However, there is an interesting twist in that the questioner has entered Hong Kong on an APEC Business Travel Card and none of his clients are actually based in Hong Kong. So I am grateful for the opportunity to address these 2 novel dimensions to an issue that raises its head all too frequently.

QUESTION

I’ve entered Hong Kong under the APEC Business Travel Card program (as I hold a passport from an APEC country) as a business visitor.

I’ve established a company in Hong Kong and am going through the process of applying for an investment visa.

The question I have is can I legally run my business while being present in Hong Kong, while I wait for my visa to be approved?

All my clientele are currently based offshore (I have no local Hong Kong clients yet).

There seems to be a grey area for those of us that “telecommute” or service clients over the internet.

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PODCAST ANSWER

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