Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

I Have Sworn a Declaration That I am Leaving Hong Kong to Receive an MPF Refund – Am I Now Precluded From Making an Application for the Right of Abode Here?

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

What a great question – never been asked this before!

QUESTION

I have been resident in Hong Kong for 5 and a half years on a working visa.

I lost my job over 6 months ago and thought that I had no option but to leave.

I obtained the MPF refund in May and signed a statutory declaration indicating that I would leave in early June.

I then realised that I had been too hasty and that I could still have applied for the right of abode at the end of the seven year residency period.

I now want to do this and either study or work if i can get a job until such time as I can apply.

Is it too late now that i have signed the statutory declaration and received the repayment?

Is there anything I can do to remedy the position?

Thank you in anticipation of your reply.

ANSWER

Excellent question this! Twenty five years, I’ve been in this business and I’ve never been asked this before.

There are two things going on here. The first is, what the situation is as regards to the obligations in respect of the statutory declaration that you made for the MPF refund on the one hand. And then secondly, the more important question from my perspective and that is: what does the act of having made that declaration in relation to MPF have on your subsequent eligibility for the right of abode once you’ve been continuously and ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for not less than the seven requisite years.

Dealing first with the MPF refund itself, I am not by any stretch of the imagination, well versed in how MPF policy is administered in Hong Kong. But it just seems to me that if you’ve made a statutory declaration to receive the refund, that release the funds to you in the wake of your determination to leave Hong Kong and then after having made the declaration and indeed receive the refund, you have a change of circumstances such that you are no longer going to leave Hong Kong, my advice to you would be to get back in touch with the MPF folks, explain the situation to you and see what  process and protocols they have in place to reverse that situation. I can’t comment on how that will be experienced because I really don’t have any knowledge of that process myself. It just occurs to me that more than likely the MPF people would have seen this before and that they will be someway in a sense reverse that which you’ve already embarked down the path of.

So now turning ourselves to the question of your actual right of abode situation. Assuming you’ve been here five and a half years and you can maintain your residence visa throughout all of the full seven years, you do have an opportunity to make an application for the right of abode on the basis that you can show to the Immigration Department at the time of your application that you are settled in Hong Kong.

Now where you have a bit of an issue, is that you’ve, at this point 18 months earlier, taken very definite steps to indicate that you are not settled, you do not plan to be settled at the time that you will have been here for seven years because when you made the statutory declaration for MPF, you were saying that you were leaving for sure. So it’s important, I think, to undo that prior statutory declaration. On the basis that you are able to undo that together with the pattern of your life between now and the time that you get to the seven year mark, assuming that you’re able to maintain your resident’s visa permission all throughout either because you steady or you’re undergoing change of sponsorship application to change your visa, employment visa permissions from your immediate past employer to new employer going forward.

And as I say, at the time of seven years you can show to the Immigrations Department that you’ve got in place all the vestiges of a life that will allow them to conclude that you have become settled in Hong Kong and that you should be able to adjust your status from temporary residence to permanent residence and secure right of abode in the process.

So I don’t believe that the MPF scenario in your situation is fatal to your ability to secure the right of abode one and a half years down the road from now. But you do, I think, have two issues that you need to contend with. The first is you’ve made a declaration that you’re going to leave and now you’re not going to leave so I think you need to something with the MPF people and I think once that has been effectively sorted out, that will fade to the background and won’t have any negative impact on your application for the right of abode at the seven year mark because one would assume at that point in time you will have all the vestiges of a settled life in Hong Kong.

I hope this helps.

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I Want to Change Jobs With a Significant Reduction in My Base Salary – How Will this Impact on My Hong Kong Employment Visa Change of Sponsorship Application?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Your Question Answered / 7 responses

QUESTION

I currently hold a Hong Kong employment visa with a company where I am receiving a monthly salary of HK$50,000 (fixed salary, no bonuses), and have been working with this company for the past 4 years.

My contract, and visa, are due to expire soon so I am in the process of looking for a new job.

I’ve received an offer from a company where my base salary would be substantially lower at HK$20,000 but bonuses in the form of royalties from products sold will be included.

With this arrangement, providing I can perform well, I have the chance to make considerably more than the salary at my old company and therefore I am leaning towards taking this offer.

My question to you is, how will the Hong Kong Immigration Department look at this?

Will the fact that the base salary is much lower be a problem in terms of them granting me a visa to work with the prospective new company?

My job role will be essentially the same between both old and new companies, and it’s a highly specialised job where my specific skills and experience fit perfectly (and its highly unlikely that a suitable candidate would be found among the local workforce).

How would the employment visa application form be filled out so as to best describe this situation?

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What Impact Will A Temporary Yet Long Term Secondment Overseas For Work Have On My Hong Kong Permanent Residence Application 3 Years From Now?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / 2 responses

Hong Kong being a small, dynamic city which punches above its weight in the region, this situation happens all the time. So what IS the impact on your subsequent eligibility for the Right of Abode if your employer wants to shift you off-shore temporarily to manage a project?

QUESTION

I have been working in Hong Kong now for 3 years on an employment visa and my company wants to send me temporarily for 6-12 months to Malaysia to manage a project.  I will be on secondment as an employee of the Hong Kong branch still and will return to Hong Kong when the project is done so am wondering how this will affect my continuous residency? 

Does this mean that I will have to start the 7 years again when I return to Hong Kong?

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I Have an Employment Visa and I Want to Bring My Girlfriend to Hong Kong – Options Please?

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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Can I Come to Install Equipment in Hong Kong Without an Employment Visa?

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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Hong Kong Government Continuing Immigration Policy Enhancements – December 2022

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.

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Hong Kong Right of Abode Application – How Important Are Prior Tenancy Agreements?

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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I Have Sworn a Declaration That I am Leaving Hong Kong to Receive an MPF Refund – Am I Now Precluded From Making an Application for the Right of Abode Here?