Is it ever OK to work in Hong Kong on a visitor visa?
You would assume, quite reasonably, that if the Hong Kong Immigration Department advised you that is was OK to come to Hong Kong as a visitor and work, then that would be kosher, right?
Wrong!
In this question, it is more than apparent there have been cross-wires in the preparations for these professionals to come to Hong Kong and it’s time to sort things out – and quickly!
QUESTION
“My client has 2 employees who arrived in Hong Kong on a visitor visa with a view to then undertaking employment for the company.
They are professionals (engineers) so not sure which scheme would be best to apply under. Apparently, they were advised by the Hong Kong Immigration Department that the easiest way to enter Hong Kong and commence work was to enter on a visitor visa.
The visitor visas run out in December 1 but I understand they have been working whilst on a visitor visa which I said I did not think was allowed?
They are now at the point where they have to apply for an extension / employment visa. I have advised (using your helpful information!) of the process for applying for the employment visa. However, for some reason, our client thinks they can just apply to extend the visitor visa and the employees can continue to work? I’m sure this isn’t correct.
Also, on Form 990A, they have queried what to detail where it says section 2 – proposed date of entry and proposed period of stay. They are currently in Hong Kong so what would the proposed date of entry be?”
Hong Kong Immigration Policy Enhancements October 2022.
An interesting turn up for the books last week, when the Chief Executive gave his 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.
We apparently had a hundred and forty thousand talents leave Hong Kong in recent times – that’ll be a mixture of foreign nationals who were here contributing to our economy prior to the riots and obviously due to Covid and also our local young people have left too, 110,000, I think we’ve lost over the last two or three years to jurisdictions such as Canada, Australia and especially the UK BNO programme.
So all good stuff going to go all out for Hong Kong.
Well, there’s going to be certain new government bureaux. We’re all set up specifically to provide support to International Enterprises from certain particular sectors, that are deemed to be attractive to Hong Kong and form part of our economic development policy roadmap and the government is going to be active both in Hong Kong and overseas.
The government are also going to reach out to the top 100 universities in the world to try to fish for talent directly from those universities.
Morever, there’s going to be the establishment of a kind of a co- investment programme to facilitate an attractive proposition for businesses internationally, that are in certain sectors to come and get themselves set up in Hong Kong and obviously facilitating the Talent that will be necessary to give effect to the underlying rationale to those plans.
So that’s kind of the big-picture-attracting-intentions, if you will, intended to attract – so what have we got?
The Immigration Department is to going to enhance some of the existing immigration programs which I’ll deal with now and also introduce a new program called the Top Talent Pass Scheme.
So what have we got in terms of Enhancements to the existing programs?
Moreover, if an applicant under the General Employment Policy or the Admission Scheme For Mainland Talents & Professionals who is on the Talent List presently found in the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (that’s going to be updated by the end of this quarter, by the way) but if they’re in one of the 13 employment sectors in the Top Talent List, and they can show that they had a two million Hong Kong Dollar prior year salary there will be no requirement for the testing of the local labor market in relation to those applications for that status.
So, interesting update in terms of the Admissions Scheme For Mainland Talents & Professionals and also the General Employment Policy.
Secondly, there are going to be enhancements to the Quality Migrants Admission Scheme (as the ‘Top Notch Talent Scheme’ as Tung Chee Wah once quoted) the Scheme has been struggling I think in terms of its overall objectives down the years because of its limited scope and the fixed Quotas and the amount of time that it usually takes to get approved under the QMAS program.
The enhancements are going to remove the Quotas so it’ll be open to all-comers which is interesting and also that the process is going to be sped up so that definitely gives us another arm to our immigration processes that will enable visas to be had and to get Talent here more quickly.
ImmD are also going to do an Enhancement to the Technology Talent Admissions Scheme, which I always thought was a bit of a dog’s breakfast. It still is because of the fact that it’s kind of anchored to research organizations and institutions that are government accredited in Hong Kong, but one of the killers to that program in my view, in terms of its wider accessibility and availability to most businesses in fact was that there was a kind of a contingent local recruitment component to the program which is now being removed. That’s all good.
who have just finished their formal course of studies in a Registered Tertiary Education Institute in Hong Kong and so are seeking to move into the workforce) can now secure a no-questions-asked-used-to-be-one-year-employment- visa under the IANG programme. That’s being upped to two years.
There’s also an Enhancement to IANG extended to the Hong Kong University Greater Bay Area Campus which is in Shenzhen now extending to graduates from that campus too and so can now automatically qualify under the Immigration Arrangements For Non-local Graduates, that’s a new addition, so that’s good.
The Newcomer on the Block is the Top Talent Pass Scheme.
What this basically means is that if you’re of a particular Professional standing you can come to Hong Kong and get a two-year visa without a job offer.
Essentially you need to have graduated from one of the Top 100 Universities that are listed as part of the QMAS program which provides extra points for qualification under the QMAS scheme.
If you have graduated from one of the Top 100 universities, and in the last 12 months, you’ve had a mean average salary worth two and a half million Hong Kong dollars and you’ve got three years post-graduation working experience, then you can qualify for a no-employer-required-employment visa under the Top Talent Pass and there’s no quota associated with this programme.
So those are the bare bone details that I’ve got at the moment. The government will be releasing more details in the next few days and weeks, I’ll update my website and the Hong Kong Visa Handbook accordingly once we know what the nitty-gritty of it all is.
So that’s it – good news for Hong Kong, good news for immigration practitioners too and lots of new stuff going on. Lots of new advice to impart, and plenty, hopefully, of new people to assist.
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).
Wherever you face a situation that you’re changing jobs and expected to take a reduction in salary the Immigration Department are quite flexible in this regard so long as the essential conditions of the general employment policy continue to be met.
So, in this instance as long as your base salary is above the minimum threshold for approvability under the general employment policy for professionals, which is effectively two hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars a year give or take than anything over and above that that’s going to be made up by way of an alternate compensation scheme. Effectively it should be acceptable to Immigration Department so long as you educate them properly as to how that is going to play itself out.
So my advice is to effectively fully disclose the entire scheme of compensation as you’ve said it in your question to the Immigration Department and set out that scheme on a separate sheet and on the application form make reference to the scheme that has been essayed on the separate sheet and also indicate effectively how it could be said to be a sort of industry practice in your particular sector that a compensation arrangement like this could be put into play and then finalize your argument by effectively summarizing how in the grand scheme of things this is actually an upward step for you rather than a retrograde step from a compensation perspective because of the way that the offer has been structured at your prior record in this particular space and the essential level of confidence that you’ve got that makes you comfortable in accepting the offer and wanting to be engaged on the terms of it being put before you.
So, don’t see any problems, just set it out that way and I think you won’t meet any resistance from the department in that respect.
Documenting proof of the genuine nature of your relationship is a condition precedent to the grant of a dependant visa with the burden of proof decreasing the longer you have been married. Consequently, the newer your relationship / marriage the greater the onus is on you to satisfy ImmD that this relationship does not exist just for visa purposes.
QUESTION
Dear Stephen,
I’m a 41 year old Brit who has been living here for 3.5 years. I am on an employment visa.
My Girlfriend is Indonesian, has been here for 1.5 years and is currently on a 2-year domestic helper contract (and visa) that will end in January 2019
We have been together for 6 months and plan to get married in the next 6-12 months.
The domestic helper visa/girlfriend scheme is obviously out of the question since it’s against the law and I’ve read somewhere else on your site not to get married for visa reasons.
But, knowing immigration’s obvious bias against Filipinos and Indonesians, what will I need to do in order to prove to immigration that we want to marry in order to be together here and start a family and also provide her a better situation? (I’m obviously looking to have her as a dependant).
Just to share our mindset on this: I consider myself a proud immigrant here and not an expat and my girlfriend and I consider that our right to live here is way too important to risk it by “gaming the system”.
My early and cautious assumptions on this, given immigration’s bias, is that they might ask for proofs of relationship so I’ve already started backing up our whatsapp conversations to cover that side of things.
What is the best way to prove to Immigration that we are marrying for the right reasons?
How do we do the right thing ?
Thanks in advance.
ANSWER
Thanks for your question.
The right kind of Visa, in this instance, is the Dependant Visa and the Dependant Visa will be available to you at the point of your fiancé having become your legal wife, through having completed the formalities of a legal marriage and at that time you will need to be able to satisfy three components to the provability test.
First, you’ll need to satisfy that you can put a roof over her head and put food on her table because the nature of the Visa is such that your fiancé will need to show that she’s in a sense dependent on you. So being a good provider is a vitally important part of that so you’ll need to show your proof of income and that you’ve got the financial resources to support you in your marriage.
So in addition to that, you’re going to have to show that your relationship is a genuine relationship that is, that you haven’t just sort of come together at the last minute to come try a situation so that one party can go on to secure a Dependant Visa. So the Immigration Department’s policy in relation to the proof of a general relationship is that, in actual fact, when you are in a loving committed lifelong relationship with a partner you generate a significant amount of evidence just through the normal pattern of your lives that can speak to the genuine nature of that relationship. So for example, have you had an engagement party? Are you planning an engagement party? Have you got the proof? Have you got any proof to show that that has occurred? What paperwork have you got? What photographs exist? In relation to rings, have you got the receipts for the engagement ring? Have you already purchased the wedding rings? If so, show the receipts to the Immigration Department. Another good proof of Social confirmation that your relationship is genuine is photographs with your respective families. E-mails going back over time between the two of you. Independent written confirmation of friends and other upstanding members of the community. All of these things in addition to you having a record of your Whatsapp conversations will go towards satisfying the Immigration Department that this relationship isn’t flash in the pan and hasn’t come together just for immigration purposes. That it is in fact a genuine, committed relationship that’s going to last your lifetimes.
Now bearing in mind that if she’s going to become your legal dependent, she’s going to need to acquire that status and she can make an application to adjust from foreign domestic helper through to temporary visits around to Dependant Visa while she’s in Hong Kong on the basis that she’s completing her contract. On the other hand, if after six months when her contract comes to an end you are trying to for her to remain in Hong Kong as a visitor until such time as you can complete the nuptials, I think you’ll find that the Immigration Department won’t play ball with that. They’ll give her a one time a two week only extension and then she’ll have to leave. She can then come back at any point in time as a visitor, but the questions begged as to, whether or not the Immigration Departments are going to allow the fact of your intending nuptials to be a good reason for her to remain in Hong Kong as a visitor until you actually completed your wedding formalities accordingly. So if you’re planning to marry twelve months down the road, anticipate that from month six through to month twelve after her current FDH contract has come to an end, you are going to struggle to be together on the basis that you have not yet gotten married. But if you do get married before her current limited stay expires as a Foreign Domestic Helper then you can put an application into, directly from Foreign Domestic Helper, temporarily through the Visitor into the Dependant Visa. So, just bear that in mind from a practical and logistics perspective.
And I just want to raise a point here in fairness and in defence of the Immigration Department because you do state on a couple of occasions that you believe that they are obviously biased against Filipinos and Indonesians. I think it’s important to appreciate that Foreign Domestic Helpers come to Hong Kong on a very strict set of conditions that are embodied in their Foreign Domestic Helper Visa contracts. Those terms and conditions were negotiated between the Filipino Government and the Hong Kong Government and the Indonesian Government and the Hong Kong Government as being the satisfactory set of arrangements to protect the interests of their nationals. And from an Immigration perspective, The Hong Kong Immigration perspective, they administer those international agreements in light of what’s being prescribed as how the protections for these nationals should be afforded during their time in Hong Kong. And also the Immigration Department have to deal with hundreds of thousands of Filipinos and Indonesians in trying to find Domestic Helpers – It’s the single biggest part of their work world. So, when you understand the way the Filipino and Indonesian Foreign Domestic Helpers are here in Hong Kong and the legal arrangements that have been negotiated internationally for their protection and the fact that they are the largest single body of migrants that need to be administered on a regular basis, it’s easy to assume that the Immigration Department are biased against these nationals but they’re not. These nationals, in fact, are just part of a very large system that they have bought into and that system prescribes effectively what they can and what they cannot do for Immigration purposes.
So I do feel that we need to defend the Immigration Department in this respect because they come under a lot of flak for situations that are not of their own making at all and it is in this instance just the perception that there’s bias but there is no bias. The reality is it’s all governed by agreement both at the individual level and also at the international level.
This question raises its head in many different guises but this is the first time that anyone has asked it in such a pointed way in the context of training visas – so I’m pleased to be able to shed some light!
QUESTION
Hi,
Great that you provide this service!
I have a question.
I am currently on a 1 year training visa (expiring 30 June). I do not yet have another job offer lined up. I am currently interviewing for other employers, but things are slow.
It is likely that I will need to leave Hong Kong just before the expiry and then re-enter on a tourist visa.
My question is – if my visa expires on 30th June (with no new job offer or sponsor lined up by this time) but I get a job offer in say in mid-July….will the month or so spent in Hong Kong on a tourist visa count against me in obtaining the ‘7 years’ to acquire PR?
Will the clock be reset to zero if I am on a tourist visa, even for just a month or two?
What does it take to qualify for Hong Kong PR after 7 years?
Are you a foreign national having arrived in Hong Kong legally and have held a residence visa here back to back with no gaps for a full seven years?
If so, you might be in the hunt for permanent residency, and with it the right of Abode.
The test for approval for permanent residency in Hong Kong is as follows.
Have you been continuously and ordinarily resident in the HKSR for a period of not less than seven years?
Were ANY absences from Hong Kong in that time, be they of long or short duration, been of merely a temporary nature as evidenced by what you leave behind in Hong Kong to return back to at the end of each temporary stay abroad?
Morever, there must be no security objection to you being granted the right of Abode.
There must be no outstanding taxation liabilities in your hands in Hong Kong at the time they approve your PR application
And you need to have been in Hong Kong throughout the seven years claimed for a settled purpose.
Your settled purpose is a function of the visa type that you hold and your settled purpose can change during the seven years if your visa type changes during that time.
Need more details?
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