Can You Hold a Hong Kong Employment Visa Yet Be Unemployed, Travel & (Even) Work Abroad for An Extended Period of Time Yet Still Qualify for the Right of Abode Here After 7 Years?

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

First Published September 22, 2017

Is it possible to hold an employment visa, not work for your sponsoring employer and travel, live and possibly even work outside of Hong Kong through to the 7 years qualification mark and still qualify for the right of abode?

QUESTION

Hi Stephen,

I have a question regarding Hong Kong right of abode (permanent residency).

I have been working and living in the HKSAR for >5 years and my current employment visa allows me to stay till mid 2020 (by when I will have been in Hong Kong for almost 8 years).

I am planning to do some travels and short term studies around the world in the next year or so, or if any suitable opportunities arise, take on a full-time job somewhere outside of Hong Kong.

It won’t be a problem for me to come through Hong Kong every once in a while (say at least once every six months), but I wonder if the status of unemployment (despite an effective work visa) and limited time spent within Hong Kong could break my 7-year qualification for the application for right of abode?

What if I keep renting an apartment here – would this count towards ordinary residence?

Thanks so much in advance! Appreciate your kind help.

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What Kind of Visa Do We Need for a Technician to Undertake Highly Specialized 3D Scanning Work in Hong Kong That Will Last Only 10 Days?

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

Does the fact that a piece of work to be undertaken in Hong Kong by a foreign national is project-specific and only going to last a few short days somehow obviate the requirement for an employment visa ?

QUESTION

We have acquired a contract with a company in Hong Kong.

We have one person that will be doing some 3D scanning work lasting just 10 days.

Can you tell me what type of Visa he will need?

Thanks.

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Can I Extend My Hong Kong Visitor Visa Due to Travel Difficulties Caused By COVID19?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in COVID CHRONICLES, Musing, VG Front Page, Visitor Visas / No responses

Can I Extend My Hong Kong Visitor Visa Due to Travel Difficulties Caused By COVID19?

What’s the deal if you come to Hong Kong as a visitor,  seeking to remain in Hong Kong as a visitor due to COVID19, such that you can’t “come and go” in the normal fashion that people historically have done, typically via what I’ve called the Shenzen shuffle, where even Macau is presently closed to this end, too.

Flying in and flying out of anywhere these days, inevitably entails some considerable exposure to an enforced stay in a Designated Quarantine Hotel.

Given the 2 weeks (or whatever it is, from time to time) that you must suffer as make your entry into Hong Kong as a visitor, what’s the attitude of the Immigration Department to extending visitor status?

Well, I can tell you now for at least 12 months, the Hong Kong ImmD have generally been positively minded towards extending visitor status for visitors who find themselves here, for some good reason and who can’t travel easily out of Hong Kong and therefore need to be availed of lawful status that will enable them to remain here to shelter in place, so to speak.

Consequently, as long as you have got a good reason for being here, you’ve got the support of a local resident, you have sufficient means to be able to successfully complete an extended period of stay as a visitor and you can show that you got a place to stay while you complete your extended period of stay as a visitor, at this moment in time, the Immigration Department are granting 30 day extensions almost routinely, if you’ve got all those positive circumstances in play for you, as underpinning the reason why you need an extension to visitor status.

There is another mechanism that the Immigration Department are deploying too, called discretionary leave to remain.

What this is all about is if the Immigration Department feel that your stay in Hong Kong as a visitor has reached the maximum amount of time that you’re allowed to remain as a visitor in Hong Kong under normal circumstances (typically that’s no more than 180 days continuously in a six month given period) then they’re not going to kick you out notwithstanding.

Instead they’re saying no, we’re not going to grant you an extension to your visitor visa, however, we’re going to give you discretionary leave to remain essentially it for another 30 days. And you’re expected to leave Hong Kong at the end of those 30 days.

They also give you a visa refusal letter along with a document in a sealed envelope that you’re supposed to present to the Immigration Officer at the airport when you leave clearing you to depart.

This document denotes that as long as you exit Hong Kong before the date detailed therein, you will not be deemed an overstayer so you are cleared for departure in those circumstances.

The good news is that our experience has been that the Immigrantion Department are positively considering subsequent applications for extensions to the discretionary leave to remain. and we’re not really seeing any instances of people being kicked out as visitors (but you MUST have a good reason for your subsequent extension).

Moreover, you need to be able to demonstrate that you’re not going to be a risk of breaching your conditions of stay by taking up unauthorized employment. That means you’ve got to have the funds and you’ve got to have a place to stay to cover the period that immigration are prepared to extend you for.

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Should You Ever Get Married Just for Hong Kong Visa Purposes?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Family Visas, Your Question Answered / 14 responses

The answer is no – you should never get married just for Hong Kong visa purposes!

But if you are in a genuine, long-standing, loving committed relationship and potentially forced apart due to an unexpected, or involuntary relocation to Hong Kong for work purposes and marriage was an inevitability anyway, then…

QUESTION

I am a New Zealand national. I have just accepted a role in Hong Kong. My employer is about to begin my visa paperwork to sponsor me.

However, my girlfriend is Australian and I want her to come with me and ideally also be able to work.

We are both 30 almost 31.

One option is a shot gun marriage here in New Zealand. However, I was wondering what the policy is on her coming to Hong Kong on a tourist/holiday visa and once in HK with me us getting married there?

Is that possible and if so once it has been performed can I get her added onto my Visa as a spouse easily enough?

Any advice is greatly received.

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Can I Extend My Hong Kong Visa Outside of Hong Kong Due To The Pandemic?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in COVID CHRONICLES, Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Sherpa, VG Front Page / 2 responses

Can I Extend My Hong Kong Visa Outside of Hong Kong Due To The Pandemic?

So the question is whether or not you can get an extension to your residence visa considered while you’re offshore?  Historically, you’ve needed to be back in Hong Kong in order to progress an extension of stay application, if you’re an existing resident.

The idea is that if you’re a resident of Hong Kong, you need to be in Hong Kong on the day that you apply for your extension of stay.

There has always been a mechanism for you to be offshore, and then come back to Hong Kong as a visitor after the date of your residence visa expiring, and then apply for what’s known as a reinstatement of your residence status for some good reason that’s kept you away from Hong Kong, on the date that your  residence visa was expiring. That reinstatement process is still there and has always been available.

But a few months ago, the Immigration Department enabled a process where you can be offshore and apply for an extension of stay.  The way it works is that you follow the normal procedures for extension of stay albeit you not being physically present in Hong Kong. You write a supporting letter, in addition to the normal documents that are needed for your extension of stay application and the process takes a bit longer. It’s a c. 6 week process, all told, and then you can make that application at the moment at least under the temporary epidemic measures in force at this moment in time.

Meanwhile, anytime within 12 months of the expiry of your current residence visa the Immigration Department will give you a new visa label that will enable you to return to Hong Kong anytime within six months of the date of the grant of the approved offshore extension.

That will then conceptually, if you think about it, give you a potential of up to about 18 months to return back to Hong Kong and have your residence visa be deemed as a back to back residencies throughout all the time that you’ve held it even if you applied offshore, and you spent some time offshore in the wake of your approval offshore before you return back to Hong Kong to activate it.

The key thing about that is that the visa label specifically denotes that it’s for all practical purposes, the back to back extension, and that has an impact on your ability to have it positively considered at the time that you apply for permanent residency after seven years if indeed that’s what you’re going to do.

But it doesn’t automatically follow that just because you’ve been able to get an offshore extension sometime activatable in those 18 months you will be able to qualify for permanent residency during that time. As a result of that mechanism being used in your circumstances, you still have to go and explain that was nothing in the pattern of your behavior that meant that you’re doing anything that was leading you to abandon your intention to remain permanently settled in Hong Kong throughout the time that you’re away as a result of the pandemic.

It does mean, however, that you can get yourself a back to back residence visa situation in play, which is half of the battle at least when you’re applying for permanent residency subsequently, but you do have to return back to Hong Kong within the timeframe that the Immigration Department have indicated which is, as I say, six months from the date of the visa grant offshore activate your approved offshore application.

1. Checking the status of your Hong Kong visa application online – Yeah Right!

2. Redundancy – The Process Pitfalls of an Expiring Hong Kong Employment Visa

3. Why I hate the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (and you should too!)

4. I’ve lost my job – what about my employment visa – will I get kicked out of Hong Kong?

5. What happens if you overstay your Hong Kong visa limit of stay?

6. How do you go about changing your employment visa sponsorship down at Immigration Tower?

7. Ask Me a Question!

8. Starting a business in Hong Kong

9. How do you go about applying for a Reconsideration of a previously refused Hong Kong employment visa application?

10. Must Have resources for a successful Hong Kong permanent residency application

An Open Letter To Mrs Carrie Lam From The People of Hong Kong

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing / No responses

14 February 2022

To:  Members of the Hong Kong SAR Government

From: Independent Citizens Against COVID Corruption (ICACC).

Immigration Department Service Disruptions Until (Further Notice)

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing / 57 responses

Immigration Department Service Disruptions

Immigration Department Service Disruptions (For At Least Until February 11, 2022)

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO OUR CLIENTS

Due to the latest situation of coronavirus, the Immigration Department is offering a limited service currently. Please see the arrangement below for your reference. ImmD will announce their updated service arrangement next week.

We will update you again when there is anything new.

Please note, none of this will negatively impact on your current and future status nor be deemed negative in terms of chances of visa approval.

1. 5/F Extension: Visa applications can be submitted by getting tags if the visa is going to expire in less than 1 month; Visitor visa extension applications can only be submitted if the visa is going to expire within 7 days. Other applications (change of category / sponsorship) can only be submitted in Drop-in Box. For us, business as usual until further notice.
2. 6/F Extension: Opened. Visa extension applications can be submitted only if the visa is going to expire in less than 1 month. Other applications can only be submitted in Drop-in Box. For us, business as usual.
3. 7/F Other Visas and Permits: Open. Applications can be submitted as usual. No visa collection can be completed. For us, business as usual.
4. 8/F HKID: Urgent replacement of identity cards service only. For us, business as usual.
5. 24/F Employment and Visit Visas: Open. We can only submit your applications through a drop-in box. Visa collection can be completed as usual. For us, business as usual.
6. 25/F Right of Abode: Closed. Only provide urgent services (eg. Prior appointment). Applications can only be submitted in Drop-in Box. Business as usual for us.