Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

What’s The Minimum Capital Required For A Hong Kong Business Investment Visa?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Hadley Says…, Investment Visas / 7 responses

The Business Investment Visa in Hong Kong is different from the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme.

The former requires an applicant to establish or join in a Hong Kong business actively, while the latter is just a matter of passively investing in the HKSAR.

The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme requires at least ten million Hong Kong dollars while the Business Investment Visa does not require any such minimum.

Instead, you need to have sufficient capital to give effect to a business plan which  will demonstrate to the Hong Kong Immigration Department that you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong.

Of course, this is like asking how long is a piece of string.

So, instead of focusing on a specific minimum number, it is better to produce a set of financial projections that show the following:

1          You can finance the first 12 months of your business and life in Hong Kong using your investment funds through until such a time as you have revenues, then profits, coming into your company.

2         You can create at least 1 or 2 local jobs in the first 12 to 18 months of operation – and have the money to fund your business through to this time – and beyond.

3         You have sufficient capital to give effect to your overall business plan such that it stands a reasonable chance of becoming a solidly entrenched commercial entity in its own right before too long.

So it all depends on your business plan, your prior experience and the overall story.

Business investment visas can be approved with cash in the bank at just 300,000 or 400,000 Hong Kong dollars if your story is a good one but be aware, bottom scraping should be avoided at all costs if you want to sleep well at night whilst the Immigration department are considering your application!

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Is It Possible For An SME To Sponsor An Employment Visa For A Foreign National Employee In Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says… / 2 responses

Even if your business is relatively small, it is not totally impossible for you to serve as an immigration sponsor for a foreign national staff who you might wish to take up employment for you here in the HKSAR.

In these circumstances, not only must the visa applicant him or herself pass the approvability test of possessing special skills knowledge or experience of value to and not readily available in Hong Kong…

But your business must also demonstrate that you are justified in engaging the services of this applicant and you might also have to show that the skills involved can not readily be found within the local workforce.

Additionally, as this will be the first time your company has sought to sponsor such a foreigner to work for you in Hong Kong, the Immigration Department will expressly drill down on and request you to provide information on such things as:

–          Your financial turnover and profitability.

–          The local employees who work for you, their job titles and what they get paid.

–          Who your clients are and what your business is really all about, and

–          Your office accommodation arrangements

Moreover, if your company is less than 2 years old, the Hong Kong ID will also require specific information and representations to prove to them that your business will be able to, in not yet in fact, make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong Immigration… What Does It Mean… One Year Rule?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Musing, Special Programmes / 2 responses

Over the last 20 years or so I have coined a number of phrases in Hong Kong immigration parlance.

In this short video, I discuss the One Year Rule as it applies to PRC nationals applicants  for resident visa status in Hong Kong.

The one-year rule is where a PRC national who wants to come to Hong Kong to take up residency as a dependent or as an investor or as an employment leader applicant if they have lived outside of China for a minimum of one year immediately prior to submitting their application they will be able to be treated by the Immigration Department as though they were not Chinese they were another nationality and this stems from the fact that we have something called the floodgates policy which for all practical purposes makes it very very difficult and very very demanding for mainlanders to get access to Hong Kong through through our normal immigration policy arrangements but if you’ve spent 12 months continuously outside of China before you make your application for an immigration status in Hong Kong then under the one-year rule you’ll be treated just like any other foreign national and you’re not in a sense be subject to the normal floodgates mechanisms which make it very difficult for such PRC nationals to come and take a residence in Hong Kong.

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More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

Hong Kong Immigration… What Does It Mean… Twilight Zone?

Hong Kong Immigration… What Does It Mean…Swapping Status?

Hong Kong Immigration… What Does It Mean… Administrative Flux?

Hong Kong Immigration… What Does It Mean… Slippers & Pipe Visa?

Hong Kong Immigration… What Does It Mean… Shenzhen Shuttle?

Hong Kong Immigration… What Does It Mean… Visa Gossip & Rumours?

A Detailed Business Plan For Your Hong Kong Investment Visa? – Not Really…

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Musing, VG Front Page / 1 response

I always stifle a chuckle when I read on the websites of professional service providers offering a Hong Kong visa and immigration product that there is a need for a ‘detailed business plan’ in each and every Hong Kong investment visa application.

It’s simply not true.

Certainly, every applicant for an investment visa needs to have a ‘planned business’ but it certainly doesn’t follow that, in order to get an approval, the Hong Kong Immigration Department insist on seeing a formal business plan as such.

This is an important point because so many investment visa applicants that come our way have written up at least a basic document which sets out how they see their business playing out over the first couple of years. This is just good planning.

These raw documents cannot properly be said to be formal business plans (as in a 60 page document with extremely detailed all-scenarios-covered projections, risk factors, use of funds, competitor analyses, IP policies and the like).

Most entrepreneurs starting out for the first time wouldn’t know where to begin in crafting a document like that.

However, this documented material does provide the essential elements of the argument underpinning the investment visa application and is an absolute gold mine of information for an immigration consultant who is skilled at articulating an investment proposition in the context of current Hong Kong immigration policy.

When called for by non-specialist immigration practitioners, a formal business plan just puts an added documentation burden on the client and relieves the service provider of the need to properly argue the case.

Don’t let them get away with it!

You pay good money to consultants like me to get your investment visa approved so make us earn our keep. Most definitely have your plans, intentions and money flows written down, but the HKID no more want to read a 60 page business plan in support of your application, than you want to write one.

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More Stuff To Help You Along

How Extensive Should My Business Plan Be In Order To Get A Hong Kong Investment Visa?

Do You Have A Business Plan Template I Can Use In My Hong Kong Investment Visa Application?

How To Ensure You’re Not Breaking The Law By Operating A Business In Hong Kong As A Visitor

Are There Any Advantages To Being An Existing Hong  Kong Resident When You Make An Application For An Investment Visa?

Why Do Hong Kong Investment Visas Get Denied?

Your Hong Kong Employment Visa – What Happens When You Lose Your Job?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says…, Investment Visas / 5 responses

If you have an employment visa and have stopped working for your sponsoring employer, no matter what the reason, you will not have to leave Hong Kong straight away.

The HKID provide you with enough time to make arrangements to find an alternate employer or, if you prefer, to lay the groundwork to start your own business.

Ninety-nine per cent of the time, the Hong Kong Immigration Department will allow you to carry on living in Hong Kong until your current visa expires but you’re expected to leave at that time.

But if you find another employer or have made ready to start your own business you can apply for new visa permissions to continue living and working in Hong Kong – and get a 12 months extension to your present period of stay in the process.

But in either case you have to make the applications and get the Hong Kong ID’s approval before you start working – otherwise you’ll be breaking the law.

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What’s The Minimum Salary For A Hong Kong Employment Visa Approval?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Musing / 2 responses

Understanding the Minimum Salary Requirements for a Hong Kong Employment Visa

This is a vexed question for many visa applicants and their employers but there is a simple rule of thumb that needs to be adhered to.

The Hong Kong Immigration Department expect that a foreigner seeking employment visa permissions to work in Hong Kong will perform, at a minimum, supervisory duties under his or her employment contract.

This essentially calls for an employment that is valued, as a minimum, at HKD200,000 p.a., depending on the nature of the work.

However, it is simplistic to believe that you take HKD200,000 and divide it by 12 in order to achieve a monthly salary amount that is acceptable to the HKID (namely HKD16,670 per month).

No, the HKD200,000 annually can amount to the total value of the employment each year.

Therefore it is acceptable to state in the employment agreement the total value of the emolument received by the employee each year and then break it down into its constituent components.

For example:

Salary:                                             XXXXX

Employer MPF Contribution:            XXXXX

Guaranteed Bonus                          XXXXX

Medical Benefits:                             XXXXX

Travel Allowance:                            XXXXX

Meal Allowance:                              XXXXX

Etc:

Total:                                              200,000

This approach provides you with flexibility where the monthly cash salary is on the lower end of the scale but where the true cost of the employment does reach the threshold for visa approval.

Whilst HKD200,000 is not definitive in each and every case (we’ve seen approvals down at HKD186,000 in actual fact) it is certainly fair to say that the higher the value of the employment, the more likely the Immigration Department will look more favourably on the application.

However, it is always preferable to avoid bumping against the bottom of this HKD200,000 sum as you’re not doing your application any favours by trying to eke out the bare minimum that you can pay your foreign national staff, expecting  the Immigration Department to play ball!

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Hong Kong Immigration… What Does It Mean… Contrived Employment?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Musing, Special Programmes / No responses

First Published September 9, 2016, still valid today

Over the last 20 years or so I have coined a number of phrases in Hong Kong immigration parlance.

In this short piece I discuss  the old chestnut of contrived employment (fake job offers).

Contrived employment is where somebody doesn’t have a genuine job offer. Instead, they have arranged with another party—who is in a position to extend a job offer to the receiving party—no effort is made to create a genuine employer-employee relationship. This arrangement is only cobbled together because one of the parties has an immigration problem, and the other party is foolish enough to join in this illegal endeavor. When you make an application for an employment visa, immigration authorities are looking to see that there is a genuine job offer. If they are satisfied that there is a genuine job offer and that the other aspects of the approval criteria are met, you will receive the visa. However, if there is no genuine job offer, at the point of submitting your application paperwork to the Immigration Department, you are effectively submitting false representations. This is a criminal offense, and that is what constitutes contrived employment.

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More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

What Does It Mean… Twilight Zone?

What Does It Mean… Swapping Status?

What Does It Mean… Administrative Flux?

What Does It Mean… Slippers & Pipe Visa?

What Does It Mean… Shenzhen Shuttle?

What Does It Mean… Visa Gossip & Rumours?

What Does It Mean… Suitable & Credible Sponsor?

What Does It Mean… One Year Rule?

What Does It Mean… Catch 22?

What Does It Mean… Roof-Over-Head; Food-On-Table?

What Does It Mean… Approvability Test?