Existing Resident Of Hong Kong When You Make An Application For An Investment Visa?
When you make an application for an Investment Visa in Hong Kong you have to be able to demonstrate that you are in a position to make a substantial contribution to the economy here.
But, if you are presently resident in Hong Kong, say as an employment visa holder working for a third party employer, the question is begged as to whether nor not the fact of your existing residence in the HKSAR will be positively considered by the Hong Kong when you make your application for an investment visa (aka the entrepreneur visa).
Certainly, at the start of your time in Hong Kong the answer is no, most certainly not.
Application For An Investment Visa – Being A Hong Kong Resident Helps!
Lhe longer you are here, the more weight the Immigration Department place on your existing connections to Hong Kong.
So, whilst the approvability test for your investment visastill has to be passed in of itself, there can be some advantage in your favour as existing resident, for example where:
(1) You are a dependent visa holder applying for an investment visa because your marriage has broken down and you’re no longer eligible to extend your dependant visa and your business was started before your marriage came to an end.
(2) You have 4-5 years prior residence working as an employee in Hong Kong.
(3) You previously received permission to join in a side businesswith the consent of your immediate past employer and that business now forms the basis of your stand alone investment visa application at this time.
Application For An Investment Visa – Hong Kong Wants You To Succeed
By no stretch of the imagination can it be said that an investment visa approval in any of these circumstances is a mere shoe-in but they will certainly be considered positively by the Hong Kong Immigration Department while they give due consideration to your application.
Application For An Investment Visa – Will The HKSAR Help You?
If your business is supported by a government-accredited organization, your visa application is likely to be viewed more favorably by the Hong Kong Immigration Department.
However, you must still ensure that you meet the other requirements of the Business Investment (Entrepreneur) Visa and provide all necessary supporting documents to maximize your chances of success. More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting
In Hong Kong With A Dependant Visa & Your Spouse Wants To Leave?
First Published On April 11, 2013 – Still Relevant in August 2023
What’s the deal if you’re in Hong Kong with a dependant visa and your spouse wants to leave but you want to stay?
Consider …
If you find yourself in Hong Kong with a dependant visa and your spouse wants to leave while you wish to stay, it’s crucial to understand the options available to you. Here’s what you need to know:
Dependant Visa Status: As a dependant visa holder, your visa status is tied to your spouse’s visa. If your spouse decides to leave Hong Kong, it may affect the validity of your dependant visa.
Visa Extension: If your spouse leaves but you want to stay in Hong Kong, you need to find an alternative visa option to maintain your lawful status in the city. This could involve transitioning to a different visa category based on your circumstances, such as obtaining an employment visa or exploring other possibilities.
Employment Opportunities: One pathway to stay in Hong Kong independently is by securing employment. If you can find a job and meet the requirements for an employment visa, you may be able to switch your visa status and continue residing in Hong Kong.For further information and guidance, you may find the following resources helpful:
Navigating a situation where your spouse wants to leave Hong Kong while you want to stay can be complex. It’s crucial to understand your visa options, seek professional advice, and take proactive steps to ensure your legal status in the city.
QUESTION
Hello,
I am in Hong Kong with a dependant visa sponsored by my husband. He is planning to leave his employment here soon and return to his home country but I am thinking of staying for a couple more years.
What happens with my dependent visa (limit of stay in 2014) when he quits his job and leaves?
Can I, too, use my consents to reside in Hong Kong even though only via a dependent visa to look for an employer to then change my visa status?
How to Sponsor Your Parents for Hong Kong Dependent Visas: A Comprehensive Guide
Are you wondering if your PR wife can sponsor your parents to have Hong Kong dependent visas even though you’re already dependent on her? The answer is unfortunately no. Hong Kong immigration law doesn’t allow for this type of sponsorship. However, if you complete seven years of continuous residence in Hong Kong and become a permanent resident, you can apply to sponsor your parents for dependent visas on the basis of dependency.
Sponsor Your Parents for Hong Kong Dependent Visas – Understanding the Process
A Hong Kong dependent visa is a type of visa that allows a dependent of a Hong Kong resident to live in Hong Kong. Dependent visas are available for spouses, unmarried children under the age of 18, and elderly parents over the age of 60 who can demonstrate dependency on their Hong Kong resident child.
Sponsor Your Parents for Hong Kong Dependent Visas – Are Your Parents Elderly & Dependent?
To sponsor your elderly dependent parents for Hong Kong dependent visas, you must first become a permanent resident of Hong Kong. This requires seven years of continuous residence in the city.
Once you’ve achieved permanent residency, you can apply to sponsor your parents for dependent visas on the basis of dependency.
The key requirement is that your parents must be over the age of 60 and dependent on you.
To prove dependency, you must demonstrate that you’ve been providing financial support to your parents. For instance, remitting funds from your bank account to your parents’ bank accounts overseas in the six months prior to you becoming a permanent resident would help establish dependency.
Note that your PR wife can’t sponsor your parents for dependent visas while you’re already a dependent visa holder.
You’ll need to achieve permanent residency in Hong Kong and sponsor your parents on your own.
Sponsor Your Parents for Hong Kong Dependent Visas – Supporting Resources
To learn more about how to sponsor your parents for Hong Kong dependent visas and related topics, check out the following resources:
Everyone, at some point during their time in Hong Kong, has had to deal with the hassle of visas down at the Immigration Department in Wanchai.
First, you have to get the damn thing, and then you need to extend it. Before long (maybe) you’ll change employers, possibly start a new business, get divorced, have a baby, meet your life partner, be made redundant or go on to make Hong Kong your permanent home. And at every stage, you’ll more than likely find yourself at Immigration Tower, wondering how the heck you’re going to get through it all.
The Immigration Department website is informative but not especially helpful. Online forums while well-intentioned are not totally reliable. The advice of friends is trustworthy, but not often entirely relevant and immigration consultants, seemingly two-a-penny these days, are not especially cheap.
So where CAN you get good, reliable, professional, easy to follow, step-by-step Hong Kong visa and immigration advice that is completely free of all costs?
Simple, just read on…..
Stop Worrying About Your Hong Kong Visa – Start Applying!
The reason why sorting out your visa situation can be such a pain is straightforward.
It’s called “Poacher vs Gamekeeper”.
You see, the definitive source of Hong Kong visa information is the Hong Kong Immigration Department itself.
So far, so good.
Their website is comprehensive, well written, informative and tells you clearly what documents you need to supply. Moreover, Immigration Officers are friendly and the service they provide is exceptionally well delivered. ImmD are a solid bunch of professional, government administrators doing a fantastic job at a very reasonable cost to you the service user.
Worrying About Your Hong Kong Visa ? – ImmD Won’t Help You!
However, the Immigration Department will never tell you everything you really need to know about how to go about your visa application. That’s because it’s their job only to inform you how to use the immigration service, not to advise you on it. It’s what the HKID don’t tell you that creates your visa anxiety and, after giving you just enough information to piece together your paperwork, they expect you to lift up your skirt, as it were, and show them everything you’ve got – warts and all. Then, and only then, will they decide your application.
The Hong Kong Immigration Department always hold the cards close to their chest for the exact visa circumstances you find yourself in. Offering anything even close to advice about how to manage your visa application would seriously impact on their ability to properly judge your case circumstances and their overall assessment of the facts, as you disclose them in your papers. So, you’ll get no joy from the HKID there!
They’re not going to tell you exactly how to sort out your dependant visa mess now that your rat fink husband has run off with your Helper, nor can you expect them to discuss with you the merits of each different type of company structure as a suitable sponsor for your inter-company transferee working visa application.
There’s no way they’re going to give you any advice at all on the merits of your case, whatever the type, nor will they, for example, make any suggestions whatsoever about how to argue away missing periods of residence in the seven years you claim that you’ve been living in our fine city. That’s not, when all is said and done, their job.
Worrying About Your Hong Kong Visa ? – Where To Turn?
It can be a real problem to get good, relevant advice, as no two Hong Kong immigration situations are ever the same. What worked in one set of circumstances doesn’t automatically follow in another. Friends and colleagues often have some personal experience with the Immigration Department (after all, we have all had dealings with Wanchai’s Finest, at one time or another during our lives here) but that experience itself is often quite limited and typically occurred quite some time prior (and things do change, let’s not forget).
Advice on public forums can be hit and miss and besides, who wants to put such an important life matter in the hands of (no doubt?) well meaning strangers? After all, your all-important Hong Kong immigration situation is not the same as the recipe for granny’s oatmeal bread!
You can turn to professional immigration advisors but their advice doesn’t come cheap and, more often than not, they want to handle your entire visa situation, not just the part of it you need help with (which is reasonable as, ultimately, they do have to be accountable for the application outcome).
So, just trying to figure out what to do and how to go about doing it can make your head spin and cause sleepless nights as the clock ticks down on your current visa, which will expire far too soon for comfort.
The Roadmap takes you, step-by-step, through the process for any type of Hong Kong visa application – helping you to navigate the labyrinth of the Immigration Department’s hidden application consideration criteria. Only available to subscribers to our mailing list, the Hong Kong Visa Application Roadmap works in tandem with The Hong Kong Visa Handbook and is equal in value to at least a one hour consultation with our firm – which would normally cost you 2,000 Hong Kong Dollars.
But for you, it’s absolutely free!
This is what you get:
1. Roadmap-Download
The 6 page Roadmap PDF, laying out the 4 process elements of any Hong Kong immigration case. This unique resource provides you with a comprehensive, actionable visa application plan.
2. 4-Video-Tutorials
The video tutorials are 15 minutes in length. You receive a video daily for 4 days, each one discussing sequentially 1 of the 4 elements of your Hong Kong visa application plan. Delivered by email, these bite-sized presentations bring the Roadmap to life and enable you, the layman, to easily apply professional visa advice to the exact specifics of your own case situation.
3. Your-Questions-Answered
As a subscriber to our mailing list, you are entitled to a personalised, podcast answer from me personally to any question you may have, as you build up your visa application plan. This 100% free service tops and tails perfectly your use of the Hong Kong Visa Application Roadmap allowing you to get the professional advice that you need in light of your particular visa case circumstances – free of any cost to you!
So, sign up now and get started down the path towards solving your Hong Kong immigration application headaches once and for all – anxiety-free with your all-important visa approval within easy reach.
Can You Extend Your Hong Kong Dependant Visa After Divorce?
First Published February 17, 2016
This is a Hong Kong immigration situation that happens a lot more frequently that you might imagine!
Updated August 2023
Can You Extend Your Hong Kong Dependant Visa After Divorce?
QUESTION
I would like to know if there is any possibility to extend your Hong Kong dependent visa after divorce from a spouse who used to be my sponsor.
Presently I am a student in Seoul, Korea though I have been visiting Hong Kong at least once or twice a year since 2014.
My current dependent visa expires 2016/10/09.
I would like to maintain my residency in Hong Kong and I hope your expertise in immigration matters might be of great help to me.
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
ANSWER
Unfortunately, in the wake of your divorce from your dependant visa sponsor, unless you have a continuing rationale for remaining in Hong Kong there’s not much you can do, especially if you actually live in another country at this time.
My best advice would be to return to Hong Kong, start working for a third party employer (you don’t need special permission to do this with your current dependant visa) and in 2013 when your dependant visa expires, ask your employer to sponsor your employment visa to continue your residence in Hong Kong.
This should not be too much of a problem to accomplish.
After that, so long as you remain in Hong Kong as an employment visa holder, you should be able to get to 7 years continuous ordinary residence and thereafter make an application for the Right of Abode.
There’s no silver bullet in your circumstances I’m afraid.
If you’re a non-local graduate looking to kickstart your career in Hong Kong, you will be eligible to apply for the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) work visa.
The IANG work visa was established in 2008 to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, contributing to Hong Kong’s competitive edge as an international business hub. In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the eligibility criteria, application process, and the benefits of obtaining an IANG work visa.
IANG Work Visa – Who is Eligible?
Under the IANG, non-local graduates can apply for an employment visa under a liberalized approvability test. The eligibility depends on the time elapsed since the applicant’s graduation:
Fresh Graduates: Non-local graduates who submit applications within six months of their graduation date are classified as “fresh graduates.” They are not required to secure a job offer as part of their application, and the approval is almost guaranteed, provided they meet the necessary criteria.
Returning Graduates: Non-local graduates who submit applications after six months of their graduation date are classified as “returning graduates.” They must secure a job offer in Hong Kong to obtain an employment visa. The applications are favorably considered as long as the job is suitable and the remuneration package is set at market levels.
Application Process for the IANG Work Visa
For Fresh Graduates:
Submitting Your Application: The application for an employment visa under IANG can be submitted online through the Immigration Department’s (ImmD) online application submission portal.
Approvability Test: Fresh graduates must provide proof of graduation within the six-month limit.
Consideration Process: The consideration process primarily occurs through email and/or fax. The processing time typically ranges between four to six weeks. Once approved, the ImmD will send a notice informing the applicant and provide an Approval Letter.
Visa Duration: Upon approval, the initial period of stay under the employment visa granted through IANG is 24 months. The visa can be extended for three years, following the 2-3-3 year pattern, as long as the applicant continues to meet the necessary criteria.
For Returning Graduates:
Submitting Your Application: Returning graduates can also submit their application online through the ImmD’s online portal.
Approvability Test: Returning graduates must provide proof of graduation with no time limit and an offer of employment in Hong Kong that is commensurate with their education level and offers a remuneration package set at market levels.
Consideration Process: The consideration process for returning graduates is similar to fresh graduates, with a processing time of four to six weeks.
Visa Duration: The initial period of stay under the employment visa for returning graduates is also 24 months, extendable following the 2-3-3 year pattern.
Benefits of Obtaining an IANG Work Visa
One of the key advantages of the IANG work visa is the flexibility it offers. Holders of employment visas issued under IANG can change employers without needing prior approval from ImmD. This flexibility allows visa holders to explore different career opportunities and contribute to Hong Kong’s diverse workforce.
IANG Work Visa – Refusal & Appeal Process
In the event of an application denial, applicants can start the appeal process with a formal request for Reconsideration. Necessary documents such as recent photographs, passport details, graduation certificates, and proof of academic qualifications/transcripts need to be provided for the appeal.
How to Apply for an IANG Work Visa
To apply for an IANG work visa, visit the Immigration Department’s online application submission portal. Make sure to carefully follow the instructions and provide all the required documents, including proof of graduation and job offer, depending on whether you are a fresh or returning graduate.
For detailed information and guidance on the application process, you can visitImmD’s official website.
IANG Work Visa – The Last Word
Obtaining an IANG work visa opens up exciting career opportunities for non-local graduates in Hong Kong. With a streamlined application process and attractive benefits like flexibility in changing employers and bringing dependents, the IANG work visa is an excellent immigration mechanums.
Divorce Visa Hong Kong – so, for better or for worse, you and your spouse have gone your own separate ways and the question of your dependent visahangs over your head like the sword of Damocles and you don’t know where to turn as regards your continuing immigration permissions to remain in Hong Kong
Divorce Visa Hong Kong – Maintain The Immigration Status Quo?
Firstly, if your separation is amicable, your partner could agree to accommodate the continuing sponsorship of your dependant visa until you complete your divorce proceedings, assuming, of course, that it is his or her intention to remain in Hong Kong as it is yours.
Divorce Visa Hong Kong – A New Immigration Rationale For Remaining?
If this is not on the cards, then you have to look to the rationale for what is keeping you here and seek to adjust your status from sponsored family with a dependent visa to an alternate immigration category
So, for example, if you are presently working you should apply for an employment visasponsored by your current employer to allow you to remain in Hong Kong to continue performing that work.
If you are not yet working but plan to start doing so, you should work for your new employer on the strength of your dependent visa until at least six weeks before your current limit of stay expires, and then seek to adjust your status to an employment visa sponsored by that employer.
If you have started your own business, no matter how small, that could form the basis of an investment visaapplication.
In such a case even though the test for approval calls for you to be able to show that you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong, ImmD will take all the circumstances of your life into consideration and look at your application favorably even if it means that at most, at least for the foreseeable future, you will be able to earn a reasonable living from it.
However, if you have not yet started the business and you do not have the fact of your children remaining in Hong Kong sponsored by your ex as a contributing reason for ImmD to approve an application for an investment visa driven by that new business, the Immigration Department will not cut you too much slack and thus your application will be considered just like any other and no account of your special circumstances will be taken and no advantage afforded.
On the other hand, if you are a person of especial talent, you could make an application Under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme.
But be aware this is a competitive programme and will take six months to finalize all things considered.
If you have at least HKD10 million in liquid funds that you can lock into Hong Kong until such a time as you have been resident in Hong Kong for a total of 7 years continuously, you could apply for a Capital Investment Entrant Scheme visa – but you need to have owned these assets for a minimum of 2 years prior to submitting this application so funds from a recent divorce settlement might not count for eligibility. NOW POSTPONED
Divorce Visa Hong Kong – Are You A Top Talent?
The Hong Kong Top Talent Pass visa is a type of visa targeting skills of a particualr kind that the Hong Kong government aims to attract from around the world to support our economic development and the Top Talent Pass Scheme targets high earners and grdautes for the world’s top 100 universities.
To pursue acquiring a Hong Kong Top Talent Pass visa, you can follow a step-by-step process outlined in the Hong Kong Visa Application Roadmap. This roadmap is a comprehensive guide for making any Hong Kong immigration application and covers various aspects such as assessing circumstances, current immigration status, visa type, sponsorship, and application methods. It works hand-in-hand with the Hong Kong Visa Handbook, which provides detailed information and guidance on the visa application process.
This means if you have previously graduated with a bachelor or postgraduate degree from a Hong Kong university and have a job offer from an established Hong Kong employer, you can enjoy ‘ favorable consideration’ for an employment visa application in your circumstances.
