Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

16

Jul 2018

How To Start A Business In Hong Kong As A Foreigner – Must Have Resources

Posted by / in Investment Visas, Musing / 1 response

I recently gave a talk at Campfire Collaborative Space on the topic of how to start a business in Hong Kong as a foreigner, which in essence is the journey of getting a Business Investment Visa as an Entrepreneur after the implementation of the Enhancement Measures in 2015 and the Audit Commission Report Number 66 from 2016.

PRACTICE UPDATE: How the content must now be read in light of current ImmD policy:

Historically, this presentation segment examined the so-called “Startup Visa”—the enhancement measures introduced by the Hong Kong government to facilitate entrepreneur visas for founders admitted into recognized incubation and accelerator programs. The Geeza framed this pathway as a welcome, formal endorsement of the innovation ecosystem, contrasting it with the mainstream entrepreneur route. However, the Geeza noted that while government accreditation offered a helpful statutory nod, the mainstream entrepreneur visa historically remained so flexible and accessible that founders rarely needed to jump through the administrative hoops of an official incubator just to secure immigration approval; a standard, bootstrapped commercial venture with modest seed capital, serviced office space, and a credible business plan could easily win approval on its own merits.
The game has changed from an optional fast-track into the only remaining lifeline for early-stage and seed-level founders. Following the post-April 2026 administrative shift, the mainstream investment as entrepreneur pathway has hardened into a rigid corporate audit aligned with TTPS Category A operational substance (~HKD 2.5M enterprise scale), strictly requiring HKD 1.5M–2.0M in deployed corporate bank liquidity, an executed commercial lease for exclusive physical premises (“four walls”), and active MPF payroll for 2–3 local permanent residents. Consequently, admission into an officially accredited government incubator (such as Cyberport, HKSTP, or Design Incubation Programme) is no longer merely an alternative—it is the sole viable mechanism under which ImmD will waive these brutal corporate hardware requirements. Without verified endorsement from an accredited government incubation program, an uncapitalized startup filing under the entrepreneur stream will face swift and summary refusal.

In this segment I discuss the 10 must have resources for being approved for a Hong Kong Business Investment Visa, which we provide for free on our website (the link to the resources is in the post).

The Rest of the Talk

Introduction

How We Got Here

Must Have Resources

The Startup Visa

Business Investment As An Entrepreneur (Visa)

Three Elements To Approval

Have You Got Enough Money?

Is Your Business Sustainable?

A Properly Set Up Office

How About Local Jobs?

Economic Sector Advantages

Hiring Yourself

D-I-Y Application

 

Important Materials Referenced In The Presentation

10 Must-Have Resources for Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application

Accredited Startup Programmes in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Visa Handbook Free Kits

Your Questions Answered

 

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

Do You Really Need to Set Up Your Own Office if You Have a Hong Kong Investment Visa?

Hong Kong investment visa approval where the funding was running out

Hong Kong investment visa – 3 case examples which would not get approved

Hong Kong investment visas – what’s involved?

How onerous is the sponsorship role in a Hong Kong investment visa application?

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29

Jun 2018

How To Start A Business In Hong Kong As A Foreigner – How We Got Here

Posted by / in Investment Visas, Musing / 4 responses

I recently gave a talk at Campfire Collaborative Space on the topic of how to start a business in Hong Kong as a foreigner, which in essence is the journey of getting a Business Investment Visa as an Entrepreneur after the implementation of the Enhancement Measures in 2015 and the Audit Commission Report Number 66 from 2016.

PRACTICE UPDATE: How the content must now be read in light of current ImmD policy:

Historically, this contextual installment charted the evolution of Hong Kong’s entrepreneur visa policy—tracing the journey from the early discretionary practices of the 1990s and 2000s through the 2015 Enhancement Measures and the pivotal Audit Commission Report No. 66 in 2016. The Geeza unpacked how ImmD had progressively attempted to formalize the “substantial contribution to the economy” test while continuing to maintain broad, commercial pragmatism. Even as the department introduced formal guidelines around business turnover, financial resources, job creation, and the introduction of new technologies, the operational reality on the ground remained remarkably accommodating: case officers retained generous discretionary latitude, enabling lean startups, sole practitioners, and bootstrapped founders with modest capital of a few hundred thousand dollars, serviced desks, and phased projections to secure residence and establish roots.

The game has changed from an era of evolutionary administrative leniency into an uncompromising institutional reset. The policy trajectory that began with the 2015 and 2016 reviews has culminated in a post-April 2026 regime that completely sweeps away historical flexibility in favor of hard-substance metrics aligned with TTPS Category A operational scale (~HKD 2.5M enterprise scale). ImmD no longer treats entrepreneur policy as an adaptive framework for nurturing raw commercial ambition. Today, history offers zero comfort to undercapitalized founders: the enterprise vehicle must empirically substantiate HKD 1.5M–2.0M in deployed corporate bank liquidity, an executed commercial lease for exclusive physical premises (“four walls”), and active MPF payroll for 2–3 local permanent residents right at inception. The historical narrative of gradual bureaucratic adjustment has ended; without admission into an accredited government incubator or immediate enterprise hardware, the investment as entrepreneur route is firmly closed.

In this segment I share my 25 years of experience of doing immigration in Hong Kong and thus allow you to understand how things have changed over the past 5-6 years.

The Rest of the Talk

Introduction

How We Got Here

Must Have Resources

The Startup Visa

Business Investment As An Entrepreneur (Visa)

Three Elements To Approval

Have You Got Enough Money?

Is Your Business Sustainable?

A Properly Set Up Office

How About Local Jobs?

Economic Sector Advantages

Hiring Yourself

D-I-Y Application

 

Important Materials Referenced In The Presentation

10 Must-Have Resources for Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application

Accredited Startup Programmes in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Visa Handbook Free Kits

Your Questions Answered

 

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

What type of visa do you think you need for Hong Kong?

How can my FDH visa holding fiance transition into a  Hong Kong dependant visa 6-12 months before we are due to get married?

Do I automatically qualify for a Hong Kong dependant visa if my partner has a work or investment visa here?

Married to a PHKID card holder overseas – the Hong Kong visa situation for the foreign national spouse

How to cure your Hong Kong vise extension headache and make sure it gets approved the very first time!

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27

Jun 2018

7 Years Residence in Hong Kong Under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme – What Permanent Residency Options Exist?

Posted by / in Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / No responses

The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme  was a god send for reasonably well off people who have always fancied the idea of residence in Hong Kong but who were reluctant to start an operating business to be able to accomplish this. The following question raises the issue of how to disentangle yourself from the visa, releasing your CIES investment funds (either HKD6.5 or 10 million depending on when you were approved) at the end of your 7th year holding that status. The CIES, of course, was cancelled in 2015.

QUESTION

“Hi Visa Geeza, my family has invested with HK under the CIES and have been granted Identity Cards thereafter. (Pls note that we are not employed nor running a business in HK – but outside – so we are not considered as expats.) This year marks our 7th year and we would like to apply for permanent residency. We know that applicants under CIES need not to stay in Hong Kong as much as those who are applying simply for permanent residency. Could you tell us where we can find the eligibility requirement specifics for applicants from the CIES particularly for the required number of days stay in Hong Kong for the last 7 years?  Thank you.”

ANSWER

This question gets to the heart of what you can do after you’ve held a Capital Investment Entrant Scheme Visa for a total period of seven years.

The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme Visa is a program that was introduced in the early noughties to allow people with money at that time six and a half million Hong Kong dollars but now ten million Hong Kong dollars cause it’s a, might have a couple of years ago, allows those money investors to effectively lock their funds into certain types of Hong Kong assets and as long as they possessed those assets for the requisite period of time that the visa has been issued, they can get an extension as long as they’re still owning those assets at the time of the extension and continue to do so through to seven years whereupon you can make an application to the Immigration Department to change your immigration status and in the process release the seven years’ worth of invested funds and put them to your own use once again.

So, at seven years the opportunities to either become a permanent resident securing the right of abode in the process or you go on to security immigration status course unconditional stay. Now the right of the abode is affected with current residence. Unconditional stay is an administrative convenience where the Immigration Department are prepared to allow you to remain in Hong Kong unconditionally without any requirement to invest, without any requirement of a sponsor, without any requirement to engage in any particular type of activity as a rationale for remaining in Hong Kong.

Effectively you can stay here unconditionally although it is a bit of a misnomer because there is one condition attached to unconditional stay and that is that you have to have been physically present with Hong Kong on at least one occasion in a 12-month period in order to maintain an unconditional stay status.

So, the Immigration Department realized when they introduced the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme Program that people may want to secure the immigration status but may they not decide that they want to live in Hong Kong full-time and as a result of that it may have been the case that not having been in Hong Kong for the requisite 7 years continuous ordinary  residency in Hong Kong and not having taken Hong Kong with your own the place of permanent residence, which is the provability test for the right of abode and such Capital Investment Pension Scheme Visa holders may not qualify for the rights of abode and the residency.

In respect of unconditional stay there is no specific requirement for a set number of days for example indeed any kind of time whatsoever having perhaps dispensed in Hong Kong but conceptually you could have spent all of the 7 years outside of Hong Kong but kept your investment in Hong Kong and qualified for the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme Visa throughout all of that time and then at the end of the seven years simply make your application for unconditional stay knowing that you’ll never get the right of abode because you didn’t have continuous ordinal residence.

Unconditional stays is a really simple application to make once you get to the 7 year mark. So ideally if you’ve got the circumstances in playing for the ride of abode but judging from your question it’s suggesting that you’re not considered as expats therefore residents in Hong Kong.

It may well be that the right of abode is simply not available to you. So, in that regard it may well be that unconditional stay is the route for you. For all practical purposes unconditional stay is exactly same immigration status that you have presently been enjoying as Capital Investment Entrant Scheme it just means that you can unlock the money from Hong Kong and put it to other uses.

So, I trust that that has answered your question and there are lots of other articles on the blog about the process of securing the right of abode and I’ll put a few links to some relevant articles at the bottom.

More Stuff You May Find Interesting or Useful

Is the Hong Kong capital investment entrant scheme actually fit for purpose?

Hong Kong right of abode application – arguing away missing periods of residence

Losing unconditional stay status due to studies abroad – a family’s dilemma

Outside of Hong Kong for work – the impact on your right of abode.

Work in Hong Kong for 5 years – leave for 2 – then return: will I lose my continuous residence for PR purposes?

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25

Jun 2018

Is It Possible to Get an Extension to My Hong Kong Visitor Visa to Stay With My Girlfriend Here?

Posted by / in Visitor Visas, Your Question Answered / No responses

Sometimes people have solid, genuine reasons for spending extended periods of time in Hong Kong with a Hong Kong visitor visa as in the case of this question from a Kiwi who wants to spent time with his girlfriend here. But the patience of the Hong Kong Immigration Department can extend only so far and eventually time runs out and the issue of the protracted stay here is forced when the Officers at the border decide enough is enough.

QUESTION

“My girlfriend is a Hong Kong resident and I am from New Zealand (I am a New Zealand citizen and passport holder). I am currently in Hong Kong however I am only here on a holiday visa. I am studying via correspondence  at the moment and I do not have a job in Hong Kong due to my studies (I dont intend on seeking employment whilst in Hong Hong either).

My reason for being in Hong Kong is to be with my girlfriend until she has enough money so we can move to New York together.

At this current time we plan on leaving Hong Kong around December.

We recently returned from a trip to Singapore and I experienced difficulty re-entering Hong Kong.

What can I do to extend my stay in Hong Kong so that if I leave again I can re-enter or at least so I can stay until December?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.”

ANSWER

An accurate answer to this question really does depend very much on the visitor profile that you presently have in relation to your stays in Hong Kong and as your question is unclear exactly how much time you’ve spent here, it’s difficult for me to give you an accurate piece of advice as to how you can really sort of solve the problem going forward.

Now the advice, which follows assumes that you have not been endorsed with SCL in your passport, short conditional landing, and I don’t propose to discuss short conditional landing in this answer to your question because I’ve dealt with it in another podcast recently and I’ll provide a link to that in this answer for you but in reality where you sit at the moment is that you have to approach the Immigration Department to seek a discretionary extension of stay to your present visitor visa commissions effectively citing the reality of the relationship that you’ve got with your girlfriend and request the Immigration Department to grand you a 90-day period of stay on an extended basis so that you can remain in Hong Kong with your girlfriend accordingly.

So, in effect what you need to do is to prepare an application bundle and then take that down to the Immigration Department to the visitor’s extension section and go along with your girlfriend accordingly.

Have your girlfriend bring her passport with her and obviously her ID card and in the bundle write a letter to the Immigration Department explaining your exact situation, that is the relationship with your girlfriend that you are presently fulfilling your studies via correspondence and in the same letter make an express declaration to the effect that you will not breach your conditions of stay as a visitor if the immigration department grant you an extension to allow you for another 90 days.

At this point the Immigration Department will consider your circumstances and they’ll expect to see if they’re going to approve your application for this further 90 days. They’ll expect to see that your girlfriend will commit in writing to the fact that she will provide you with accommodation and will be responsible for meeting your financial needs whilst you’re in Hong Kong.

So, this is the effective way to approach the solution, excuse me, approach the problem that you’re facing. It’s all down to the discretion of the Immigration Department and this advice is predicated on the fact that they haven’t endorsed SCL in your passport and if they haven’t endorsed SCL in your passport you are on a sticky-nicky timeframe and I’m afraid you’re going to have to be making an exit and not coming back until the situation is resolved itself as regards you and your girlfriend moving to New York subsequently.

Okay, I hope this helps.

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

SCL – and the Shenzhen Shuttle – a good way to extend your visitor visa in Hong Kong?

Eligibility criteria for the Working Holiday Visa 

Can I come to Hong Kong as a visitor, find a job then change my status to an employment visa?

The anatomy of a ‘Slam Dunk’ Hong Kong investment visa application taking just 7 weeks to approval!

Hong Kong investment visa wrongly applied for – clearing up the confusion & getting the correct employment visa instead

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23

Jun 2018

How To Start A Business In Hong Kong As A Foreigner – Introduction

Posted by / in Investment Visas, Musing / 3 responses

I recently gave a talk at Campfire Collaborative Space on the topic of how to start a business in Hong Kong as a foreigner, which in essence is the journey of getting a Business Investment Visa as an Entrepreneur after the implementation of the Enhancement Measures in 2015 and the Audit Commission Report Number 66 from 2016.

PRACTICE UPDATE: How the content must now be read in light of current ImmD policy:

Historically, this introductory guide framed starting a business in Hong Kong as a foreign national as one of the most accessible, founder-friendly journeys in the international commercial landscape. The Geeza laid out the classic, open-door pitch: a transparent legal system, straightforward company incorporation, low taxation, and an immigration framework under the General Employment Policy that welcomed foreign enterprise without rigid capital constraints. Foreign nationals were reassured that an investment as entrepreneur visa did not require institutional backing or deep capitalization; an earnest founder with a well-reasoned business plan, modest seed capital of a few hundred thousand dollars, a flexible serviced office address, and plans to gradually hire local staff over a multi-year horizon could readily satisfy the approvability test.
The game has changed from an open-door welcome for aspiring foreign founders into an elite, institutional filter that bars entry to all but heavily funded enterprises. While Hong Kong’s corporate law and tax regime remain efficient, the immigration bridge connecting foreign entrepreneurs to the territory has been fundamentally severed for lean ventures. Under post-April 2026 administrative practice aligned with TTPS Category A operational substance (~HKD 2.5M enterprise scale), ImmD no longer grants residence on the promise of future commercial success. A foreign-owned business vehicle must substantiate live operational hardware on day one: HKD 1.5M–2.0M in deployed corporate bank liquidity, an executed commercial lease for exclusive physical premises (“four walls”), and active MPF payroll for 2–3 local permanent residents. Without meeting this heavy institutional threshold upfront or securing admission into an accredited government incubator (such as Cyberport or HKSTP), the dream of casually establishing a bootstrapped business in Hong Kong as a foreign national will result in swift and summary refusal.

This is the first, introductory segment where I set the scene for the rest of the presentation.

The Rest of the Talk

Introduction

How We Got Here

Must Have Resources

The Startup Visa

Business Investment As An Entrepreneur (Visa)

Three Elements To Approval

Have You Got Enough Money?

Is Your Business Sustainable?

A Properly Set Up Office

How About Local Jobs?

Economic Sector Advantages

Hiring Yourself

D-I-Y Application

 

Important Materials Referenced In The Presentation

10 Must-Have Resources for Any Hong Kong Investment Visa Application

Accredited Startup Programmes in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Visa Handbook Free Kits

Your Questions Answered

 

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

10 Must Have resources for a Hong Kong investment visa application

Is there such an animal as a flexible working visa in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong investment visa – cash required and the Catch 22

Is there such a thing as a Hong Kong employment visa for an independant contractor?

Is it possible to cancel a Hong Kong visa application and if so how do you go about doing it?

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13

Jun 2018

Will the Hong Kong Immigration Department Extend Your Visitor Visa if You Ask Them To?

Posted by / in Visitor Visas, Your Question Answered / No responses

I have received 2 questions on the topic of ‘long stay’ visitor visas and the extension possibilities in the last 24 hours so am taking the opportunity to merge them into a single answer here.

QUESTION

“Hi, I think I could use some of your quality advice. My situation seems to be quite complicated, so I will keep it as simple as possible.

Last year, I moved to Hong Kong between October and March. I obtained a 6-month training visa for this period. Between the end of March and June, I traveled around Asia and returned to Hong Kong for a week during the beginning of June (on a visitor visa). I then returned home to Europe, where I decided that I wanted to move back out to Hong Kong in search of a permanent position (and live with my sister in the meantime). I have now been in HK since the 16th of August (approx 75 days) and therefore I am nearing the end of my visitor visa. I still have not found a job, therefore I have to go about renewing it. 

I would like to know from you, what you would do in my situation for the renewal of my visitor visa. I have heard that I can do a quick return trip to Macau or that I can submit a demand to the Immigration Department and request another 90 days. What method would you suggest?”

AND

“Hi Visa Geeza, I’ve got a question. For the past two years I have stayed in Hong Kong for over 500 days (in and out of Macau every three months/90 days) and now I’m wondering how long I can pull this off without raising red flags. I am not employed in any way and have just spent my days with my daughter who’s studying at university here.”

ANSWER

I’ve covered a lot of ground in recent times about the issue of visitor visas and what it takes to get them extended. All of this material is detailed in the links that I included on this post.

But these two questions get to the heart of what the Immigration Department make of people who have genuine reasons to visit Hong Kong and want to stay on an extended basis. But in the final analysis, the essence of the answer raised this question. Is really this follows, firstly if you apply for an extension to visit a visa immigration tower it’s your opportunity to explain to the Immigration Department about what’s keeping you here and it allows Immigration Department take a view as to your activities and your rationale for remaining. What is really a long stay basis as a visitor?

And then secondly, in disclosing your circumstances to Immigration Department and the Immigration Tower, this way you can expect to receive an extension to the visitor visa that they think is commensurate with the need to stay longer versus the time that you’ve already planned here.

Thirdly, as part of the extension exercise you can expect the Immigration Department to ask you to give an undertaking as to when your visit will end and that you will leave Hong Kong for good. Meaning for a least a 12 months period before you’re seeking to return.

Fourthly, if you decide not to apply to Immigration Tower then you need to exit and then you need to leave Hong Kong via the airport or via the Macau Ferry Terminal or the [Unclear] one of the boundaries to China.

Fifthly, each time you present yourself to the airport or the boundaries the Immigration Officer in front of you is assessing you afresh as to your bona fide days as a visitor each time you  present yourself.

Sixthly, bear in mind that the immigration officers have every discretion to refuse to admit you, that they can admit you for just a short period only, they can give you a short conditional landing status or they can simply let you through.

And each time you present yourself this is a new examination of your circumstances but it’s also true to say that once you spend more than 180 days as a visitor in any given 12 month period they’re likely to appear on their radar as you make your entry into Hong Kong.

Also note that a visa to visit is just that. It isn’t a resident visa and your time in Hong Kong as a visitor is going to come to an end sooner if not later. The longer you’re able to string out your time in Hong Kong, the sooner you’re going to have to leave permanently. But having family who have residency in Hong Kong is a good reason for spending an extended period of time here and can explain your visit history accordingly, but it doesn’t afford you the residency rights in on itself and the only way you can properly factor family into the visitor visa mix is to present yourself at Immigration Tower and allow them to understand all of this and to take a view and to determine exactly how much time you’re going to apply to remain here.

But it’s fair to say that the guys in Wanchai, are a lot less generous about what you can get away with that you can at the border but it’s at the border where the biggest risk lies.

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

The long stay visitor’s awkward predicament

If You Stay in Hong Kong for 7 Years as a De-facto Spouse Holding a Prolonged Visitor Visa Will You Qualify for Permanent Residency?

Is the ‘Shenzhen Shuttle’ a good way to extend your visitor visa?

Is it possible to get an extension to my visitor visa to stay with my girlfriend here?

Can I come to Hong Kong as a visitor, find a job then change to an employment visa?

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07

Jun 2018

Losing Your Right of Abode in Hong Kong & Then Using eChannels

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

QUESTION

“Can I ask a simple question – do you know of anyone (not Chinese) who has actually lost the right of abode after 36 months absence?

I do know the theory and the provisions in the Ordinance but how about in practice?

I ask because my (Australian) daughter may have lost hers after 38 months absence but how will the loss manifest itself if she arrives say, tomorrow, and tries to enter through the e gate?

I have to tell you that my (New Zealand) husband was informed a while ago that he (not a PR) had lost his unconditional stay status after an absence of 14 months.

He had to enter on his passport. But a few days later he went to Shenzhen using his ID card to leave and then successfully re-entered with his ID card! And now clearly still has unconditional stay!

It seems reality does not always follow the rules.”

ANSWER

Now this is a really interesting question!

The loss of status occurs by operation of law and policy and it doesn’t automatically follow that the Hong Kong immigration department systems are trailing right in their wake.

So, assuming an adult is over 21 then his status will be downgraded to the right to land. For all practical purposes this is the same as the right of abode although she and has lost the right to vote.

Technically, she should relinquish her permanent identity card and apply for and be issued with a non-permanent identity card. She can reacquire the right of abode again if she applies for it after another seven years of continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong.

As for your husband I’d urge you to regularize his immigration status to resident once again by an application for him to be your dependent. If he has lost his unconditional stay then he’s no longer technically resident in the HKSAR and he’ll be here as a visitor.

As a non-resident he doesn’t have the right to use the e-channels even though he has physical possession of a Hong Kong ID card that’s facilitating his movements across the boundaries. It really does make sense not to do that again honestly.

More Stuff You May Find Interesting or Useful

Redundancy – the process pitfalls of an expiring Hong Kong employment visa

Can a Hong Kong Training Visa Be Used As a Stepping Stone to a Full Employment Visa?

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

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

Will I still qualify for the right of abode if I worked temporarily in Macau yet lived in Hong Kong for the full 7 years?

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