Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

I Have A Socially Advantageous Yet Modestly Capitalised Business Plan – Can I Get An Investment Visa For Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Your Question Answered / 12 responses

This is an important question on the business investment visa for Hong Kong….

Experience suggests that the Hong Kong Immigration Department do tend to look favourably upon such business plans, but the applicant absolutely does not have it all his or her own way, as you will learn in my PodCast answer. (Please note the subject matter of the business in this question is just an ersatz surrogate. I have changed it to ‘fear of flying’ to protect the identity of the service nature and maintain the confidences of the person planning to establish this very unique enterprise.)

QUESTION

“I, an American citizen, have been planning on beginning a stress-management therapy business in Hong Kong for adults who suffer from a fear of flying.

The market is a whole lot bigger than you might imagine given that intrinsically Hong Kong is a small, far flung place that is typically accessed by commercial flights.

Consequently there is hardly anything in Hong Kong and the rest of Asia generally which offers this type of private therapy course, plus post-therapy support, for adults who simply can’t  summon up the courage to get into an airplane.

Each intensive therapy course will run over a 3 day period, 12 hours per day. The objectives of the therapy are not just to allow participants to control and overcome their fears, but become incredibly self-confident in the process.

I personally have 8 years of first-hand experience in this very successful therapy. I have been through the same programme as a student, now a graduate, coach and course instructor.

I don’t hold any tertiary qualifications except for a Diploma at college.

My girlfriend, who is also a coach and course instructor on the programme, holds a bachelors degree.

The start-up costs are very low. I envision I can start employing 1 person full-time after 7 months and 2 people in part-time employment after 10 months.

The business is basically a franchise in many respects. The programme is already a worldwide business (the America’s, UK, Australia, South Africa, Europe, NZ, etc) so this will be the Asian branch.

In that case, is there a possibility the owner/inventor of the programme could help fund the start-up in HK or would that relegate myself to an ’employee’ status in the eyes of the HK officials rather than a ‘Business Owner’?

With only US$6,000 in capital available to me at the moment, I believe my best route is to try to register the business over in mainland China first.

I have not looked into the hurdles one must pass to start a business over here (I’m in Guangzhou) but it may be easier than HK.

If I can do it, I have the prospect of having around US$25,000-US$40,000 come April-June next year.

With that money available, and the proof of income making already from the business in mainland China, that may be a better time to apply for the Investment Visa in HK?

I expect business to be operating full throttle after 14-18 months from start up in Hong Kong bringing in around US$40,000 a month from then on.

I also plan to keep studying Mandarin and Cantonese language classes so I can eventually teach the courses in native Chinese language which will increase my market.

Do I have a good chance of obtaining an Investment Visa?”

ANSWER

The fact of the matter is that the Immigration Department do place significance on the nature of an enterprise that’s going to be supporting an application for an investment visa by a foreign national, and if the space that the foreign national is going to be establishing a business in can be said to be advantageous to society more generally than just the contribution that it makes to the economy of Hong Kong, experience tells me that the Immigration Department do factor that in quite heavily.

That having been said, there is still a requirement for the enterprise itself to be credible on every front. So sort of dealing with the general themes that you raise in your question in no particular order, but will all tie properly together at the end.

I believe I’ll start off by saying that the USD6,000 that you’ve got to invest in the business will not work for the Immigration Department. I mean, quite apart from the fact that the visa calls for an active investment, USD6,000 really isn’t sufficient capital to actually get the business off the ground, and the Immigration Department do know that typically any business that is going to be relying upon revenues to be earned to finance itself tend to be a stew by the department.

So you’re going to have to have a decent wedge of capital under your belt to persuade the department that you’ve got the necessary resources to give effect to your plan because, as we know, just because you’ve got a really good business idea doesn’t mean that it’s going to be successful by mere fact that it is an idea and it’s a good idea, you’re going to have to invest money into taking it to market and bringing it to the attention of people who are going to be providing you with the revenues to ensure that it’s successful. So USD6,000 isn’t going to cut the mustard, I’m afraid.  On the other hand, if the franchisor took an equity stake and provided a bulk of the capital, that would significantly improve your chances of success. But as a business with you owning a piece of the action, the Immigration Department would apply the investment visa aprovability test to your application, rather than the employment visa provability test, and they are two different animals: one focuses on the individual skills of the applicant – that’s the employment visa probability test, whereas the investment visa aprovability test focuses squarely on what the business is all about and how it can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong. But in a strange way, if your franchisor came in and effectively took the bulk of the equity this could be advantageous, because unless you’ve got specific qualifications in the fear of flying space, as it were, I suspect the Immigration Department would conclude that you’re not actually qualified to undertake this work as an employee. Therefore, by going down the investment visa route, it puts the focus on the chances of success as a business, not how qualified you are as an employee; and once you get to a point where you’re really sort of ten to 15% shareholder in a company, the Immigration Department, they’re going to be applying investment visa approvability test here in any event. So that definitely could be a way for you to fast track your plans to come into Hong Kong if you’re prepared to go into business with these people.

In terms of the turnover at USD40,000 a month, I mean, this is a half a million dollars a year and that will definitely pass muster with the Immigration Department. So your revenue numbers are absolutely on the money for an approval in terms of you potentially being able to take your limited capital pool to China first and starting your business there before you bring it to Hong Kong.

Like you, I’m not really in a position to understand what will pass muster in China, whether or not you can get immigration status in the way that you envisage. But I can tell you that if you use China as a proving ground and establish this practise there first, it will definitely be a good idea, because what that will mean is the Immigration Department will be able to access the documentation that shows that it has worked.

In fact, it is working under your stewardship in China and it becomes de risked from the Immigration Department’s perspective, particularly if you’re going to wait until another eight or nine months down the road when you do anticipate that you’re going to come into funds of up to say, USD40,000. That level of financing together with a track record in China, together with your experience in this space, together with the creation of local jobs in the first twelve months, together with a projected half a million USD in revenues turnover in the first twelve months, I believe the Immigration Department would give you an investment visa on that kind of story with those kind of resources in place. So, from that perspective, I think, you’re onto a pretty good opportunity if it all falls into play in the way that you’re hoping it to.

Now, the only other question that you’ve raised that I need to address relates to this question of your girlfriend and who is ostensibly qualified to perform this work.

I think implied in that inclusion in the question is the idea that you’re going to have your girlfriend come and work in the business for you, which, on the basis that she doesn’t have immigration status for Hong Kong, will mean that this business is going to have to serve as an employment visa sponsor for her, which, as a new business, is going to raise a lot of questions with the department having said that if you can fold her into the story in such a way to suggest that the business is going to grow with her contribution, together with your contribution, to the extent that the two of you on the books, as it were, your ability to sell more is going to be increased, and that will then, by extension, allow you to create a bigger business, and the creation of local employment opportunities is going to be improved over and above the numbers that you’ve mentioned in your question. So don’t take it for granted that just because the Immigration Department partner buying into the idea that you will get an investment visa, but it’s assuming that your girlfriend, under the sponsorship of this new vehicle, will be able to get approved accordingly. That’s a separate challenge that will need to be examined in light of where you are in your business at the time that you make your application. It is not impossible, but you certainly need to think about that as a separate application exercise; don’t factor it into your own application mix, as it were.

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I Have Lived In Hong Kong For 5 Years. Can I Extend My Work Visa For 2 Years, Quit My Job, Study Full-Time, Then Apply for RoA?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / 8 responses

Whilst the implementation of Hong Kong immigration policy is essentially very flexible, as an employment visa holder, until you have gone on to receive the right of abode (RoA) or unconditional stay after seven years continuous ordinary residence, your permissions to remain in Hong Kong are governed very tightly. I am grateful to this questioner for providing an opportunity to have a discussion about ‘strategic immigration status management’ through to the point where it is possible to make an application for permanent residency in the HKSAR.

QUESTION

“Thanks for being so helpful, your posts are very useful. I have 2 questions:

 1) If my visa is expiring in 31 April 2013 and the company extends it 15 March 2013 which gets approved (before the original visas expiry date, i.e. approval on 30 March 2013) to extend until April 2015 – what happens if I quit before the original visa’s expiry date (but my extension has already been approved)? Am I allowed to stay in HK until 2015?

 2) If my visa is expiring 31 April 2015, and I decide to quit, can I apply for university courses or a degree course on the employment visa that I am on or do I need to re-apply for a student visa (end date of the course does not surpass the visa expiration date)?

Does this educational period count towards Right of Abode?”

ANSWER

In this question, we’re being asked whether it’s possible to extend your current employment visa, quit your job, then go on to take up studies full time without actually dealing with the question of immigration status. In wake of the change in the rationale for Hong Kong, it’s not commonly appreciated that when you get an employment visa, you get two privileges: you get the privilege to do the particular job that’s underpinning your employment visa in the first place, and you also get the privilege to reside when you stop working for that particular employer that is the party that’s sponsoring your employment visa. Effectively, your privileges to work cease at that point in time, but your privilege to reside continues until your current limit of stay expires or unless the Immigration Department expressly revoke your existing limit of stay and give you a shorter limit of stay, whereupon you’re expected to leave.

Thus, if you have had your privileges to work terminated as a result of leaving your employment, then effectively the question is what is permitted activity other than residing in Hong Kong whilst you’re in possession of that employment visa?  Well, it’s not permitted activity to take up any employment and it’s not permitted activity for you joining a business first without getting the consent of the Immigration Department.

When you possess an employment visa, it is permitted activity joining a part time course of study? It’s not permitted activity whilst you’re in possession of an employment visa to take up a full time course of study. So if your rationale for remaining in Hong Kong in the wake of leaving your job is to take up a full time course of study, you’re going to have to adjust your immigration status from employment through to student, and the limited stay that you’ll get on each occasion will be directly related to your continuing enrolment and your continuing participation in your course of studies. So then, moving on to the second part of the question, effectively, any time that you spend in Hong Kong as a resident will count towards your continuous ordinary residence for the purposes of an eventual Right of Abode approval.

So the test is continuous ordinary residence showing that you have become settled in Hong Kong throughout this time and at the point of making your application, you’ve taken concrete steps to having taken Hong Kong as your only place of permanent residence. Therefore, any time that you spend as a student in Hong Kong, as long as it’s part of a continuous period of ordinary residence that amounts to no less than seven years. Having become settled and taken Hong Kong as your only place of permanent residence, then that time spent as a student will definitely count towards the seven years for the purposes of a permanent residency approval.

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What Paperwork (If Any) Goes Into Your Passport To Recognize That You Are A Hong Kong Permanent Resident?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / 1 response

Dead simple question this one with a very short answer (for a change!)

QUESTION

What paperwork/ piece of paper, if any, goes in to your passport to recognize that you are a permanent resident of the HKSAR? 

For the last 7 years I’ve had a dependant visa. 

I need to know as I have one page left in my passport. 

And will immigration take my passport away to facilitate me getting permanent residency?

ANSWER

If you’ve lived in Hong Kong continuously for a period of not less than seven years, you can make the application to convert your status from temporary resident to permanent resident. During the currency of your application for permanent residency, the Immigration Department will call to inspect your original passport at the point of them verifying your eligibility that you are in fact a permanent resident. And that’s the only use of the passport that the Immigration Department take whilst your application for permanent residency is ongoing, so they don’t hold it at all; you are in fact able to travel freely or otherwise with your passport whilst the application for PR has been considered and ultimately finalised.

Once the approval of your PR comes in, effectively your passport is now defunct for immigration purposes as regards Hong Kong because your Right of Aboard is reflected in the issue to you of a permanent identity card and that permanent identity card, therefore is your travel document in and out of Hong Kong, and your passport is no longer needed to be presented to an immigration officer at the point of arrival. Therefore, there’s no endorsement in your passport to reflect your PR.

I hope you find this useful.

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Can You Freelance Or Start Your Own Business Under A Hong Kong Working Holiday Visa?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Investment Visas, Special Programmes, Your Question Answered / 5 responses

The working holiday visa for Hong Kong is designed for certain types of employment activity – but does this include freelance work or starting or your own business?

QUESTION

Hi

I have recently moved to Hong Kong with my partner (who has an employment visa) and I obtained a working holiday visa for 1 year.

My plan was to get over here and then look for work opportunities and then transfer over to an appropriate visa. I registered my own company in Ireland and it looks like the most work I will do here would be as a freelancer.

Am I able to work as a freelancer on the working holiday visa or do I need to get another visa – say the investment visa?

We do plan to be here a few years.

Thanks

ANSWER

The working holiday visa for Hong Kong is designed specifically to allow nationals of certain countries, not every country, to come to Hong Kong for a maximum period of twelve months with the primary intention to holiday here. And, as a result of the bilateral arrangements between several countries in Hong Kong, parties who hold a working holiday visa for Hong Kong are able to effectively work for up to four employers in that twelve-month period, and not being able to work for a single employer for more than three months at a time.

Anything more than that is a direct breach of conditions of stay. The programme is really all about sort of cultural exchange if nothing else, and doesn’t anticipate nor provide for holders of such visas to go out and work for themselves, that is ostensibly registering perhaps the sole proprietorship business and then undertaking activities as a freelancer.

Moreover, going to the next step and applying to incorporate a company and then starting to engage in business through that limited liability company is effectively not permitted activity under the working holiday visa.

So whilst you might be able to get away with your sort of plans on the ground as it were, to freelance or to start a business, if your long term intention is to stay in Hong Kong on the strength of the business that you’re planning to undertake it’s really important that you don’t be tempted to start that business whilst you’re a working holiday visa holder, and this is because if at a point of you subsequently making your application for a business investment visa, your activity whilst holding an working holiday visa will be disclosed to the Immigration Department, and they’ll know then that you’ve actively been engaged in activities which are a breach of your conditions of stay and that could lead to the Immigration Department considering a subsequent application less than favourably.

So, yes. If it’s your intention to freelance sort of starting a business, the moment that those intentions crystallise, irrespective of the immigration status you hold presently, you need to make an application for a business investment visa.

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My Employment Visa Has Been Refused – What Can I Do Now?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Refusals & Appeals, Your Question Answered / 4 responses

My employment visa has been refused …. We have been contacted a lot recently by applicants who’s cases have been refused  – so this question is both timely and, for all those affected, of great significance.

QUESTION

“I would like to know if, once  I have received the first rejection letter from an Officer of the HKID for my employment visa application, I can either:

i) file Reconsideration and if still rejected,

ii) then file S53 Review, or

iii) make direct application to the Chief Executive after second rejection?”

ANSWER

When an application from an employment visa has been denied, the letter which the applicant receives indicates that the employment visa application was not approved as the Immigration Department were not satisfied that the person possessed special skills, knowledge or experience or value to are not readily available in Hong Kong; in all the circumstances of case, the employer is justified engaging with services of an expatriate rather than the services of a local person, and this leaves it very difficult to try and interpret exactly what might be wrong with a case and thereby putting together another set of information to have another run at the application by way of an appeal’s process called a case reconsideration.

In order to successfully argue a case reconsideration, you basically need to have significant additional new information which had weight to the original application or are there relevant and important new facts which have come to light since the refusal with comprehensive verifying documentation supplied to support it. So that process in many ways is like another employment visa application.

The case officer will review it and then his colleagues will review it and then a determination from supervisory level staff and managerial staff will be laid down to ensure that in fact the original decision was the correct decision and that any new and previously unsubmitted information which has been supplied doesn’t add the necessary weight to coerce the Immigration Department to switch from one decision to the decision of approval; and that’s a process that usually plays itself out over the course of between two and sometimes twelve weeks. If the reconsideration is refused, then really your options are starting to get a little bit limited in a practical sense.

In your question, you mentioned the issue of section 53, review of the immigration ordinance. This is a procedure that’s not very often used these days because whilst the review procedure is ongoing the applicant is not allowed to be in Hong Kong as a visitor. So because it can take between six and twelve months for a review process to be completely finalised, most people who’ve been denied employment visas and haven’t been successful in reconsideration don’t travel down that path because it simply just takes too long to be anything close to practical.

Additionally, making an application for direct intervention of the Chief Executive is an appeal manoeuvre that is not recommended in the average sort of run of the mill case, as it were, and because you haven’t provided any information as to what the nature of the case is, or allow us to understand a little bit more about how we might be able to make this advice more tailored to you. However, it would seem unlikely, given the volume of instances that we have made an application for the intervention of the Chief Executive that in your instance, it may probably not be irrelevant or indeed an appropriate channel or place to follow. So in many ways, even direct intervention request of the Chief Executive isn’t a particularly practical solution to your dilemma. However, as I say, only in the case where there’s a significant matter of public interest involved would you want to follow that route.

So those are the array of the options you got available to you – your first port of call is, without doubt, reconsideration; and then if you are refused on the reconsideration and it’s becoming really apparent to you that they are making the wrong decision, you could potentially submit another reconsideration with, again, further new and previously unsubmitted information that would allow the Immigration Department to take another look at it. But, in a very practical sense, by the time that process is played itself out, it’s arguable that you don’t really have anywhere else to go and the appeals process is not going to work for you. Unless, of course, you genuinely believe that your employment is a matter of great public interest, such that the Immigration Department should be redirected by the Chief Executive to have a better and closer look at it, but it would seem to be unusual.

I hope that helps.

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Why There’s No Such Thing As Migrating To Hong Kong But Rather, It’s All About Your Rationale

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

Question:

Hi there,

I am interested in migrating to Hong Kong, wasn’t sure what is the best route – getting employment take times, and I wonder what might be the alternative. I am going to open a domain company but not sure if that works.

I need some help to explore some of options but I notice your fee structure is based on specific visa type. Since I wasn’t even sure what approach I should take, I am particularly sure to approach this with your company.

Any advice would be appreciated, including the exploration of skilled talent immigration.

Also can you share with me what are the different level means and what is the differentiator of each service level?

Thanks

ANSWER

The problem in providing kind of an answer to this question is that you have, understandably, an operating assumption that Hong Kong as a jurisdiction operates like other immigration jurisdictions do from a sort of a migration stroke quality of life perspective. The reason why quality of life programmes exist in other jurisdictions is because other jurisdictions such as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, US to a degree – they all are seeking to augment their populations through the addition of further long term population through immigration, through a structured immigration programme.

Hong Kong basically doesn’t operate like that. Hong Kong is not a quality of life migration jurisdiction like the others are. And consequently, what it means is that you need to have a rationale for coming to Hong Kong and that rationale will be reflected in the particular visa type that you go after. And our websites are structured in such a way as to reflect the rationale focused nature of Hong Kong immigration, rather than the kind of call to arms for a general population increase through certain types of qualified people. It doesn’t work like that. There always needs to be a rationale.

So, for example, if your rationale to come to Hong Kong is to study, you apply for a student visa. If your rationale is to come to work – an employment visa, to invest in an operating business, a business investment visa as an entrepreneur, joining family, you apply for dependent visa for the purposes of family reunion, if you’re coming for short term visit purposes, then you can potentially get a travel pass. So the instruments of Hong Kong immigration reflect the specific rationale and reasons for why people are coming to Hong Kong. So the Immigration department can control those activities according to policy and that’s how it’s managed here.

So, all I can suggest that you do is have a think about your rationale -what’s best suited to you, then explore the visa type and then make some determinations about how you can sort of craft the circumstances for you to be able to access the immigration programmes in Hong Kong.

It is therefore more a case of what is it that’s really bringing you here and how can you get immigration status to be able to reflect that rationale and how does that immigration status that you get work into long term permanent residency aspirations which require a full seven years of continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong, holding the particular residence visa type that reflects the rationale that’s brought and kept you here throughout the seven years claimed.

And at the end of seven years, you’ll be able to adjust your immigration status to permanent residency, which would then give you the kind of effective migration type outcome that you’re seeking. But, having done it through the auspices of the immigration programme here, which, as I said, is configured from a rationale first perspective.

I hope you found that useful.

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Does The Hong Kong Immigration Department Positively Consider Family Reunion As A Factor To Employment Visa Grant?

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

Employment visa grant? What do the Hong Kong Immigration Department take into account exactly when considering an application for an employment visa where the applicant has recently divorced from a Hong Kong resident?

QUESTION

I have been in Hong Kong for two years and have recently divorced.  I have care and custody of our two children. 

My Ex husband is remaining in Hong Kong and I want to remain as well. 

I have until August 2020 to secure employment and an independent visa.  

I do not have a university degree and have not worked for over 10 years. 

My question is will immigration take into account personal circumstances, i.e.  keeping families together, when reviewing my visa when I do secure a job? 

Can I easily get a Hong Kong work visa if my young children live there?

ANSWER

To my mind, one of the great things about the flexibility of Hong Kong immigration and how it’s experienced is the way that the Immigration Department are empowered to take into consideration all the circumstances of an individual applicant when seeking to secure a residence visa or change their immigration status from one visa category to another.

In this question above, we have a situation where a present dependent visa holder who has got a limited stay clearly wants to remain in Hong Kong because her ex-spouse will be remaining here and she has custody of their children here in Hong Kong. Clearly it is in the best interests of the children that they have access to separated, albeit, continuing family arrangement in Hong Kong.

The problem lies in the fact that this ex-spouse who has a dependent visa come the expiry date of that in August next year, will no longer be eligible to maintain her residency in Hong Kong under that dependent visa because at the point of her marriage irretrievably breaking down the ability for her to carry on as a dependent ended.

Therefore, the question is begged, that even though the two children that she’s got custody of will have dependent visas continuing to be sponsored by their father, the independent immigration status that she will need to remain in Hong Kong to love and care for her children will not be available to her as a dependent.

So, in this instance, what she’s doing is looking for an alternate immigration status, which will primarily be driven in this instance by an employment visa; and if you look at the conditions for approval under an employment visa, normally there’s a requirement to be a university graduate, or if you don’t have university education, that you have about ten years directly relevant working experience in the managerial or supervisory capacity.

But because she’s been a homemaker all of this while she hasn’t been working, effectively she’s going to be seeking to re-join the workforce here in Hong Kong without all the normal conditions available for her to expect an approval for an employment visa. So, given that reality and given the circumstances of her family life, will the Immigration Department be sympathetic if she’s able to secure a job offer, and, at the point of her making an application to adjust her status from legal dependent through to an employment visa holder, will the immigration department, as I say, be sympathetic to the circumstances that she finds herself in and come to the party and ensure that the right decision is arrived at?

This family don’t have to be separated because of the implementation of immigration policy. And in my experience, I think it’s fair to say that the Immigration Department will do the right thing. Clearly, if she doesn’t have a job at the time that current limit of stay expires, then the Immigration Department can’t give her an employment visa; and, as we’ve seen, she can’t get an extension to a dependent visa. So the only thing that she’d really be able to do to remain resident in Hong Kong, or to at least remain in Hong Kong, would be to exit and re-enter as a visitor. But that’s unsatisfactory for any number of reasons: not least because she’ll not be able to use the time in Hong Kong as a visitor to count towards her permanent residency application –  if that’s what she’s planning to do in due course, and also there’s just the general uncertainties of being a visitor – meaning that the status will only be good for a period of stay that is commensurate with her nationality (and it’s not clear what a nationality is from the question; but she would only be able to get in the region of between 12 and 180-day limit of stay on each occasion, depending on which type of passport she carries).

So the bottom line is that, in my experience, if she can solve the first problem – which is to get a job offer and then under a current dependent visa, start working in that role and probably say, three months before her current limited stay as a dependent visa holder is due to expire, make an application for an employment visa sponsored by that employer that she’s working for. I think you’ll find that, in the unique circumstances of this lady’s life, the Immigration Department will grant her an employment visa so that she can remain in Hong Kong to fulfil the rationale of her being here now under her new future immigration status which is employment, but most importantly of all being able to keep the family united together in Hong Kong and not be separated by vast geographical distances. I trust you found that useful.

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