Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

21

Dec 2016

Why & How The Hong Kong Immigration Department Are Getting A Lot Tougher Now – Upgrade of ImmD Systems

Posted by / in Musing / 3 responses

On June 14,2016 I gave a talk at WYND Co-Working Space in Lan Kwai Fong on the topic of why and how the Hong Kong Immigration Department are getting a lot tougher now in the wake of the Audit Commission Report Number 66 released to ImmD in April and made public in June.

This 10th segment discusses how ImmD are now committed to upgrading certain aspects of their computer systems to ensure proper management of implementation of policy.

You can download the slides here.

The Rest of the Series

Introduction

Audit Commission Report Number 66

GEP & AMTPS Processing Times

Labour Market Testing & Salaries

Talent List For QMAS

Documentation Authenticity

Investment Visa Processing Times

Breach of CIES Rules

Collection of Relevant Data

Upgrade of ImmD Systems

Your Questions Answered

 

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

How to go about applying for the Reconsideration of a refused Hong Kong visa application

All the Hong Kong Visa Handbook resources dealing with denied applications

Why do Hong Kong investment visa applications get denied?

The merits of applying for a Reconsideration of a refused Hong Kong Visa application

Hong Kong employment visa – when all else failed we appealed to the Chief Executive – and won!

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19

Dec 2016

Why & How The Hong Kong Immigration Department Are Getting A Lot Tougher Now – Collection of Relevant Data

Posted by / in Employment Visas, Investment Visas, Musing / 4 responses

On June 14,2016 I gave a talk at WYND Co-Working Space in Lan Kwai Fong on the topic of why and how the Hong Kong Immigration Department are getting a lot tougher now in the wake of the Audit Commission Report Number 66 released to ImmD in April and made public in June.

This 9th segment discusses how ImmD were not collecting certain data needed to measure the impact of the policies they were implementing.

You can download the slides here.

The Rest of the Series

Introduction

Audit Commission Report Number 66

GEP & AMTPS Processing Times

Labour Market Testing & Salaries

Talent List For QMAS

Documentation Authenticity

Investment Visa Processing Times

Breach of CIES Rules

Collection of Relevant Data

Upgrade of ImmD Systems

Your Questions Answered

 

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

Why don’t immigration consultants typically help aspiring employees find jobs in Hong Kong?

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

The reality behind the Hong Kong Immigration Department’s “4 Weeks” visa application consideration time frame

The 5 key factors which impact on your eligibility for a Hong Kong employment visa

Hong Kong employment visa – when all else failed we appealed to the Chief Executive – and won!

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18

Dec 2016

Pre-Arrival Registration For Indian Nationals – Video, Guidebook & Process

Posted by / in Feature Article, Musing, Special Programmes / No responses

The following content is provided by the Hong Kong Immigration Department.

The Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals will be implemented on 23 January 2017. The online service of the Hong Kong Immigration Department for “Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals” will be commence tomorrow, 19 December 2016.

Watch the video:

The registrant should visit the designated GovHK website for pre-arrival registration. The registrant must truthfully enter the correct information. The information the registrant provides in the pre-arrival registration needs to be exactly the same as it appears in his/her Indian passport.

After inputting the required information, the computer system will process the registration automatically. The registration result will be made known to the registrant instantly.The successful registrant must print the “Notification Slip for Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals” (the notification slip) generated by the computer system on a sheet of blank A4 white paper.

The registrant must check the inputted data on the notification slip to confirm it is correct and exactly the same as it appears on the specific Indian passport that he/she has used to apply for pre-arrival registration successfully before signing the slip. The notification slip must be used in conjunction with the specific Indian passport that is linked to the pre-arrival registration.

In case the registrant renews or replaces his/her Indian passport or changes his/her personal particulars after pre-arrival registration, the registrant must re-apply on the strength of the new passport or personal particulars.

For a registrant who is under 16 years of age, either his/her parent or legal guardian must check the inputted data and sign the slip.

In case the pre-arrival registration cannot be completed, an Indian national must apply for an entry visa to the Immigration Department if he/she intends to visit the HKSAR. Such applications must be submitted directly to the Immigration Department. Chinese diplomatic and consular missions will not accept visit visa applications from Indian nationals.

You can download the Official Guidance Notes here.

Indian Nationals Visiting Hong Kong Frequently May Wish To Apply For A Travel Pass Instead

Hong Kong Visa Handbook – How To Apply for a Hong Kong Travel Pass

Applying For a Hong Kong Travel Pass – Video Presentation

Hong Kong Travel Pass – List of Documents Required

Is the Travel Pass as Good as a Hong Kong Employment Visa?

Hong Kong Travel Pass Used to Keep a Family Together in Hong Kong – Quite Lawfully

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17

Dec 2016

Why & How The Hong Kong Immigration Department Are Getting A Lot Tougher Now – Breach of CIES Rules

Posted by / in Musing, Special Programmes / 4 responses

PRACTICE UPDATE 2026

How the Content Must Now Be Read in Light of the New CIES Policy

Under the legacy Capital Investment Entrant Scheme discussed in our 2016 analysis of Audit Commission Report No. 66, regulatory oversight was retrospective. The Immigration Department struggled to police portfolio compliance, leading to retrospective crackdowns on undisclosed asset disposals and unapproved withdrawals.

Today, this piecemeal enforcement has been replaced by a systemic, institutional compliance apparatus under the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme rules. Rather than relying on self-declarations and belated departmental audits, the new regime bifurcates administration: InvestHK’s New CIES Office serves as a dedicated financial watchdog, while mandatory Eligible Financial Intermediaries (licensed banks, brokers, and insurers) police accounts in real time.

As Stephen Barnes, the Hong Kong Visa Geeza, points out in our definitive New CIES Practice Direction:

“The era of loose enforcement is over. Under the New CIES, adherence to the 14-day portfolio switching window and asset ring-fencing is not left to chance; intermediaries are bound by statutory reporting covenants to notify InvestHK of any breach, transforming compliance from an afterthought into an automated gatekeeper for every extension of stay.”

Investors no longer face arbitrary post-hoc scrutiny; instead, continuous annual certification is the non-negotiable prerequisite to retaining status and securing eventual residency.

On June 14,2016 I gave a talk at WYND Co-Working Space in Lan Kwai Fong on the topic of why and how the Hong Kong Immigration Department are getting a lot tougher now in the wake of the Audit Commission Report Number 66 released to ImmD in April and made public in June.

This eighth segment discusses the instances where breach of CIES (Capital Investment Entrant Scheme – programme presently suspended) extension of stay rules were discovered on audit and the changes ImmD have to bring about.

You can download the slides here.

The Rest of the Series

Introduction

Audit Commission Report Number 66

GEP & AMTPS Processing Times

Labour Market Testing & Salaries

Talent List For QMAS

Documentation Authenticity

Investment Visa Processing Times

Breach of CIES Rules

Collection of Relevant Data

Upgrade of ImmD Systems

Your Questions Answered

 

More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

The 7 things your employer needs to know about getting a visa for you to work in Hong Kong

What are you really buying from a Hong Kong immigration consultant?

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

What do both Hong Kong employment and investment visa applications share in common?

STOP PRESS! Hitler’s HKSAR passport application has been rejected!

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15

Dec 2016

The Visa Geeza on RTHK Radio 3 – December, 2016

Posted by / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Musing / No responses

It had been a few months since I got to see Maestro Phil Whelan over at RTHK Radio 3 yesterday.  As always, we had a good chat, talking mostly about the implications of the recent Audit Commission report on certain aspects of ImmD operations.

Click the above to watch our short video of yesterday’s session at RTHK.

You can listen to our complete discussion here.

Or you can watch the whole session via the Facebook Live recording here.

Phil works real hard on his Morning Brew Facebook page which I recommend you check out and Like!

More Stuff You Might Find Useful or Interesting

More Hong Kong Visa Geeza chats with Phil Whelan on RTHK Radio 3 Morning Brew

How is the investment visa application process typically experienced by a foreign national visa applicant?

10 Must Have resources for any Hong Kong investment visa application

How important is the support of InvestHK in your Hong Kong investment visa application?

Is it actually becoming harder to get your Hong Kong employment or investment visa application approved?

 

Listen To The Show

Play

Podcast: Play in new window

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14

Dec 2016

Why & How The Hong Kong Immigration Department Are Getting A Lot Tougher Now – Investment Visa Processing Times

Posted by / in Investment Visas, Musing / 6 responses

On June 14,2016 I gave a talk at WYND Co-Working Space in Lan Kwai Fong on the topic of why and how the Hong Kong Immigration Department are getting a lot tougher now in the wake of the Audit Commission Report Number 66 released to ImmD in April and made public in June.

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

Historically, this analysis examined the visible elongation of investment visa processing times and explained why ImmD appeared to be tightening its grip on prospective business applications. The Geeza lifted the lid on internal department mechanics, explaining that protracted timelines of four to six months—or longer—were not necessarily a prelude to rejection, but rather the result of case officers conducting iterative, back-and-forth commercial interrogations to see if a fledgling business would begin generating revenue. Case officers maintained an accommodating, developmental posture: they routinely gave cash-conscious founders time to flesh out their plans, tolerating lean operations underpinned by modest seed funding of a few hundred thousand dollars, flexible serviced office desks, and phased commitments to hire local staff over a multi-year horizon while the application remained pending in administrative limbo.
The game has changed from protracted, iterative commercial reviews into swift, ruthless empirical audits. ImmD no longer stretches out processing times to nurture an undercapitalized venture or wait for a business plan to gain traction. Under post-April 2026 administrative practice aligned with TTPS Category A operational substance (~HKD 2.5M enterprise scale), processing has become an unyielding compliance checklist: applications lacking verified, deployed corporate bank liquidity of HKD 1.5M–2.0M, an executed commercial lease for exclusive physical premises (“four walls”) disqualifying serviced or co-working setups entirely, and active Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) payroll contributions for 2–3 local permanent residents are no longer indulged with endless rounds of queries. Instead of administrative patience, incomplete or lean filings now face rapid, summary refusal, leaving formal admission into an accredited government incubator (such as Cyberport or HKSTP) as the sole available mechanism to bypass these uncompromising standards.

This seventh segment discusses the changes in practice which ImmD have brought about in respect of investment visa processing times.

You can download the slides here.

The Rest of the Series

Introduction

Audit Commission Report Number 66

GEP & AMTPS Processing Times

Labour Market Testing & Salaries

Talent List For QMAS

Documentation Authenticity

Investment Visa Processing Times

Breach of CIES Rules

Collection of Relevant Data

Upgrade of ImmD Systems

Your Questions Answered

 

 More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

Is it ever OK to work in Hong Kong on a visitor visa?

Will the Hong Kong Immigration Department extend your visitor visa if you ask them to?

The Hong Kong ‘long stay visitor’s’ awkward predicament

The Hong Kong Immigration Department are out to deny – not approve – visa applications (aren’t they?)

Can I come to Hong Kong to install equipment without an employment visa?

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12

Dec 2016

Why & How The Hong Kong Immigration Department Are Getting A Lot Tougher Now – Documentation Authenticity

Posted by / in Employment Visas, Investment Visas, Musing, Special Programmes / 5 responses

On June 14,2016 I gave a talk at WYND Co-Working Space in Lan Kwai Fong on the topic of why and how the Hong Kong Immigration Department are getting a lot tougher now in the wake of the Audit Commission Report Number 66 released to ImmD in April and made public in June.

This sixth segment discusses the changes in practice which ImmD have brought about in respect documentation authenticity.

You can download the slides here.

The Rest of the Series

Introduction

Audit Commission Report Number 66

GEP & AMTPS Processing Times

Labour Market Testing & Salaries

Talent List For QMAS

Documentation Authenticity

Investment Visa Processing Times

Breach of CIES Rules

Collection of Relevant Data

Upgrade of ImmD Systems

Your Questions Answered

 

 More Stuff You May Find Useful or Interesting

How a Hong Kong employment visa application can go completely wrong if you don’t know what you are doing

10 ‘Must Have’ resources for a successful Hong Kong work visa application

Will a criminal record impact on your ability to get a residence visa for Hong Kong?

Can you have 2 employment visa applications for Hong Kong pending at the same time?

I hate my boss and want to leave my job – what happens to my Hong Kong work visa?

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