Can The Company You Have Just Left Contact Hong Kong Immigration And Make Your Visa Expire Immediately?
Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Special Programmes, Your Question Answered / 14 responses
Contact Hong Kong Immigration and make your visa expire? This question comes up often enough for it to warrant another explanation of the arrangements which prevail (current ImmD practice)…
QUESTION
Dear Visa Geeza,
I’m under the impression that when you leave a company that has been sponsoring your employment visa or if you are fired, that as long as your visa hasn’t expired you are allowed to stay in Hong Kong and look for new employment.
Can the company you have just left contact immigration and make your visa expire immediately so you therefore lose the right to stay in Hong Kong and look for work?
ANSWER
This scenario is very much an old chestnut; so, I’d like to take this opportunity to hopefully sort of bury it once and for all time. Effectively, when you secure an employment visa sponsored by a Hong Kong employer, you get two privileges: (1) you get the privilege to do the work – that’s nominated in the employment contract for the sponsor of record, and (2) you also get the privilege to reside – that flows naturally from the privilege to work.
When you stop working for your current employer, your privilege to work ceases, but your privilege to reside continues until your current limit of stay expires, or the Immigration Department remove it from you, whichever is the sooner it is; in fact, the Immigration departments standard practise to allow the current limit of stay to expire where there has been a situation such as yours, and therefore you will be allowed to remain in Hong Kong to carry on your lives until your current limit of stay expires, whereupon you’re expected to leave.
Additionally, it is considered a ‘permitted activity’ under your continuing privilege to reside to look for and indeed interview for work. However, it is not ‘permitted activity’ to take up that employment. Therefore, prior to joining in a new company (sponsor) in Hong Kong, you will have to make an application to change your sponsorship so that the Immigration department can apply the approvability test in the context of the new job offer that you’ve got in hand and will then, once applying that approvability test, determine whether you should be able to take up that employment and in the process re-invoking your privileges to work for that new employer. So that’s how all of that works.
In terms of an ex-employer contacting the Immigration Department and ask that your privilege to reside in Hong Kong be suddenly be immediately revoked, the Immigration Department tend not to get involved in issues associated with reasons as to why an employment might have come to an end.
In other words, an employer does have an obligation to inform the Immigration Department of material change in circumstances as regards their sponsorship charges – and so normally an employer will write to the Immigration Department to advise them of the official date of employment termination (and the Immigration Department just hold that on file and the termination date of your prior employment becomes a matter of your record), but the employer cannot sort of overreaching themselves and saying that you should not be allowed to remain in Hong Kong for reasons such as you having not have done your job well or any of this kind. The Immigration Department won’t take on board any of that, as they just look at the circumstances dispassionately and will just reflect the fact of your cessation of employment with that sponsor, rather than taking any steps towards, in a sense, punishing you for what might have passed during your prior employment, and not making it possible for you to make an honest application to change your sponsorship and continue your lives in Hong Kong on the basis that you’ll be able to get that change of sponsorship application approved.
In a nutshell, the answer to your question is: an employer can’t effectively kick you out of Hong Kong just because they happen to be your employment visa sponsor of record.
I hope you find this useful.
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The Hong Kong Visa Geeza (a.k.a Stephen Barnes) is a co-founder of the Hong Kong Visa Centre and author of the Hong Kong Visa Handbook. A law graduate of the London School of Economics, Stephen has been practicing Hong Kong immigration since 1993 and is widely acknowledged as the leading authority on business immigration matters here for the last 24 years.
OWS
My employment has been terminated 2 months before i reach the 7 year residency mark. However my employment visa is valid until middle of 2025.
Few questions:
1. Am i allowed to travel out of HK for personal travel and is there an time limitation to return to HK e.g. 30 days etc.?
2. Do i need approval from Immigration department and how (any specific form to fill or its just a general letter to Immigration department requesting permission to apply for new jobs in HK)?
The Visa Geeza
1 – Yes you can travel and no there is no time limit per se. See:
https://hongkongvisageeza.com/hong-kong-employment-visa-sponsorship-2/
2 – No need for approval to apply for new jobs. See:
https://hongkongvisasherpa.com/staffer/change-of-employer/
Michael
Hello,
Firstly, thanks for the informative audio message it helped a lot.
My question follows on from the above, but with regards to the application of PR.
Were my employment contract to be terminated before I’ve completed the eligible 7 years residency required for PR, yet I continue to reside in HK up until that 7 year mark and have paid my taxes up until that date will I still be eligible to apply for PR?
As per the above, I will still have the right to reside in HK when I apply so I assume it will be ok?
Thanks a lot for your help
The Visa Geeza
Yes you will. Please see: https://hongkongvisageeza.com/hong-kong-employment-visa-sponsorship-2/
Anonymous
Hello,
I have a HK employment visa which is valid until August 2024. However, I left my job in December 2021 to be able to visit family after a long absence due to Covid regulations. My future plans were uncertain at that time. To cover my bases, I withdrew my MPF benefits under the reason “permanent departure from HK”. My question is: Can I return to HK at any time before my employment visa expires and interview for new work, with a view on transferring my current employment visa? Is there a deadline whereby my employment visa will expire if I am out of HK for, say, 6 months continuously?
Many thanks in advance.
The Visa Geeza
Yes you can return to Hong Kong and seek to chnage youe employment visa sponsor during the validity of your present employment visa.
Anonymous
Hi,
I have a question. I am an Indian National who moved to Hong Kong on the IANG visa in July 2013 for my studies. I left Hong Kong for 3 months in 2014 to study abroad. I was still on the IANG visa then. I have been on the same visa since then (extension is contingent upon employment) and have been employed since NOvember 2014. My visa is valid till November 2022. I wanted to ask if I need to be employed while making my PR application in a couple of months? Will unemployment affect my application in any negative way. I have paid all my taxes during my time in Hong Kong
The Visa Geeza
Unemployment under GEP/IANG at the time of PR application doesn’t impact eligibility for PR so long as your visa remains valid at the time you apply and at the time your PR is approved.
Blue
I get a Working Visa on 24/10/2019 for 2 years (until 24/10/2021).
Due to the situation with the Covid-19 the Company terminated my contract end of May 2020.
Can i keep my privilege to work and to reside in Hong Kong with my existing Visa ?
I created my own company (limited company) and i’m starting now a new activity by myself as General Manager of my own limited company (i don’t have any employee).
What are my obligations regarding my Visa ?
Thank you
The Visa Geeza
https://hongkongvisageeza.com/hong-kong-employment-visa-sponsorship-2/
You have only the privilege to reside. You do not have the privilege to work for anyone else including yourself. You need to apply to change your visa category to business investment as an entrepreneur BEFORE you start even if you own business as you need the permission of ImmD first.
http://www.hongkongvisahandbook.com/home/hong-kong-investment-visas/