ImmD publish a useful series of video on their YouTube channel. The 2 videos which follow teach you how to go about applying for a Hong Kong Identity card. These links have now been updated as of March 2023.
The post today is topical as the Territory-Wide Smart ID Card Replacement Exercise came to an end earlier this month and it has been a nightmare for Residents to get timely appointments for new ID cards ever since. No walk in appointment allowed either.
No doubt this will get better soon but waiitng times of more than one month are routine with all online booking slots taken up as soon as they become available.
Get the 100% Free Application Roadmap Here Today – Still Highly Relevant & Useful!
On January 17, 2013 I gave a talk at Centre O in Wanchai on how to go about applying for a Hong Kong business investment visa without the need to pay for any professional help. 10 years have gone by and much water has travelled under the bridge since then. Thankfully, the criteria for approval for this visa type hasn’t changed, although the startup visa is ‘new’ to the scene and worth a look at. This material is still valid although over the coming few weeks I will be doing a series of planned public talks to put a fresh lick of paint on them and posting new videos to this end. Keep your eye open for them!
The 30 minute talk was broken down into 24 very easy to digest segments and each of these segments is presented here.
The talk is designed to allow the D-I-Y visa applicant to use the 100% free resources of both the Hong Kong Visa Handbook as well as the Hong Kong Visa Geeza Blog.
There is a great deal of confusion about Hong Kong employment visa sponsorship and this short video cuts through all the noise and sets it out definitively.
I am in the process of revisiting a lot of my older video content to ensure its continuing relevance and validity. I will also be conducting a whole new series of updated talks around town in the coming few weeks and the videos of those will, as always, be posted here.
Whilst this talk harks way back to 2015, it is still entirely relevant today …
Update 2023.
I have given this talk around town for the last couple of years now and so pleased to finally add it to our coverage of the Hong Kong investment visa, specifically discussing here what is and is not permitted activity in Hong Kong as a visitor visa holder.
The talk was graciously hosted at WYND Co-working Space, ran by a group of great people who I have a lot of time for.
First Published November 17, 2014 – Advice Still Valid Today
You’ve lost your job and your limit of stay is coming up for expiry. Any chance the Immigration Department will grant you an interim Hong Kong employment visa extension in these circumstances?
QUESTION
I am an Australian national living in Hong Kong under an employment visa since December 2010, all sponsored by the same company.
This has been an Australian company with a representative office in Hong Kong.
I have over 20 years experience in hi-tech, with experience in mainland China manufacturing.
My current employment visa is due to expire on December 10, 2014.
My employer made a decision to close the Asia office in June 2014. They did not inform Immigration of this and I was not sure if I should have to do so in their absence to act.
I wish to stay in Hong Kong longer and continue trying to find a job.
If my current visa lapses before a change of sponsorship application can be filed, will this cause problems for me with ImmD in the case of finding a new sponsor?
Is there a way to get an interim Hong Kong employment visa extension for an additional 3-6 months to allow me to stay longer while continuing to search for a job?
First Published October 2, 2019 – Advice Still Valid Today
What is the law about visitors working in Hong Kong as freelancers but not engaging in the local economy? Whilst this question was first asked 4 years ago, I have received three very similar quiestions in the last week so nows the time to republish it. So ..
Do you need an investment visa if all your income is sourced overseas?
QUESTION
Hi Stephen,
I’ve lived in Hong Kong for 2 years and now I’m freelancing and getting all of my income from overseas.
I wish to stay in HK, so am I required to get a work / investment visa even if I generate no income here?
It probably won’t come as a surprise to you but we’re actively and quickly moving ahead with the introduction of Ai to our immigration practice, the Hong Kong Visa Centre.
Ai Is Coming To The Hong Kong Visa Geeza Website Very Soon
I posted this video along with a few others of the same ilk encouraging my colleagues globally to think on their feet with the coming onslaught of Ai in the professional practice of immigration.
It has never ceased to amaze me how, having applied and proven the Intelligent Content Marketing business model, in the immigration profession over a decade at least – and shared the knowledge and know-how 100% for free throughout all of this time – just how the overwhelming majority of colleagues have simply ignored it.
The business model I cut my teeth on 30 years ago is still used by 99.99% of all immigration practitioners globally today.
Namely, the Industrial Economy professional services business model with smart phones thrown in.
Unreal.
So, when you break down the psychographical elements of an immigration practitioner in respect of innovation in my profession, it’s a case of:
· What do they believe?
· What do they do?
· What do they want?
Believe?
It’s hard to find new clients at scale. There has to be a better way to monetize their expertise. No?
Do?
They rely on word-of-mouth marketing and advertising in all its forms and flounder amongst all the technology noise going on around them (especially those with gray hair). They feel that tech is just running away with them.
Want?
A proven process that works and with it, scale and growth. A proven, risk-free, ideally very low-cost follow-the-arrows formula to adopt and apply.
But unless it comes in the form of a silver bullet, it’s just business as usual.
But now comes along Ai and the game has changed.
Immigration practitioners traditionally have 3 heads of value:
1 – Expert knowledge & know-how
2 – The ability to apply (1) in real life
3 – Accountability for (2)
The Ai machine will usurp (1) leaving only (2) and (3) for monetization. The Industrial Economy business model based on scarcity is dead. The modern immigration practice must focus on (2) and (3) and win the online battle to be found for (1).