Telling It Like It Is

What About Your Hong Kong Employment Visa If You’re Thinking of Changing Jobs?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says… / 1 response

It happens all the time. You get an employment visa to work in Hong Kong for one employer – then your circumstances change and you want to take up a position with another. The question is – what about your visa? Is it OK just to swap jobs without doing anything down at Immigration Tower? […]

Why Don’t Immigration Consultants Typically Help Aspiring Employees Find Jobs in Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says… / 4 responses

Given that some countries, like Australia, organise their immigration policy to address skills gaps in their economies with specific temporary visa types, you might expect that Hong Kong would have a thriving job finding + visa service industry. We do, after all, issue more than 17,000 new employment visa approvals each year under the General […]

How Can Mainlanders Establish Businesses in Hong Kong Under the General Employment Policy?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Hadley Says…, Investment Visas / 2 responses

Under current immigration policy, Chinese Nationals seeking to come to Hong Kong to establish businesses can do so by way of the Admission of Mainland Talents & Professional Scheme. On the other hand, if they meet certain qualification criteria, such Chinese nationals can utilize the provisions of the General Employment Policy – which is the […]

What to Do if You Find Yourself in the Hong Kong Visa ‘Twilight Zone’

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Hadley Says…, Investment Visas, Special Programmes / 4 responses

Sometimes, Hong Kong residents find themselves changing employers or swapping from a sponsored employment visa to a business investment visa, when their current limit of stay expires and they find themselves ‘without a visa’ whilst the Hong Kong ID are working on their applications. In this instance, so long as you have an ‘active application’ […]

How Can a Foreign National Permanent Resident of Hong Kong Get a HKSAR Passport?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Hadley Says…, Long Stay & PR / 45 responses

The HKSAR passport is an excellent travel document affording visa free privileges to travel to and visit some 150 countries worldwide. If you are a foreign national permanent resident of Hong Kong you can consider, if you so desire, applying for a HKSAR passport, usually if your present country of origin does not offer you […]

I Will Only Be Working in Hong Kong For 6 Weeks – Should I Bother Getting an Employment Visa?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says… / 3 responses

Hong Kong immigration law is very clear about the need for foreign nationals to secure permission to work in Hong Kong. If you intend to come here to take up employment, paid or unpaid, for long or short duration, for a local or an overseas employer, you need to secure the consent of the Director […]

What Happens if You Overstay Your Hong Kong Visa Limit of Stay?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Hadley Says…, Investment Visas, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / 127 responses

The Immigration Department are very strict about people who overstay their visa in Hong Kong. If you are a visitor here and find yourself a day or 2 accidently overstaying, and have a good reason for this oversight, you may very well be able to sort it out at the airport as you depart. However, […]

What Do Both Hong Kong Employment & Investment Visa Applications Share In Common?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Hadley Says…, Investment Visas / 15 responses

The approvability tests for both employment visas and investment visas, whilst fundamentally different, call for an examination of the applicant’s special skills, knowledge and experience which can be said to be of value to Hong Kong. In the case of an employment visa, the focus is squarely on the personal profile of the applicant, while in […]

Why Do the Immigration Department Prefer a Limited Liability Company to Underpin a Hong Kong Investment Visa Application?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Hadley Says…, Investment Visas / 4 responses

Conceptually, it is possible to promote an application for a Hong Kong investment visa if you have entered into either a partnership at will or a sole proprietorship business in the HKSAR. But what the Hong Kong Immigration Department make of this is arguably not going to do your case any favours! You see, the […]

The Reality Behind the Hong Kong Immigration Department’s “4 Weeks” Visa Application Consideration Time Frame

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Hadley Says…, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / 78 responses

When you make most any type of Hong Kong visa or immigration application, you will find yourself in the Hong Kong ID’s infamous 4 Weeks Zone. You see, the Immigration Department cite that they need 4 weeks to finalise an application once they have received from you all of the documents they need to  decide […]