Specific Circumstances Visas

Relocating to Hong Kong For Work or Business – The Visa Question (Introduction)

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Musing, Refusals & Appeals, Resource, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / 15 responses

On June 13 I was invited to address the 2013 Monaco Trade Delegation to Hong Kong & China on the question of visas to live and work in Hong Kong. The Delegation was hosted by my good friends at Rosemont Hong Kong and I covered in a total of 50 minutes the whole sweep of employment […]

Interview: Has Hong Kong Ever Been Used as a Kind of Stepping Stone Into Another Immigration Jurisdiction?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Musing, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / 2 responses

On June 6th, 2013 I was interviewed by five law students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong about my experiences practicing immigration here over the last 20 years. We covered a great deal of ground in the 90 minutes we spent together and over the next few weeks I will be posting the interview […]

A Public Thank You to the Hong Kong Immigration Department

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Feature Article, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Musing, Refusals & Appeals, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / 1 response

A few weeks ago we received instructions from a client who was needing to extend a Quality Migrant Admission Scheme visa on the strength of a new business she was in the process of implementing here in Hong Kong (after a few years of working as an employee under the QMAS programme). Still relatively new, […]

Interview: Is the Hong Kong Immigration Department Website Actually Fit For Purpose?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Musing, Refusals & Appeals, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / 16 responses

On June 6th, 2013 I was interviewed by five law students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong about my experiences practicing immigration here over the last 20 years. We covered a great deal of ground in the 90 minutes we spent together and over the next few weeks I will be posting the interview […]

Is It Possible to Cancel a Hong Kong Visa Application and, If So, How Do You Go About Doing It?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Hadley Says…, Investment Visas, Long Stay & PR, Refusals & Appeals, Special Programmes, Visitor Visas / 4 responses

It happens sometimes. For one reason or another, an application for a Hong Kong visa, of any type really, may need to be cancelled mid way through the process. The question is begged, therefore, about how to go about doing this? The answer is quite straightforward. You simply write to the Hong Kong Immigration Department […]

How Can Presently Unemployed Investment Bankers Reorganize Their Careers in Order to Remain in Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in 60 Second Snapshot, Investment Visas, Special Programmes, VG Front Page / 5 responses

These are trying times for investment bankers with the global financial crisis continuing to lead to career uncertainties for these professionals with seemingly no end sight. Many such bankers are here in Hong Kong on employment visas sponsored by their last investment bank employer. If you, as many indeed have, been laid off – what […]

What Type of Visa Do You Think You Need for Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in 60 Second Snapshot, Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Special Programmes / 11 responses

It is important to understand that Hong Kong is quite different, from an immigration perspective, than most other jurisdictions as residence visas are only available to foreign nationals to accommodate their specific reason for wishing to live in Hong Kong. There are no ‘quality of life’ immigration programmes here like there are in countries such […]

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’ […]

IT’S OFFICIAL: The Quality Mainland Migrant Admission Scheme – 77% of All QMAS Visas Go to Chinese Nationals!

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing, Special Programmes, VG Front Page / 6 responses

Last week, just before the end of the year, the Government of the HKSAR put out a flurry of information on the performance of the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme since its inception six years ago. Since 2006 and up to last month, the Hong Kong Immigration Department had received 8,553 QMAS applications and approved 2,392. […]

It Took Me Almost 12 Months to Settle in Hong Kong After My QMAS Approval – When Does the 7 Year Clock Start Ticking for the Right of Abode?

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

The Quality Migrant Admission Scheme provides the successful applicant with a window of time after approval to make arrangements to move to Hong Kong and, after the first year, an extension is only available on the basis you can show that you have ‘settled’ here. It is this act of settlement that holds the key […]

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