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So what DO the Immigration Department make of applicants who too-frequently seek to change their Hong Kong employment visa sponsorship?

QUESTION

I was previously working in Hong Kong for a company for the past 2.5 years and switched jobs 32 days ago.

My previous employer is now offering me a much senior position and really wants me back.

I had been with the company for more than 12 years out of which 2.5 were here in Hong Kong and would love to rejoin.

I have now been with the new employer for only one month and am wondering that if I resign and accept the role at my previous employer will the Hong Kong Immigration Department change my work visa again or will they make a big fuss about it and say NO?

Thank you for your assistance.

ANSWER

I’ll work on the basis or the assumption that when you ceased working for this particular employer some time back, you then made your application to change your employment visa sponsor through to your present employer, and in this regard then the Immigration Department are fully appraised of your exact circumstances insofar as you’re no longer working for your old employer, but you’re clearly working for your new employer and sponsored by them accordingly.

So then, in terms of how the Immigration Department are going to approach this, you’re only going to know once you’ve submitted your application. So, essentially, what you do is rather than resign from your current employer before taking up this new job (with your previous employer), then you need to get the Immigration Department’s permission before you take up that new work with your old employer. So, in making your application to change your sponsorship again, clearly you have to set out all the facts and circumstances that gave rise to the situation that you find yourself in: that you were working for this employer for twelve years previously, that in the wake of your departure a new opportunity has presented itself with that employer on improved employment terms and all the rest of that good stuff.

Essentially laying out that it was your intention, quite dutifully, to leave that employer behind and start your career with this alternate employer, and now you find yourself with this other opportunity which you feel that it would be advantageous for you to uptake; and therefore, could you please have the permission of the Immigration Department to re-join that employer with that new employment, with a new contract, and then see what they make of it. Now, the way the process works is that you file your application before you’ve resigned from your existing employment, and then during the currency of the application, if the immigration department are minded to approve you, they will send you a signal, in so much as, they’ll request a copy of your resignation letter from your present employer, speaking to the final date of your employment with your present employer. 

Subsequently, when you get that missive request from the Immigration Department, if it comes, then you can generally resign and begin to serve out your notice period. And the correspondence that’s generated between you and your current employer will speak to their last date of your employment with your current employer.

And if, as I say, the Immigration Department reminded to approve you, they will then issue you with an approval letter to uptake the new employment with your old employer, once again, from the day after the date that was recorded on the resignation letter that you adduced to the Immigration Department in support of your resignation from your current employer.

So that’s the way that you manage that. Again, essentially, you just have to make your pitch to the Immigration Department and explain, you know, why you’re troubling them with this application to re-join your old employer once again, when really only the course of a month has gone by. So, that’s the kind of the cut and thrust of it – you can certainly make your application, the existing employer needn’t know about your motivations and intentions until the Immigration Department have sent you a signal that they are minded to either approve or refuse your application; so, in that regard, I think you’re on pretty safe ground, all things considered, but I would make the application on the terms that I’ve just essayed for you. I hope you find that useful.

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