Browse Our Most Recent Content (& Beyond)

How can you extend your Hong Kong work visa if your passport  has only a very limited amount of time remaining on it before it expires? QUESTION Hello, My passport is currently being renewed but my Hong Kong work visa runs out very soon.  However I cannot start the visa extension application process without a new […] Keep Reading...>

July 9th, 2025

So, what are the immigration implications of getting married and then having children in Hong Kong if you are a temporary resident presently holding an employment visa? QUESTION Hi, Can you please help with a few questions? 1. I am getting married next month and would like to cancel my employment visa through my employer, […] Keep Reading...>

July 8th, 2025

Employment law and immigration law are often overlapping but must be dealt with separately…this post talks about what can be done if someone’s employment contract ends on the same day as their Hong Kong work visa, but they need to stay in Hong Kong for a while longer to sort out their affairs. What can […] Keep Reading...>

July 3rd, 2025

This article tries to clarify the impact of a criminal record on your application for a Hong Kong residence visa Used to be no – but now the game has completely changed. Criminal records now must be disclosed across all visa types. Every now and again the question of criminal convictions and the impact they […] Keep Reading...>

July 2nd, 2025

This question mainly relates to business rather than immigration law but is still an important question nonetheless… QUESTION Hello I have a Hong Kong  dependant visa that gives me the right to work in Hong Kong. I have been offered a Regional Asia role based out of Hong Kong by a Canadian company. This company is […] Keep Reading...>

June 30th, 2025

Remain in Hong Kong under an Employment Visa sponsored by an ex-Employer? Unusual set of facts in this case and a question never posed to me in this fashion previously… QUESTION I have been in Hong Kong since 2011 under an employment visa but have recently quit my job. The last time my visa was […] Keep Reading...>

June 26th, 2025

How important is sponsor-profitability, especially for start up businesses less than 12 months old? QUESTION I have been recruited by a newly established company (12 months old as of this week). They have never hired a foreigner and have tasked me with completing the visa forms, both employee and employer versions. The Employer-side application requires […] Keep Reading...>

June 25th, 2025

Will what has been done before impact on a Hong Kong Prolonged Visitor Visa out of policy application now? QUESTION I have a general question regarding conditions of stay for a Hong Kong prolonged visitor visa. On the Hong Kong Immigration website it says: “Subject to the following conditions of stay: (a) he shall not take any […] Keep Reading...>

June 24th, 2025

In this post, I talk about  the Hong Kong unconditional stay and when it might be useful to you. Hong Kong unconditional stay plays a lesser yet still important role in immigration status to acquire in the HKSAR today… On March 21, 2014 I gave a presentation at the Chinese Club entitled Business Immigration to Hong Kong – A […] Keep Reading...>

June 23rd, 2025

It happens a lot more often that you might imagine. You’d think that the many early years in Hong Kong ought to count towards your right of abode but all too often disappointment is in the offing… QUESTION Thank you very much for this informative website! I hope you’ll be able to answer my question, […] Keep Reading...>

June 17th, 2025

Business visit to Hong Kong? With Hong Kong having such a liberal visa-upon-arrival regime (with more than 160 nationalities being granted permission to visit for between 7 and 180 days – depending on which passport you carry), it is understandable that there is confusion as to what is permitted activity if you are a ‘business […] Keep Reading...>

June 16th, 2025

What’s the Best Hong Kong Visa Option for a Recently Graduated British National?   QUESTION Hi Stephen, From  May through November 2013 I was employed in a well known and large company in Hong Kong under the training visa for a period of 6 months. During the end of this tenure the company decided to […] Keep Reading...>

May 27th, 2025

The Hong Kong Immigration Department are not especially receptive to what can appear to be family reunion via the back door… Can you use the Foreign Domestic Helper visa to employ your mother in Hong Kong? QUESTION Hello, My wife and I are on work visas in Hong Kong and are expecting a baby in […] Keep Reading...>

May 26th, 2025

Is the Right of Abode in Hong Kong passed along to the spouse of a permanent resident such that is claimable after the death of your PR holding husband..? First Published November 20 2013 – Still of Interest Today QUESTION This query is for  my cousin who is an adult. She was born in Pakistan and […] Keep Reading...>

May 19th, 2025

To what extend the salary can be replaced with performance-based equity compensation in case of a Hong Kong employment visa? No one has asked me this type of question about compensation for employees for about 17 years now so I’m grateful to the questioner for raising it as she did. QUESTION I have successfully registered […] Keep Reading...>

May 15th, 2025

Hong Kong is a small place with borders on our doorstep so how much time do you need to be physically in Hong Kong to retain your Hong Kong investment visa? QUESTION I would like to know, if I am able to hold a visa in Hong Kong, then what is the minimum time per […] Keep Reading...>

May 14th, 2025

Life in Hong Kong throws up many new opportunities and this question seeks to understand the implications for 7 years continuous residency in respect of an eventual right of abode application where an overall switch over in life plans sees a lady intending to relinquish her employment visa for a student or dependant visa … […] Keep Reading...>

May 12th, 2025

Sometimes, the sun and the moon align beautifully on a set of circumstances to allow an unmarried couple to spend time together in Hong Kong when ordinarily visa circumstances conspire against them. Not on this occasion, however! QUESTION “Hi there, I have just recently returned from Hong Kong to Canada where I am a citizen. […] Keep Reading...>

May 7th, 2025

The right to land in Hong Kong impacts quite a number of people here but does not figure much in the general immigration scheme as it is not a status that you can apply for per se, nor is it an immigration status that you can acquire by descent. The right to land in Hong […] Keep Reading...>

May 6th, 2025

So, just what immigration options for parents accrue to a foreign national holding a Hong Kong permanent identity card? QUESTION Hi there!  A foreign national became a permanent resident after many years study and work in Hong Kong. Now he wants to sponsor his parents holding Canadian passports to become a P.R. In Hong Kong […] Keep Reading...>

May 5th, 2025

This is joining in a side business albeit in another name…and a solution for certain types of Hong Kong Employment Visa holders thinking about freelancing in Hong Kong QUESTION Info -NZ Passport holder -Working in Hong Kong for three years with an employer. Hello I would like to know how I would go about starting a business […] Keep Reading...>

May 2nd, 2025

What’s the differentiating line between a Hong Kong investment visa and an employment visa when investing in the company that is seeking to sponsor-employ you? QUESTION I’m from Australia and have been living and working, as a language teacher, in Hong Kong since  December 2014. I am currently starting up a business with a partner. […] Keep Reading...>

April 30th, 2025

Are family members who are accompanying a main applicant for the right of abode in Hong Kong treated in any particular way by the Hong Kong Immigration Department? QUESTION Hi When applying for the right of abode in Hong Kong for the whole family .. if I put in 9 years worth of my husband’s tax […] Keep Reading...>

April 29th, 2025

This is the question most often asked of my profession really… QUESTION Hello, I was a sponsored by my uncle’s company for 2 years then we had an argument and I left. Now I’m holding a visitor visa. For 6 months I’ve sent my resume to more employers than I can count but when it […] Keep Reading...>

April 28th, 2025

Do the Hong Kong Immigration Department expect every foreign national employee of Hong Kong registered companies to have employment visas even if they have never worked (or never will work) in the HKSAR? QUESTION Is there any problem with a Hong Kong registered company employing someone currently resident in Malaysia for a role supporting one […] Keep Reading...>

April 16th, 2025

Objection to an application for a Hong Kong investment visa? Revenge is a dish best eaten cold, as they say. So, can an application for a Hong Kong investment visa be negatively impacted by the fact of a debt outstanding to a disgruntled creditor – or can it at least be used as a point […] Keep Reading...>

April 15th, 2025

What will the Hong Kong Immigration Department make of an application for a second partner to join in an existing business and secure a business investment visa (or) Hong Kong investment visa for an unprofitable company – easy or hard? QUESTION My business partner is moving to Hong Kong soon. Until this point, we had […] Keep Reading...>

April 14th, 2025

The question of permanent residency in Hong Kong is one of the most complex areas of immigration practice and this question is helpful in that it speaks to the situation of ethnically Chinese foreign nationals with Hong Kong parentage. QUESTION “I am a mother of three children. I hold a Permanent Hong Kong Identity card […] Keep Reading...>

April 10th, 2025

If you hold a Hong Kong employment visa, bringing elderly parents to join you in Hong Kong is an area of immigration practice that is fraught with difficulty – as well as uncertainty. Dependant visas are, as a matter of policy, not available for non permanent residents yet it’s a scenario that presents itself all […] Keep Reading...>

April 9th, 2025

Can any old entity successfully sponsor an employment visa extension under the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates? What qualifies a Hong Kong employer as a suitable and credible sponsor? QUESTION I am currently in Hong Kong on IANG Visa. My company would need to help me to sponsor the IANG visa once my limit of […] Keep Reading...>

April 8th, 2025

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. This segment speaks to the proverbial issue of having started your Hong Kong business before you have received the permission of the Hong Kong Immigration Department […] Keep Reading...>

April 7th, 2025

This situation occurs quite a lot especially for those employees who were originally summer hires and are on back to back employment contracts matching the validity of their limits of stay. QUESTION I am a Canadian currently employed in Hong Kong and have a work visa. If I plan to be absent on leave in […] Keep Reading...>

April 4th, 2025

I always stifle a chuckle when I read on the websites of professional service providers offering a Hong Kong visa and immigration product that there is a need for a ‘detailed business plan’ in each and every Hong Kong investment visa application. It’s simply not true. Certainly, every applicant for an investment visa needs to […] Keep Reading...>

April 3rd, 2025

If you have an employment visa and have stopped working for your sponsoring employer, no matter what the reason, you will not have to leave Hong Kong straight away. The HKID provide you with enough time to make arrangements to find an alternate employer or, if you prefer, to lay the groundwork to start your […] Keep Reading...>

April 2nd, 2025

The Business Investment Visa in Hong Kong is different from the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme. The former requires an applicant to establish or join in a Hong Kong business actively, while the latter is just a matter of passively investing in the HKSAR. The Capital Investment Entrant Scheme requires at least ten million Hong Kong […] Keep Reading...>

April 1st, 2025

The rule for dependant visas in Hong Kong is very simple and easy to understand. In order to qualify, the family members must be either the legal spouse or unmarried children under the age of 18. Where the principal applicant is moving to Hong Kong for work or investment, the family members simply follow in […] Keep Reading...>

March 31st, 2025

Even if your business is relatively small, it is not totally impossible for you to serve as an immigration sponsor for a foreign national staff who you might wish to take up employment for you here in the HKSAR. In these circumstances, not only must the visa applicant him or herself pass the approvability test […] Keep Reading...>

March 27th, 2025

You know how it is… you arrive in Hong Kong for a year of fun and adventure and then you want to stay… This article deals with the transfer from a Hong Kong Working Holiday Visa to a full Employment Visa. QUESTION Hi there! I’m an Australian citizen in Hong Kong, working under a working holiday visa […] Keep Reading...>

March 26th, 2025

So, how does your prior immigration record in Hong Kong impact on future visa applications? Do the Hong Kong Immigration Department cross-refer previous applications for a visa to current application for a visa? QUESTION Hello! I have a question regarding to my working visa. Previously I have been working in Hong Kong in the skin […] Keep Reading...>

March 25th, 2025

How is an application for Hong Kong PR (permanent residency or the right of abode) impacted as a result of non-criminal litigation and Court sanctions? QUESTION My partner and I run a company (LTD) in Hong Kong. We’ve been a bit behind on our bills and most likely the company will be taken to court […] Keep Reading...>

March 24th, 2025

Applying for a Hong Kong Employment Visa? You’ve been offered a job in Hong Kong and you need an employment visa. But your new employer has no experience about the process, so what do you need to tell them? 1. Firstly, there’s the approvability test – namely – you need to possess special skills, knowledge […] Keep Reading...>

March 21st, 2025

There really is no such thing as visa self-sponsorship if you are an entrepreneur seeking permissions to join in your own business in Hong Kong. You either work for an independent third party employer, or you are working for yourself (or possibly in partnership with one or 2 others). Let’s assume you make an application […] Keep Reading...>

March 20th, 2025

Can you live in China yet remain a HK resident with a valid Hong Kong employment visa? QUESTION We are a married couple with children and have lived in Hong Kong for 3.5 years.  We are moving to Shanghai soon (my husband’s employer is moving us).    We currently have a Hong Kong employment visa for […] Keep Reading...>

March 18th, 2025

Caught Working in Hong Kong Without an Employment Visa? If you’re working in Hong Kong  (paid, unpaid or temporarily transferred in) but do not have an employment visa sponsored by your current employer you are breaking the law and could be subject to 3 years imprisonment and/or up to a HKD350,000 fine. The law is very […] Keep Reading...>

March 17th, 2025

Hong Kong Immigration Department Increase Service User Fees New Visa Fee Structure for Visa Applications Effective from 26 February 2025 (TODAY) Starting from 11 a.m. on 26 February 2025 (the “commencement time”), applicants submitting an application under any of the visa types listed below, will be required to pay an application fee and a visa […] Keep Reading...>

February 26th, 2025

This post deals with the available visa options after being convicted and removed from Hong Kong Life in Hong Kong can throw up many challenges, none too much greater than the following: QUESTION Hello, and thank you for the opportunity to ask my question! I have questions, but I will frame my situation first. In […] Keep Reading...>

February 18th, 2025

This post explains how strategic advance planning can rescue a troubled Right of Abode application and preserve years of continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong First Published On December 9, 2013, still of interest today It happens a lot more often that you might imagine – inadvertent loss of ‘ordinary residence‘ setting back your application for […] Keep Reading...>

February 17th, 2025

It happens occasionally that cancelling a Hong Kong visa application might become a necessary course of action. This post helps you undrstand the process and implications of cancelling a Hong Kong visa application. For various reasons, an application for a Hong Kong visa, whether it be for tourism, business, employment, or any other type, may have to […] Keep Reading...>

February 10th, 2025

Does a simple trip to ‘city hall’ solve all your Hong Kong dependant visa problems? QUESTION  OF  THE  WEEK I am American. I have just accepted a role in Hong Kong. My employer is about to begin my visa paperwork to sponsor me for an employment visa. However, my girlfriend is Australian and I want […] Keep Reading...>

February 5th, 2025

Many foreign nationals holding Hong Kong employment visas labour under the misapprehension that their employer somehow controls their immigration destiny by virtue of the fact that they sponsor their residence in Hong Kong. Nothing could be further from the truth! This is a common misconception amongst foreign workers, especially if they find themselves in some […] Keep Reading...>

January 23rd, 2025

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