QUESTION

Thank you very much for this informative website! I hope you’ll be able to answer my question, I’m not sure if its a common scenario or not.

I was born in Singapore and I lived in Hong Kong from 1994 – 2005 (11 years) and moved when I was nearly 11 because of my father’s job, and it has now been 7 years since I left to go and live in Thailand.

My mother has a Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card (and was working for an airline there) but I do not. I had a dependant visa endorsed in my passport at the time I left with my parents.

This usually wouldn’t be a problem after leaving Hong Kong, however there are two education sponsorship programmes that I would like to apply for in Hong Kong which requires you to have a permanent HKID.

I have gone to the immigration office about three times in the past 7 years as we do go back quite often, and every time we ask an officer, he says “if you are living in Hong Kong, you can apply for permanent residency.”

Is this true?

Seeing as I have already clocked up 11 years in Hong Kong, all I am missing in the application form is the current residency card.

Does this mean that if I go to university in Hong Kong starting August this year, that I could get my residency card, and then with that, apply for my permanent residency?

The way I see it, although I have been away for a considerably long time, but I am coming back, so this would technically be my 11th year total living in Hong Kong (and I have proof of having been there for 7 years ‘ordinarily’ with my school records, etc.)

I hope my question was clear enough and thank you very much in advance!

ANSWER

This is a very interesting question, and it does strike a chord with quite a number of people in Hong Kong who find themselves in your situation. So I’m grateful to you for having raised the question and hopefully I can shed some light on the situation and how your present immigration status in Hong Kong is affected by your life circumstances.

Your mother is a permanent Hong Kong identity card holder and on the basis that you had been born in Hong Kong and your mother had been a permanent identity card holder at that time, then at the point of your birth, your eligibility for a permanent identity card would have been established and effectively in the wake of that there could have been a very good opportunity for you to continue to argue now, many years later that you are a permanent resident of Hong Kong.

However, that’s theoretical and hypothetical in this situation because you weren’t born in Hong Kong, you were born in Singapore; so consequently your eligibility for a permanent identity card wasn’t established at the time of your birthday. And consequently it meant that the immigration status that was available to you when you came back to Hong Kong with your mother was that of a dependent visa.

And as you stated in your question, you held the dependent visa all the way through to the age of eleven, and then effectively, you left Hong Kong. Now the interesting thing is that after you had been in Hong Kong as a dependent visa holder, just after your 7th, possibly your 8th birthday, you could have, or your parents could have, made an application to have your eligibility for a permanent identity card verified, at the age of eight years of age, on the strength that you had been ordinarily resident in Hong Kong with your parents for a minimum of seven, and at that point you would have effectively been in the driving seat for a permanent identity card.

Subsequently, once you got to the age of eleven years, when the identity card is issued to you, and had that been, if that had occurred, in fact, then effectively at the age of eleven, you would have had your identity card issued to you possibly before you left Hong Kong.

And then on the basis that you have been back in Hong Kong on at least one occasion every three years thereafter, your permanent identity card status, your Right of Abode, in fact, would have been maintained. And uh, uh, effectively the question that, uh, uh, you’re asking today would have been answered in the affirmative.

However, unfortunately, because you only held a dependent visa for the first eleven years of your life in Hong Kong, at the time that you left with your parents to go off to Thailand, effectively you abandoned your continuous ordinary residence at that time; and what that means is that when you come back to Hong Kong in the future, you’re going to have to get a student visa.

The first eleven years of your life in Hong Kong effectively would have been lost. So, it’s unfortunate. It’s certainly not going to assist you with the sponsorship programmes that you’re lining up to make an application for. But if it is any kind of consolation, effectively what will happen in terms of your life going forward is you’ll come back to Hong Kong as a student.

One would assume that you’ll spend three years here as a student, you’ll graduate,you’ll be able to join the workforce straight away, if you start working for a Hong Kong employer within six months of you having graduated from university, because the Immigration Arrangements for Non-Local Graduates give you those privileges.

So that’s effectively going to take you to three and a half years. One assumes that a three to a four year working career in Hong Kong will have seen you continuously know an old resident in Hong Kong again for the requisite seven years and then you’ll be able to go on to secure the Right of Abode as an adult in your own right.

But unfortunately, in light of the facts that we’ve got in your question at the moment,  you’re not going to be able to secure the Right of Abode at this point in time.

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

Does My Child Get The Right Of Abode In Hong Kong If She Wasn’t Born There But I Have The Right To Land?

What Can Be Said To Constitute ‘Ordinary Residence’ For The Purposes Of A Hong Kong Right Of Abode Application?

Can You Get The Right Of Abode If You Were A Hong Kong Belonger Many Years Ago?

So, Just What Is The Deal With The Right To Land In Hong Kong Anyway?

Strategy On How To Craft An Argument To Appeal A Refused Hong Kong Right Of Abode Application

QUESTION

I would like to know, if I am able to hold a visa in Hong Kong, then what is the minimum time per year I need to stay in Hong Kong to still qualify as a resident?

I travel a lot, but am looking to set up a business in Hong Kong and would like to become a resident in Hong Kong but am afraid I might be out of the country in large periods of time.

Thanks

ANSWER

Really good question, this one. And I think you might be surprised at the answer in actual fact. As part of an application to secure a residence visa, in order to establish a business in Hong Kong, you need to go through the processes of showing you can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong and get yourself a business investment visa.

And, at the time that you make the application, there’s no need to disclose to the Immigration Department exactly how much time you think you will be spending inside Hong Kong and how much time you think you’ll be spending away from Hong Kong. So the emphasis at the point of application should be on passing the approvability test.

Therefore, assuming you get approved, if you then go on to spend the majority of your time outside of Hong Kong, this doesn’t need to be a preclusion to getting your extensions. As you go through the one, two to three year pattern extension process after your initial approval, so long as you’ve got a really good business reason for being away from Hong Kong, as long as you have been.

Upon any review of your business undertaken as part of the investment visa extension exercise, you can clearly demonstrate to the Immigration Department’s satisfaction that you are indeed making a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong. So, with the investment visa, indeed, for that matter, all residence visas, you must demonstrate that you have a need for the visa, and that is that you intend to be genuinely resident in Hong Kong. And if you can satisfy the Immigration Department about your genuine need, the question of time spent inside and also away from Hong Kong will really only present itself as an issue for you for deep consideration at the seven year mark when you’ve been continuously an ordinary resident in Hong Kong for not less than seven years, when you make your application for permanent residency, seeking to secure the right of abode, because the test for the right of abode says that any absences from Hong Kong in that seven years, either of a longer or short duration, must have been of a merely temporary nature, as evidenced by what you leave behind to return back to at the end of each temporary stay abroad.

So typically, so long as you’ve got a genuine need to be resident and you’ve got a really good excuse or reason for why you’re spending a lot of time away and you’re maintaining the qualifying criteria all throughout the seven years that you, in this case, hold your investment visa, the time spent away shouldn’t represent itself as a problem.

However, come time to secure permanent residency, you will probably have a lot to answer for; and whilst it doesn’t suggest that automatically you might not get permanent residency, the analysis of what you’ve been doing while you spent all that time away from Hong Kong during those seven years will very much come into play.

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

More Stuff You May Find Interesting Or Useful

Are There Any Advantages To Being An Existing Resident Of Hong Kong When You Make An Application For An Investment Visa?

Hong Kong Investment Visa – Cases Which Would Not Get Approved Today But Will Be Approved 9-12 Months From Now

Hong Kong Investment Visa Approved Where The Funding Was Running Out

The Industry Secret Most Hong Kong Immigration Consultants Donlt Want You To Discover

100% Hong Kong Visa Application Success Rate? Take It All With A Pinch Of Salt!

It happens a lot more often than 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, I’m not sure if it’s a common scenario or not.

I was born in Singapore and I lived in Hong Kong from 1994 – 2005 (11 years) and moved when I was nearly 11 because of my father’s job, and it has now been 13 years since I left to go and live in Thailand.

My mother has a Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card (and was working for an airline there) but I do not. I had a dependant visa endorsed in my passport at the time I left with my parents.

This usually wouldn’t be a problem after leaving Hong Kong, however, there are two education sponsorship programs that I would like to apply for in Hong Kong which require you to have a permanent HKID.

I have gone to the immigration office about three times in the past 7 years as we do go back quite often, and every time we ask an officer, he says “if you are living in Hong Kong, you can apply for permanent residency.”

Is this true?

Seeing as I have already clocked up 11 years in Hong Kong, all I am missing in the application form is the current residency card.

Does this mean that if I go to university in Hong Kong starting August this year, that I could get my residency card, and then with that, apply for my permanent residency?

The way I see it, although I have been away for a considerably long time, but I am coming back, so this would technically be my 11th year total living in Hong Kong (and I have proof of having been there for 7 years ‘ordinarily’ with my school records, etc.)

I hope my question was clear enough and thank you very much in advance!

ANSWER

This is a very interesting question and it does strike a chord with quite a number of people in Hong Kong who find themselves in your situation.

So, I’m grateful to you for having raised the question and hopefully, I can shed some light on the situation and how your present Immigration Service in Hong Kong is affected by your life circumstances.

Your mother is a permanent Hong Kong Identity Card holder and on the basis that you had been born in Hong Kong and your mother had been a permanent Identity Card holder at that time then at the point of your birth your eligibility for a permanent Identity Card would have been established and effectively in the wake of that there could have been a very good opportunity for you to continue to argue now, so many years later that you are a permanent resident of Hong Kong.

However, that’s some theoretical and hypothetical in this situation because you weren’t born in Hong Kong, you were born in Singapore. So consequently, your eligibility for permanent Identity Card wasn’t established at the time of your birth and consequently, it meant that the immigration status that was available to you when you came back to Hong Kong with your mother was that at of a dependant Visa and as you’ve stated in your question you held the dependant Visa all the way through to the age of 11 and then effectively you left Hong Kong.

Now the interesting thing is that after you had been in Hong Kong as a dependant Visa holder just after your seventh, possibly your eighth birthday, you could have (or your parents could have) made an application to have your eligibility for a permanent Identity Card verified at the age of 11 years of age on the strength that you had been ordinarily resident in Hong Kong with your parents for a minimum of seven years and at that point you would have effectively been in the driving seat for a permanent Identity Card.

Subsequently, once you got to the age of eleven years when the Identity Card is issued to you and had that been, if that had occurred in fact, then effectively at the age of eleven you would have had your Identity Card issued to you possibly before you left Hong Kong and then on the basis that you have been back in Hong Kong on at least one occasion every three years thereafter your permanent Identity Card state, your right of abode in fact would have been maintained and effectively the question that you’re asking today would have been answered in the affirmative.

However, unfortunately because you only held a dependant visa for the first eleven years of your life in Hong Kong, at the time that you left with your parents to go off to Thailand effectively you abandoned your continuous ordinary residence at that time and what that means is that when you come back to Hong Kong in the future you’re going to have to get a student visa and the first eleven years of your life in Hong Kong effectively would have been lost.

So, it’s unfortunate, it’s certainly not going to assist you with the sponsorship programs that you’re lining up to make an application for but if it is any kind of consolation effectively what will happen in terms of your life going forward is that you’ll come back to Hong Kong as a student.

One would assume that you’ll spend three years here as a student, you’ll graduate. You’ll be able to join the workforce straight away if you start working for a Hong Kong employer within six months of you having graduated from university because the immigration arrangements for non-local graduates give you those privileges.

So that is, that’s effectively  going to take you to three and a half years and one assumes that a three to a four-year working career in Hong Kong we’ll have seen you continuously non-ordinary residence in Hong Kong again for the requisite seven years and then you’ll be able to go on to secure the right of abode as an adult in your own right but unfortunately in light of the facts that we’ve got in your question at the moment, you’re not going to be able to secure the right of abode at this point in time.

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

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 forms and 9 years’ worth of rental contracts for our flat do I need to any any proof for myself and children (18, 16  &  13) .. all 3 of whom are now at boarding school in the UK. 

Does it matter that they have studied away as they are still resident here? 

We all have dependant visas.

Thanks!

ANSWER

When applying for the right of abode in Hong Kong, if the entire family has been ordinarily resident alongside the main applicant, you can prepare the application papers highlighting the main applicant’s continuous ordinary residence for the required minimum of seven years. Family members who have also been ordinarily resident during this period can effectively “piggyback” on the main applicant’s application. By submitting nine years’ worth of tax returns and corresponding documents that demonstrate your residential arrangements in Hong Kong, you can meet the documentation requirements for the family application without needing additional information. Regarding children being educated overseas in boarding schools, their time spent away for educational purposes will not disrupt their continuity of ordinary residence, provided their parents remain ordinarily resident in Hong Kong and the children return home during school holidays. Thus, their education will not hinder their eligibility for permanent residency alongside you and your spouse. I hope you find this helpful!

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

Redundancy – The Process Pitfalls Of An Expiring Hong Kong Employment Visa

Is It Better To Apply For Your Visa Before Or After You Move To Hong Kong?

I’ve Lost My Job. What About My Employment Visa – Will I Get Kicked Out Of Hong Kong?

10 Must Have Resources For A Successful Hong Kong Permanent Residency Application

Will I Still Qualify For The Right Of Abode If I Worked Temporarily In Macau Yet Lived In Hong Kong For The Full 7 Years?

Does being married to a Hong Kong permanent resident whilst living in China impact on continuity of ordinary residence for the purposes of a right of abode application subsequently?

QUESTION

Hi,

Your website is incredibly helpful! However, my situation doesn’t seem to have an answer yet, so here goes!

I’m a UK national and have been working in Hong Kong on a work visa since October 2009.

I have recently resigned from my position but my work visa is valid until February of 2015.

I am going to get married to a HK permanent resident (she was born in Hong Kong) before my work visa expires and apply for a dependent visa for Hong Kong.

My question is, will my 7 years continue through this dependent visa and in 2 years time will I be eligible to apply for my PR?

Separately, there is a good chance my future employer will relocate me to Beijing on a China work visa, but my fiancé and I will frequent Hong Kong since her family is here, and ultimately we plan to permanently return to Hong Kong within the next few years.

Will this disrupt my 7 years?

Thank you in advance for your advice!

ANSWER

At first blush, this question appears to be quite complicated, but in actual fact it’s a very simple scenario to address for immigration purposes. The first question as regards changing your status from sponsored employment through to dependent, and will that have a negative impact on your deemed continuous ordinary residence for the purposes of your eventual Right of Abode application?

A short answer is no, because as long as you’ve had a residence visa or throughout the requisite seven years, irrespective of the type, then that counts towards the immigration sailors as needed to secure the Ride of Abode. Subsequently, the bigger question really is this issue about you leaving Hong Kong to go and work in China?

If you’re going to work in China, surely you’d expect to have a work visa there to be able to do that. But you need to be careful that you don’t inadvertently abandon your continuity of ordinary residence in Hong Kong. Ostensibly, what you need to do while you’re in China is to ensure that any future deployment to China is couched as a second from your primary Hong Kong employment, which is maintained in Hong Kong throughout all that time that you’re in China; and that the temporary second and the language that surrounds that project should clearly state that you will go there, you will work there, but you’re being seconded ex Hong Kong on a temporary basis, and that it’s the full intention of you and your employer to return back to Hong Kong to recommence your formal employment in Hong Kong at the end of that temporary secondment there; if you couch it in those terms, then the reality is that the Immigration Department will allow you to have continuity of ordinary residence because it is in fact just a temporary absence from Hong Kong whilst you’re in China, even though it might be of a long or possibly short duration.

So the test for approval is continuous ordinary residence for a period of not less than seven years, where any absences from Hong Kong in that time have been of a merely temporary nature, as evidenced by what you leave behind to return back to at the end of each temporary stay abroad.

So given that you will be married to a Hong Kong permanent resident, a local girl, and your assignment in China is going to be promulgated, your employment in Hong Kong into China on a temporary basis, even if it does transpire to be a few years that you’re there and you come back to Hong Kong frequently and when you do return to Hong Kong, you will recommence your Hong Kong employment once all over again with your employer that sent you to China in the first place.  If you can couch it in those terms, you should be fine. Okay, I hope you found this useful.

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

Whilst the implementation of Hong Kong immigration policy is essentially very flexible, as an employment visa holder, until you have gone on to receive the right of abode (RoA) or unconditional stay after seven years continuous ordinary residence, your permissions to remain in Hong Kong are governed very tightly. I am grateful to this questioner for providing an opportunity to have a discussion about ‘strategic immigration status management’ through to the point where it is possible to make an application for permanent residency in the HKSAR.

QUESTION

“Thanks for being so helpful, your posts are very useful. I have 2 questions:

 1) If my visa is expiring in 31 April 2013 and the company extends it 15 March 2013 which gets approved (before the original visas expiry date, i.e. approval on 30 March 2013) to extend until April 2015 – what happens if I quit before the original visa’s expiry date (but my extension has already been approved)? Am I allowed to stay in HK until 2015?

 2) If my visa is expiring 31 April 2015, and I decide to quit, can I apply for university courses or a degree course on the employment visa that I am on or do I need to re-apply for a student visa (end date of the course does not surpass the visa expiration date)?

Does this educational period count towards Right of Abode?”

ANSWER

In this question, we’re being asked whether it’s possible to extend your current employment visa, quit your job, then go on to take up studies full time without actually dealing with the question of immigration status. In wake of the change in the rationale for Hong Kong, it’s not commonly appreciated that when you get an employment visa, you get two privileges: you get the privilege to do the particular job that’s underpinning your employment visa in the first place, and you also get the privilege to reside when you stop working for that particular employer that is the party that’s sponsoring your employment visa. Effectively, your privileges to work cease at that point in time, but your privilege to reside continues until your current limit of stay expires or unless the Immigration Department expressly revoke your existing limit of stay and give you a shorter limit of stay, whereupon you’re expected to leave.

Thus, if you have had your privileges to work terminated as a result of leaving your employment, then effectively the question is what is permitted activity other than residing in Hong Kong whilst you’re in possession of that employment visa?  Well, it’s not permitted activity to take up any employment and it’s not permitted activity for you joining a business first without getting the consent of the Immigration Department.

When you possess an employment visa, it is permitted activity joining a part time course of study? It’s not permitted activity whilst you’re in possession of an employment visa to take up a full time course of study. So if your rationale for remaining in Hong Kong in the wake of leaving your job is to take up a full time course of study, you’re going to have to adjust your immigration status from employment through to student, and the limited stay that you’ll get on each occasion will be directly related to your continuing enrolment and your continuing participation in your course of studies. So then, moving on to the second part of the question, effectively, any time that you spend in Hong Kong as a resident will count towards your continuous ordinary residence for the purposes of an eventual Right of Abode approval.

So the test is continuous ordinary residence showing that you have become settled in Hong Kong throughout this time and at the point of making your application, you’ve taken concrete steps to having taken Hong Kong as your only place of permanent residence. Therefore, any time that you spend as a student in Hong Kong, as long as it’s part of a continuous period of ordinary residence that amounts to no less than seven years. Having become settled and taken Hong Kong as your only place of permanent residence, then that time spent as a student will definitely count towards the seven years for the purposes of a permanent residency approval.

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

10 ‘Must Have’ Resources For A Hong Kong Permanent Residency Application

Will Any Time Spent In Hong Kong As A Visitor Count Towards The Magic Seven Years For The Right Of Abode?

Employment Ended? What Visa Options Do You Have To Stay In Hong Kong For Another 2 Years To Get Your Permanent Residency?

Hong Kong Visa Application – From Student To Investment – With A Twist!

Employment Ended? What Visa Options Do You Have To Stay In Hong Kong For Another 2 Years To Get Your Permanent Residency?

Dead simple question this one with a very short answer (for a change!)

What paperwork/ piece of paper, if any, goes in to your passport to recognize that you are a permanent resident of the HKSAR? 

For the last 7 years I’ve had a dependant visa. 

I need to know as I have one page left in my passport. 

And will immigration take my passport away to facilitate me getting permanent residency?

ANSWER

If you’ve lived in Hong Kong continuously for a period of not less than seven years, you can make the application to convert your status from temporary resident to permanent resident. During the currency of your application for permanent residency, the Immigration Department will call to inspect your original passport at the point of them verifying your eligibility that you are in fact a permanent resident. And that’s the only use of the passport that the Immigration Department take whilst your application for permanent residency is ongoing, so they don’t hold it at all; you are in fact able to travel freely or otherwise with your passport whilst the application for PR has been considered and ultimately finalised.

Once the approval of your PR comes in, effectively your passport is now defunct for immigration purposes as regards Hong Kong because your Right of Aboard is reflected in the issue to you of a permanent identity card and that permanent identity card, therefore is your travel document in and out of Hong Kong, and your passport is no longer needed to be presented to an immigration officer at the point of arrival. Therefore, there’s no endorsement in your passport to reflect your PR.

I hope you find this useful.

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

Will You Qualify For The Right Of Abode If It Is Not Your Intention To Live Here Permanently?

How Can I Regain The Right Of Abode In Hong Kong If I Have Been Downgraded To The Right To Land?

How To Apply For PR In Hong Kong Without Any Professional Help – Paperwork, Process, Patience…

Applying For Permanent Residence In Hong Kong – All You Need To Know!

Am I Compelled To Apply For PR In Hong Kong After 7 Years Or Can I Maintain The Status Quo Of My Current Residence Visa?

Question:

Hi there,

I am interested in migrating to Hong Kong, wasn’t sure what is the best route – getting employment take times, and I wonder what might be the alternative. I am going to open a domain company but not sure if that works.

I need some help to explore some of options but I notice your fee structure is based on specific visa type. Since I wasn’t even sure what approach I should take, I am particularly sure to approach this with your company.

Any advice would be appreciated, including the exploration of skilled talent immigration.

Also can you share with me what are the different level means and what is the differentiator of each service level?

Thanks

ANSWER

The problem in providing kind of an answer to this question is that you have, understandably, an operating assumption that Hong Kong as a jurisdiction operates like other immigration jurisdictions do from a sort of a migration stroke quality of life perspective. The reason why quality of life programmes exist in other jurisdictions is because other jurisdictions such as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, US to a degree – they all are seeking to augment their populations through the addition of further long term population through immigration, through a structured immigration programme.

Hong Kong basically doesn’t operate like that. Hong Kong is not a quality of life migration jurisdiction like the others are. And consequently, what it means is that you need to have a rationale for coming to Hong Kong and that rationale will be reflected in the particular visa type that you go after. And our websites are structured in such a way as to reflect the rationale focused nature of Hong Kong immigration, rather than the kind of call to arms for a general population increase through certain types of qualified people. It doesn’t work like that. There always needs to be a rationale.

So, for example, if your rationale to come to Hong Kong is to study, you apply for a student visa. If your rationale is to come to work – an employment visa, to invest in an operating business, a business investment visa as an entrepreneur, joining family, you apply for dependent visa for the purposes of family reunion, if you’re coming for short term visit purposes, then you can potentially get a travel pass. So the instruments of Hong Kong immigration reflect the specific rationale and reasons for why people are coming to Hong Kong. So the Immigration department can control those activities according to policy and that’s how it’s managed here.

So, all I can suggest that you do is have a think about your rationale -what’s best suited to you, then explore the visa type and then make some determinations about how you can sort of craft the circumstances for you to be able to access the immigration programmes in Hong Kong.

It is therefore more a case of what is it that’s really bringing you here and how can you get immigration status to be able to reflect that rationale and how does that immigration status that you get work into long term permanent residency aspirations which require a full seven years of continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong, holding the particular residence visa type that reflects the rationale that’s brought and kept you here throughout the seven years claimed.

And at the end of seven years, you’ll be able to adjust your immigration status to permanent residency, which would then give you the kind of effective migration type outcome that you’re seeking. But, having done it through the auspices of the immigration programme here, which, as I said, is configured from a rationale first perspective.

I hope you found that useful.

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

More Stuff You May Find Interesting Or Useful

My Employment Visa Has Been Refused – What Can I Do Now?

Is It Better To Apply For An Employment Visa Before Or After You Arrive In The HKSAR?

I Want To Live In Hong Kong With My Boyfriend – Is The Working Holiday Visa A Viable Option?

Applying For A Hong Kong Travel Pass – Video Presentation By The Hong Kong Visa Geeza

Can I Start A Business In Hong Kong Yet Live In Shenzhen To Save Costs & Commute Across The Boundary Each Day To Do My Business?

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 my husband and dependent visas for myself and kids; these expire a couple months after we move. 

We still plan to visit Hong Kong reasonably frequently (every 3-4 months) after we leave. 

 Is there any way for us to maintain Hong Kong residence after we move, (i.e. renew and maintain our existing visas)? 

 In case it’s relevant, while we have been living in Hong Kong, almost all of my husband’s work has actually been conducted in mainland China (he travels there all the time) we just live here.

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

The Seven Responsibilities Of A Hong Kong Employment Visa Sponsor

Hong Kong Employment Visa – Teenage High School Graduate Gets Approved

What Are You Really Buying From A Hong Kong Immigration Consultant?

How Are Mainland Applicants For Visas Issued Under The Hong Kong General Employment Policy Treated Differently From Other Foreign Nationals?

How Important Are Word Of Mouth Referrals To The Hong Kong Visa Centre?

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 to pay late fees and penalties.

My partner is due to receive his Right of Abode in July.

Would such court cases affect his Hong Kong PR status application?

ANSWER

Principally, the Immigration Department are looking to see that there is no security objection to a long stay foreign national resident of Hong Kong becoming a permanent resident and securing the Right of Abode in the process. Therefore, if there is a history of serious criminal activity, then you can expect the Immigration Department to look at that from the perspective of a security objection.

However, in the normal course of transacting and doing business in Hong Kong, if you find yourself on the wrong end of perhaps some government fines for non compliance with, say, company law or other licencing requirements, or you found yourself in a bit of hot water with possibly some other civil partner that you’re having some kind of civil dispute with, and that’s working its way through the judicial process.

None of those things would typically amount to a security objection, which would preclude your business partner from securing the rights of abode. So, unless what you are saying relates to something of quite significant weight, all things considered, because the details are not actually provided, my advice would be that it’s probably not going to have any impact on your partner’s permanent residency application whatsoever.

Okay. I hope you found that useful.

VisaGeeza.Ai – 13 Years In The Making

More Stuff You May Find Useful Or Interesting

Time Spent Outside Of Hong Kong With Work – Will It Impact On Your Right Of Abode After 7 Years?

Hong Kong Right Of Abode Application – Consider Your Strategy And Plan Early

Hong Kong Right Of Abode Applications – Arguing Away Missing Periods Of Residence

The Visa Geeza On RTHK Radio Three

Can You Expect The Hong Kong Immigration Department To Be Flexible In A Work Visa Application If You Expect To Qualify For The Right Of Abode A Few Short Weeks Later?