Visa for Hong Kong

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Planning to visit or move to Hong Kong? By visiting Hong Kong, you'd be offered the prospect to explore a buzzing metropolis with various populations and a beautiful ex-pat infrastructure. Here you'd learn all about the kinds of Hong Kong visas and the way to get the proper visa for your visit to Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong expat community relishes on all the kinds of comforts someone working far away from home could invite. The town features a massive range of international schools of all teaching philosophies also as world-class medical standards’ dentists and doctors who are English-speaking. Additionally, another advantage for foreigners in Hong Kong is that there are two official languages in Hong Kong, one being English.

In short, you'd not got to believe visual communication to speak with people and government processes. Though if seen practically some knowledge of Cantonese, the local Chinese dialect, are often useful mostly if you would like to maneuver beyond the boundaries of the ex-pat community.

Nationals of about 160 territories and countries have the permit to go to Hong Kong without a visa, as long as the person is legally eligible. Moreover, this person can stay for a minimum period of seven days to about 180 days maximum counting on the nationality and therefore the permit granted.

So, there are high chances for you to go to Hong Kong without stepping into the lengthy procedures for the visa document. If you're getting to continue a sightseeing trip or to satisfy friends, just determine your country’s eligibility to go to Hong Kong without browsing the hectic Hong Kong visas system.

These people from the Hong Kong visa-free countries would wish to get the acceptable Hong Kong visas just in case they're checking out and adding Hong Kong or are close to starting a business there. Also, the person would need to apply for a visa if the tour is quite the granted visa-free stay length.

Those who are allowed to urge visas are requested to urge them beforehand because it isn't possible to always get them on arrival. And albeit Hong Kong may be a part of China, the entry regulations and therefore the visa document in Hong Kong are extremely different and independent. In short, this suggests that if an individual features a normal China visa, they're not allowed to enter Hong Kong with it or the other way around.

 

The nationalities that are allowed to enter without a visa and stay for a minimum of 90 days are Americans, Europeans, Canadians, and other people from New Zealand. People from the united kingdom can stay for about 180 days without a visa. On the opposite hand, those people from countries like Cambodia, Armenia, Albania, etc need a visa to enter into Hong Kong.

Additionally, people visiting Hong Kong need to have a passport that's valid for a minimum of one month to about six months, which again depends on the nationality. which validity period has got to plan their intended stay in Hong Kong. Also, if you'd wish to travel from Hong Kong to China, you would possibly need to apply for the China visa and can't use Hong Kong visas.

Usually, Hong Kong is sort of open for those that want to only visit the country as a tourist or for conducting business activities for the overseas business that has attending trade fairs, providing training, or visiting clients and prospects.

If you're an expat that's getting to stay in Hong Kong for quite 180 days, you'd be taking over regular employment and would wish a piece visa to remain and add the country. Though it's very tough to urge the visa, having a confirmed offer of employment that's relevant to the tutorial or professional background would assist you to attain the visa easily.

Moreover, the potential employers would even have to convince the local authorities that their position wouldn't be ready to be filled by an area of Hong Kong. equivalent rules are there for an individual changing employment. But if you've opened a corporation there with the assistance of the workplace like ours, you'd not need the drama of all this.

All you would like is to attach with the corporate and obtain your business open while you'll sit in your home country. As soon as it is running, you'll apply for the business visit visa whenever you would like to see the legal things or maybe move to Hong Kong for your business.

As mentioned above, your passport has got to be about six months valid or more from the date of the intended entry. the foremost common Hong Kong visas are:

There are some citizens of some countries that are permitted to go to Hong Kong without the visa for about seven to 180 days, as mentioned above. These countries include the US, Spain, Singapore, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, and therefore the UK. If you would like to understand more about the nationalities that are permitted to enter Hong Kong for visiting without a visa, you'll check it out at www.immd.gov.hk.

There are a couple of sorts of visiting Hong Kong visas, and that they are:

  • Pre-arrival Registration for Taiwan Residents
  • APEC Business Travel Card
  • HKSAR Travel Pass
  • Working Holiday Visa
  • Visit or Transit Visa

In case you would like a visa, you'd got to apply for it at the Chinese Embassy or consulate in your country. The method of the appliance might take up to 4 weeks, though the quantity of your time depends on the government office. there's an opportunity where you'll request for the Hong Kong visas early arrival, but it's better to go away to try to do their work. Also, note that when you've moved to Hong Kong on a visitor’s visa, there's no chance for you to vary it for a piece visa without leaving then re-entering the country again, regardless of your nationality.

For a piece visa, which is additionally called an employment visa, it's vital to possess employment within the company that might be sponsoring you since they're willing to use you. Moreover, it's this company that might perform the appliance procedure for your visa.

Furthermore, the sponsoring company has got to convince the embassy and therefore the government that you simply hold the essential and necessary skills for the work in Hong Kong. Also, they might get to prove the rationale of why a foreigner is required, and an area cannot fill this space. For the Hong Kong work visas, the immigrant department would check the applicant’s job experience, education, and therefore the other factors also.

The Hong Kong visas application for work isn't submitted by you, but by your future employer. they might even get to provide the embassy with the confirmed offer of employment, and therefore the evidence that the compensation package includes medical provisions, accommodation, and salary, alongside the opposite advantages that are appropriate for the Hong Kong professionals.

After the work visa document in Hong Kong has been submitted, it might take about 4 to six weeks for the visa to be processed. Then the prepared entry visa is provided to the employer who would then need to send it to you. As soon as you get your visa and even move to Hong Kong, you'll apply for the residency Hong Kong visas for your children and spouse also.

Another thing about the work Hong Kong visas is that they're only granted for the duration of your contract of employment, and typically for quite two years. If the corporate wants to stay with you for an extended deadline in their company, they might need to apply for the renewal, which may be a quite straightforward process.

The Hong Kong visas that you simply get for employment aren't transferable from one company to another. Just in case you've resigned or are fired, you'd have to apply for an additional visa and start the method everywhere again. Moreover, the sponsoring employer is required to let the Immigration Department realize it once you leave. The intra-company transfers are possible for those employees who have worked for over 12 months in any overseas office.

In case you would like to try some extra computer of the scope of the visa you bought, you'd have to apply for the permission for this extra employment. For this, you'd need to submit the appliance form and therefore the visa document within the Hong Kong Immigration Department alongside your passport, ID card, a letter from your current work visa sponsor permitting you to require up the work, and an outline of the work contract you've got.

Under the work visa category, there are many sorts of Hong Kong visas that fall. They are:

  • Imported Workers Visa
  • Entry Visa for brand spanking new Helper
  • Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES) Visa
  • Investment (to establish/take part business) Visa
  • Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (IANG) Visa
  • Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP) Visa
  • General Employment (GEP) Visa
  • Employment/investment visa

The investment visas are issued to self-employed people in Hong Kong. If an individual wants to use for the investment visa, then there would be a requirement to finish a big amount of paper that might give the small print of your the roles it'll create, capital and aspects of the activity, the proposed business activities, professional experience, and even your educational background. If you're getting to move, you'll check it out on your own at the Immigration Department’s website www.immd.gov.hk.

For the dependent visa document in Hong Kong, you'd have to give the birth certificates and passports of your family also because of the marriage certificate, if applicable. you'd also have to offer the proof to the Immigration Department that you simply would be ready to support your family which they need no criminal records in the least. Also, the dependent spouses of the foreign workers that have a piece visa are allowed to require up employment.

The student visas are taken care of an equivalent because the work Hong Kong visas are handled. In short, for getting a student visa, your sponsoring institution would wish to use the visa for you.

The permanent residence status could be granted to those people that are living in Hong Kong continuously for seven years without leaving the country. Aside from this, many additional requirements need to be fulfilled. Also, if you've got a PR for Hong Kong, you'll sleep in Hong Kong and even work there without a visa. Just in case you allow the country for quite 3 years continuously, you'd lose PR status.

There are three other additional Hong Kong visas and that they are:

  • Working Holiday Scheme: Only a couple of nationals can get this scheme, and it's supported by a quota system. This suggests that a limited number of Hong Kong visas are granted during a year. Moreover, this visa features a validity of about 12 months and an individual can get this visa once in their lifetime.
  • Training Visa: this is often valid for just a month, and it is for those people that cannot get an equivalent sort of training in their own country.
  • Domestic Help Visa: The domestic visas are valid for an about 2-year domestic work contract, and therefore the domestic worker stays within the employer’s house with them. Moreover, these people cannot become permanent residents.

Now that you simply have understood the Hong Kong visa system and need to go to Hong Kong still, you would like to pick the proper sort of visa that you simply would need to apply for. And if you took the assistance of the workplace like ours to start out business there and now you would like to travel there for just a couple of days and obtain some business work done, you recognize that you simply need the business travelers visa.

Moreover, unlike the business trip to China, business travelers get the visa document in Hong Kong very easily. And as mentioned above, albeit the regular short trips to Hong Kong for several don’t need any visa, but the traveler might need one.

A point to notice here is that if you're getting to visit China within the trip, you'd need to apply for a separate visa.

To begin with, confirm your passport is valid and isn’t getting to expire anytime soon (at least valid for quite six months.) For applying for the visa document in Hong Kong, you would like to go to the immigration department’s website. On the location, you'd get the visa forms and may download them directly. All you'd need maybe a passport size photo and therefore the supporting business documents.

The visa applications need to be submitted face to face, as mailed applications aren't accepted. Also, as soon as you've gathered all the required papers, submit them to the closest Chinese Consulate for processing. you'll also ask a licensed agent to assist you to get this done if you're unable to try to do it yourself.

The documents that you simply would need to submit for the Hong Kong visas are:

  • An appropriately completed Visa Application Form;
  • Transportation arrangement copy (e.g. flight itinerary);
  • Proof of the aim of the visit to Hong Kong, such as:
    – Residence on dependant basis – Hong Kong ID card of the family, relationship certificate, etc;
    – Employment – Work experience proof, education background, report, and labor agreement, etc.;
    – Study – Admission notice, sponsor letter, etc.;
    – Business – a call for participation letter issued by the applicant’s employing company or by an area company to prove his stay in HK;
    – Transit – Photocopy of the proposed visit to subsequent destination after visiting HK, itinerary, etc.;
    – Family visit – Photocopy of proof of relationship with the person or local sponsor in HK;
    – Leisure – package holiday receipt, itinerary, etc.
  • A photocopy of the proof of monetary status (e.g., employment certificate, savings accounts passbooks, statement, tax payment receipts, etc.);
  • A recent photograph of the applicant attached on the appliance form;
  • A photocopy of the travel document of the applicant.

Any documents that require to be submitted by the sponsor, if any, are:

  • If the sponsor is an individual:
    – A photocopy of the travel document of the sponsor (for a non-permanent resident of Hong Kong only);
    – A photocopy of the sponsor’s HK ID card;
    – A sponsor form.
  • If the sponsor may be a company:
    – A photocopy of the business registration certificate;
    – A sponsor application form;.

As mentioned above, travelers can apply for the Hong Kong visas from any nearby Chinese embassy or consulate. Aside from that, you'll also submit the visa application to the HKSAR Immigration Department either by the local sponsor or the post.

Also, if you would like the time interval to be faster, you'll send the appliance forms and therefore the supporting visa document in Hong Kong via fax within the first instance. However, you'd even have to send the first copy of the duly completed form also because the photographs required immediately to the HKSAR Immigration Department by air mail then.

The entry permit or the visa would tend to you simply on the receipt of an ingenious and properly completed visa form. So, confirm you've followed the obligations then have submitted the forms. Also, you'll take help from the travel professionals to urge the work done better and on time.

Give about 4 to six weeks for the appliance to be processed after you've submitted the visa document in Hong Kong to the Immigration Department. Moreover, there's no express service available, and hence, it's better to be prepared for this before time.

Furthermore, if the Hong Kong visas application is directly handled by the Commissioner Office in Macau, or the Beijing Office of HKSAR, or a foreign Chinese embassy/consulate, it might usually take four business working days for the visa to be processed.

For emergency cases, there's the express service (third-day pickup) and therefore the rush service (second-day pickup) available with these government offices. But you'd need to pay extra fees for the method to be expedited.

f an individual has been living in Hong Kong for about seven years, that person can become a permanent resident of Hong Kong with the assistance of their visa document. There are many perks that you simply get for becoming a permanent resident that has the social benefits that locals have. These benefits are a priority publicly schools, assistance payments, and housing projects.

To be eligible for permanent residency in Hong Kong, foreign nationals are required to stay in Hong Kong continuously for seven years. And if someone traveled for a month out of Hong Kong, they might need to stay for about seven years and one month to hide it up. Also, the permanent residents don't need to hand over their other passports or citizenship for this.
In short, if you've been living in Hong Kong for an extended time and intend to remain further, it's good to urge a Hong Kong Permanent card issued by HK’s immigration department rather than renewing the visa document in Hong Kong.

You would have the rights of abode in HK, which is the same as positive identification, just that you simply aren't a national there. Moreover, you'll stay there until and unless you depart Hong Kong for an additional place of residence and stay within the new location, outside Hong Kong for 36 months.

To get this status, you would like to be someone who isn't Chinese and will have entered Hong Kong with a legitimate visa, travel document, and passport. Moreover, you ought to have resided in Hong Kong for about seven years continuously, making Hong Kong your home of residence.

The seven-year period of living in Hong Kong has got to be continuous and has got to include the time where you were living in Hong Kong only. Moreover, you are not going to be literally present in Hong Kong for the whole seven years, but you would like to be an ‘ordinarily resident’ there during that point. Ordinary residence means where you reside there and have temporary leaves for maybe a business visit, or a vacation.

Also, there isn’t any decided acceptable length of your time for staying out of the country, but on the appliance form for the cardboard, you'd be obligated to state the rationale, whereabouts and period if you weren't there in Hong Kong for a few time quite six months. And this too, during the time of ordinary residence for you.

China doesn't recognize the twin citizenship idea, then it's impossible to be a citizen of Hong Kong without undergoing naturalization and becoming a Chinese citizen entirely. This includes abandoning your existing nationality within the process.

The application is freed from charge for applying for the PR status in Hong Kong. And if you've processed all the items and have paid the fees, it takes the Immigration Department in Hong Kong about six weeks to process the document. As soon as it has been processed, you'd tend to the document that confirms your rights of abode in HK. But this document isn't the one that you simply need, you'd need to use this document to urge the cardboard, which might take another fortnight to be processed.

  • Copy of the travel documents to point out your entry into Hong Kong, which incorporates all of your passports from the last seven years. alongside this, you've got to share the present condition of stay in Hong Kong just like the employment agreement, investment documents, visa, etc
  • Copy of the documents that show that you simply were endless ordinary residents in Hong Kong from the last seven years till the date of the appliance. The documents during this can include the tax receipts, bank statements, official receipts, proof of employment, and faculty documents
  • Copy of existing Hong Kong card (if any)
  • Declaration of getting taken to Hong Kong because of the only place of permanent residence
  • Application for verification of eligibility for the permanent card (supplementary information form)
  • Application for verification of eligibility for a permanent card

The following are the ways by how you'll submit the visa document in Hong Kong for the permanent residency in Hong Kong:

  • You can apply the appliance online by scanning all of your documents and upload to the govt office link.
  • You can also email the appliance documents to the Immigration Department. For this, you would like to finish the shape online, print it out and check on each page.

The next process after you've got submitted the appliance are:

  • Once the applications are submitted to them, the department would verify the documents, and that they may ask you to fill out some additional forms also.
  • In case you're approved for the proper of abode, you'd be requested to bring the first copies of a number of the documents to be verified. Though some people take this process because of the interview process, it technically isn't.
  • As soon because the original documents are verified, you'd tend the acceptable status during a letter format. Then, you'll take the letter and your passport to urge the Hong Kong Permanent card at the Registration of Persons Office.
  • They would issue a paper version of the Hong Kong permanent card for temporary use until you get the open-end credit sent to you, which takes around a fortnight

With all the knowledge on the Hong Kong visas as mentioned above, hopefully, the method is clearer on the visa and documents you would like. If you've just opened a corporation in Hong Kong and are going for a business deed there, you would like the business travelers’ visa. And if you've not yet initiated your business plan unsure of the visa process, start it now with the assistance of Future Perfact Global to enjoy the advantages Hong Kong has got to offer.