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HONG KONG VISAS AND WORK
PERMITS
Who Requires an Entry Visa?
Every person who wishes to enter Hong Kong for employment,
investment, education, training or residence is required to
obtain an entry visa before coming to Hong Kong unless he
or she:
1. is a Hong Kong permanent resident with a Hong Kong Permanent
Identity Card;
2. has the right of abode in Hong Kong; or
3. has the right of unconditional stay in Hong Kong.
Categories of Entry Visas
The categories of entry visa are:
1. an employment visa permits employment in Hong Kong with
a Hong Kong incorporated company, the Hong Kong branch of
a foreign company, an individual or a partnership;
2. an investment visa permits investment in a Hong Kong incorporated
company, the Hong Kong branch of a foreign company, a sole
proprietorship or a partnership;
3. an education visa permits study in Hong Kong at an institution
approved by the Hong Kong Immigration Department;
4. a training visa permits entry to Hong Kong for the purpose
of training; and
5. a residency visa permits residence in Hong Kong and is
usually granted to dependents of people coming to Hong Kong
for employment, investment, education or training.
Sponsorship
Every applicant for an entry visa, irrespective of the category
of visa, needs to have a sponsor. In the case of an application
for an employment visa, the Immigration Department usually
insists that the employer act as the sponsor where the employer
is a company. Otherwise, the sponsor may be an individual
in which case the sponsor must have been a Hong Kong resident
for at least three years.
The sponsor is required to certify that the applicant:
1. is a suitable person to be allowed into Hong Kong for the
purpose stated;
2. will abide by the laws of Hong Kong; and
3. will leave Hong Kong on the expiration of the stay granted
by the Immigration Department.
The sponsor must also undertake to assume responsibility for
the applicant’s repatriation to his or her original
country of residency if, at the expiration of the stay granted
by the Immigration Department, the applicant fails to leave
Hong Kong. In addition, the sponsor must undertake to inform
the Immigration Department of any change in the conditions
of the applicant’s stay in Hong Kong (e.g. cessation
of the applicant’s employment with the sponsor in Hong
Kong).
Applications should be made through the sponsor before the
applicant’s arrival in Hong Kong.
Application after Arrival in Hong Kong
An application for an employment visa may be made after the
applicant has arrived in Hong Kong. These applications are
known as “change of status applications” because
the applicant is applying for a change of status from visitor
to employee.
The documentation and information required in connection with
the making of a change of status application is the same as
that required for an employment visa application except that
different Immigration Department forms need to be completed.
With change of status applications, the Immigration Department
sometimes requires a satisfactory explanation as to why an
employment visa was not applied for before the applicant’s
arrival in Hong Kong.
It is important to note that a change of status applicant
may not work in Hong Kong until an employment visa is obtained.
Policies Regarding Employment Visa
Under the existing immigration policy, a person seeking to
enter Hong Kong for employment should possess a special skill,
knowledge or experience of value to and not readily available
in Hong Kong and show that he or she is not filling a post
which can be filled locally.
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