Job Discussion Forums

anninhk · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 284

No, I've never heard of that in relation to the NET scheme.

hkteach · Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 202 Location: Hong Kong

No, I haven't either.
But just heard from the teacher who applied for visa before Christmas - after a lot of communication back and forth between immigration dept and the school, the visa has just been approved ! must be a relief after 7 weeks of living without salary.

tsotsa · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 11

10 weeks since start of visa process ... ...

.... still waiting ... Crying or Very sad

poof · Joined: 23 May 2005 Posts: 161

Immi quotes 6-8 wks for processing time. But, some take longer, some take shorter. It doesn't seem to matter who your employer is.

bellabella · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Hong Kong

bellabella · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Hong Kong

mechanized · Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 30

If I am reading this right if I came job hunting in HK, and say I get hired by a school. I can't (legally ) work until I receive my working visa which can take 6-8 weeks or more?

Is that correct?

Charlesm_888 · Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 48 Location: Hong Kong

anninhk · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 284

And, depending on your passport, you might not be able to stay in Hong Kong for more than 2 weeks on your vistor's visa. It is easy to extend this by a visit to Shenzhen or Macau, but would mean going backwards and forwards a few times which might make Immigration suspicious!
Check on the Immigration website to see how long you can stay in the country on a visitor's visa.

11:59 · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:21 am Post subject:

The term 'working visa' belongs on the HKCE thread; in British English it is a 'work' visa. Anyway, yes, of course it is illegal to work without a work visa, it is not some additional or optional add-on nicety to be got at a later date if and when you get around to it! In fact, technically speaking, it is also illegal to even so much as seek employment if you are in HK on a tourist visa, though only Nigerians would most likely actually get such a charge levelled at them. Also, it is important to remember that there is, again, technically speaking, no such thing as a generic work visa. Rather, each work visa has a unique reference number and that number is linked in a one-to-one fashion to a particular post with a particular employer.

To answer another question raised earlier in the thread, namely, does anyone actually know of anyone who was turned down by the Immigration department: Yes, I personally know of many such cases, especially since they got their thumb print scanner (which is hooked up to many national and international criminal databases). I also know of people who notch up multiple tourist visas who get calls from Immigration inquiring how they are supporting themselves and 'requesting' their presence at the Twin Towers to offer documentary evidence of their independent financial standing.

I have permanent residence in HK from 8 years I did back here in the 90s and so I do not have to worry about work visas, and I am glad I don't given what I hear about the amount of time they often take now. But, having said that, standards do have to be maintained, and the world is a large place and it does after all take time to check people out and process their application. Having said that, 6-8 weeks does sound a bit excessive.

Another problem is that more and more posts are being taken by people such as myself with permanent residence permits. Employers tend to prefer 'permanents' as it relieves them of the need to fanny about with immigration. I know of quite literally hundreds of people with residence permits who left immediately before the hand over as they were worried about impending Stalinism, but who have now returned to the territory.