Valid Hong Kong Work Visas are required for foreigners by the Immigration Department before taking up any sort of employment whether it is paid or unpaid, short-term or long-term, unless you have been provided a Right of Abode, a Right to Land or an Unconditional Stay in Hong Kong.
Generally, in order to successfully apply for a Hong Kong Work Visa, there are several criteria Immigration will be focused on:
1. An individual should have secured an employment/job offer before the visa application is submitted;
2. An individual should possess unique qualifications and relevant working experience that are not readily available in Hong Kong in order to fulfill the visa requirement.
3. An individual should be placed in a management level job position and the salary offered should be met with market rate.
4. The sponsoring company should be financial stable and healthy.
5. The sponsoring company should have local staffs and office premise has already been set up
The processing time of a Hong Kong working visa is normally 4-6 weeks from the date of submission. Upon approval of the application, a two-year work visa will be granted. The applicant will then be allowed to apply a resident Hong Kong Identity card.
The applicant should apply and be granted a work visa before entering Hong Kong to take up his/her employment.
If an individual comes to Hong Kong before proceeding a work visa application, or an individual is recruited locally, and then subsequently applies for a work visa whilst in Hong Kong, this will affect a change of status application from a visitor visa to a work visa. This type of visa application is comparatively more difficult to process, and requires an explanation as to why an individual did not apply for a work visa before he/she came. Thus, if at all possible, it is advisable to submit the work visa application prior to entering.
In situations where an overseas company wishes to transfer an employee internally to their Hong Kong office, these types of applications can be fairly straightforward as long as the employee has been employed by that company for some time. If the applicant has only been employed by the company overseas for a few months, then the application will probably be treated as a “new” application instead of an “internal transfer” application, and thus more supporting evidence as to why the position could not be filled locally will be necessary .
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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Decemeber 2023