BB - then your pal mustn't have quite as sunny a smile as the freelancer I mentioned. (Or, maybe ImmD's pulled up its socks considerably this past year?)
Anyways, OP - please pay little heed to my posts here. Each case varies. And I spoke a bit too soon - probably coz wish I could get away with not paying up as well!
Avoid away, "legally" that is... while you can, BUT keep an exit strategy on the ready, too
Well, maybe it's a big deal because the taxes you must pay as a resident directly impact your personal life?
Maybe because the taxes go to education, leisure and many other things which the OP and his relatives may enjoy?
But as said by someone, I wonder how the OP's kids can go to school, what they do when they're sick, what they would do whether they were robbed or assaulted...
Well, all the advantages which come with citizenship (or residency here) and, for sure, some taxes...
Well that's an issue for the OP to deal with.
And as for the OP taking advantage of things that taxes normally pay for, (as psjylife said- 'Well, all the advantages which come with citizenship (or residency here) and, for sure, some taxes...))I think that's probably not much of the case as he's on a tourist visa. He'll be paying his own way when it comes to education and medical so not using the system in any way. Certainly not more than anyone else on an extended holiday here. And hey, he'll be putting money into the local economy, isn't that what we need right now?
Curious though,why the OP would want to be based in HK if no business is done here. It's not exactly cheap to live here.
Last edited by aussiegal; 13-05-2009 at 08:48 AM.
This whole attitude of 'it won't happen to me' is a bad one to have. I have lived in Hong Kong almost all my life, save a couple of years abroad and at one time my Italian partner was with me here.
He was doing the short trips every three months and getting a new visa until one day he was stopped (I think then it would have been his sixth three-month visa he was hoping for) and questioned as to what he was doing here. He wasn't working (health reasons) and said he was here with his girlfriend, a permanent resident. He was warned that after this three-month visa, he wouldn't get any more.
We approached the ID, I offered to sponsor him financially, but was told there was only one way I could do that...by marrying him. Neither of us was ready for that and in the end, we moved out of Hong Kong for a year and a half (and I returned myself).
The ID may not catch you soon, but they will catch you.
Morally maybe yes, but practically the one problem I see is if he has a kid that needs schooling, how would that work without a residence visa/HKID, how (even if he pays $$$$$ without an iota of government subsidy)? Maybe his kid is a baby or toddler. Also, an individual may be able to ride it out for longer, but a family doing regular 3-months visa runs will get picked on by Immigration sooner or later.
Actually, I find it quite interesting that the OP took the not very casual steps of moving family over and leasing a home for regular 1-2 yr use, without bothering to check out any of the implications for residency, taxes, etc that have been mentioned here, and is asking about taxes only once well into it.
Op
If you don't think it could happen to you then I suggest you read this.
Two posters both got pulled up by immigration and told to go home.
http://www.geoexpat.com/forum/thread37939-2.html