Dependent Visa - from Spore

[mashimaro]

HI all

Need some advise here....like all the people asking for it....my husband has just had confirmation to work in HK so he'll be getting his own work visa, after doing some research on my own, i've learned that since 1 July 2003, dependent visa no longer has the right to work automtically, but we need to find a local company who'll be willing to sponsor us, which is pretty difficult considering the high unemployment rate in HK right now. Someone also said that some company are not willing to wait cos the permit application and approval process is about 3 months long!

So far, i hope i got the facts correct. So now i have 2 choice, either remain in Spore and look for a job in HK from here or go and follow my husband to HK as a dependent visa and THEN look for a HK job there "on-shore" and have my dependent visa converted to working visa. Can someone advise me the following:

1) Is it more advisable for me to look for a job in HK on-shore? I think i read somewhere that it's always better to look for the job "off-shore" ie while i'm in Spore. But what happens when i need to go interview? Fly-in?

2) My command of Chinese language, both Cantonese and Mandarin is excellent, problem lies in the Chinese Word processing thing and my written Chinese....i totally do not know how to write in Chinese, but hailing from Spore, naturally, i have a Chinese face, so it's pretty tough for me to find a job that doesnt require Chinese...how's my chances and where should i look for?

3) I'm a skilled executive secretary with more than 10 years of experience supporting senior management. But i heard only professionals have HIGH chances of finding a company to sponsor their work permit, reason being that the company will have a VALID reason to quote to the HK govt of why they couldnt find a local to fill the position. I do not know how much an executive secretary is valued. And what on earth can the employer tell the govt. What are my chances like? Can we quote becos of my excellent command of ENglish to support some English-speaking senior management? Is this consider a valid reason by the HK Govt?

[Emigra]

I can help you with a few of your questions:

- Applying for an employment visa whilst you are overseas is recommended, if you do apply when you are in Hong Kong the immigration department will then ask why did you not apply before you arrived.

- You are correct that with any application for an employment visa the immigration department will look at the details to see that you have skills that cannot be found by the company who wants to employ you in Hong Kong.

- If the application is submitted with all of the requested documents by the immigration department it usually takes around 4-6 weeks.

I hope this helps.