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Working permit validity for a Filippina

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  1. #1

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    Working permit validity for a Filippina

    Hi all,

    My company recently applied for a work permit for a Filippina and I'm a little confused about her visa validity -- she landed in HKG in mid March before her work visa got approved; she flew to mainland twice for two races and came back to HKG with visitor's permit each time. As soon as her visa got approved, (mid April) she started working for us.

    The visa says it's valid for two months -- is that two months since she landed in HKG? Two months from the day she starts working? Or two months from the day her visa is processed/ approved? She wants to stay and work for as long as possible, but I don't want to risk misunderstanding her visa and get her in troubles for overstaying.

    To make matters more complicated, she needs to exit Hong Kong one more time for another race in China in mid May. Would that void her visa validity? Or can she re-enter on the same working visa?

    I'm handling her flights to and from China for the race, and her flight back to the Philippines, I really don't want her to get held up at immigration again. If you have experience with Filipino work visa, please advise.

    Thanks,


  2. #2

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    Assuming what she has is an Employment Visa, not a Foreign Domestic Helper Visa then as I understand what you have written she has not activated her Employment Visa and she has been working in Hong Kong illegally on a Visitor's Visa. This is not good.

    But I'm quite unclear about what is going on. Is she a Domestic Helper or a regular Employee? Did you apply just for a two month Employment Visa for some specific project or for an open-ended one (which would normally be granted with one year duration initially)?

    If it's a regular Employment Visa then normally the two months is from the day she entered Hong Kong using the Employment Visa (which, as I understand it, she hasn't yet done). But you may have misunderstood what is written, and it may be that it must be activated within two months, not that it is valid for two months.

    If you can clarify the situation a bit more then maybe we can help more.


  3. #3

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    Thanks PDLM for the prompt response; she is a regular employee (not domestic helper.) I applied for a two month Employment Visa, how do we activate her employment visa?

    We basically want her to train with our athlete team in Hong Kong while giving her some work as a mean to support herself (as athletic events facilitator and equipment maintenance technician.) I'm now really nervous, please advise what we need to do to activate her visa. Would she need to do another visa run to Macau and come back with her employment visa? Would a contract that describes her employment period be enough?


  4. #4

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    She just needs to go out and re-enter using her Employment Visa; the 2 months will start when she re-enters. Unless ImmD has attached some special condition to the visa then she can go in and out of HK freely during the 2 month period.

    When did she last re-enter as a Visitor? On a Filipino passport she only gets 14 days. If she has over-stayed those 14 days then she's going to have some explaining to do with Immigration, and could get fined.


  5. #5

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    Oh no, she last entered HKG on 11th Apr so her visitor's permit already expired. It's public holiday until May 3rd so I won't even be able to contact immigration until then. Please advise what's the best course of action. Thanks.


  6. #6

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    Get to Immigration as soon as it opens on Tuesday, and grovel mightily. Explain that she was in HK when the Employment Visa was granted and didn't realise that she needed to exit and re-enter to activate it. If they're feeling kind they will change her status to being here on the Employment Visa, probably with an expiry date of two months from the day it was granted. If they're feeling unkind (or you/she don't grovel enough) then they could arrest her for over-staying, put her in prison overnight, fine her and deport her. Or anything in between.

    Sadly, since she is a Filipina, I would suggest that she goes along with someone from the sponsoring company who can also grovel. It would probably help if this person were white.

    (EDIT - there is a small possibility that the Visa was granted as a change of status from visitor to employed, in which case she would be OK, but that is a very rare situation, and wouldn't normally happen unless you'd made a special case for it to do so when she applied)

    Last edited by PDLM; 30-04-2011 at 06:10 PM.
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  7. #7

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    Thanks again PDLM. Made some phone calls and turns out she went to Macau recently for another event without telling me (I was also oversea at the time) but I think she should be okay. She says she hasn't got a chop on her visa stating the date so I'm still a little confused, I will check on Tuesday and make sure she activates her employment visa if it has not been done already.


  8. #8

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    You better check with her and the ImmD, the visa should get stamped when it gets activated. She will run into trouble when she leaves and they find the Visa has never been activated.