What kind of visa for a musician? Or what course of action to stay and pursue career?

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    9

    What kind of visa for a musician? Or what course of action to stay and pursue career?

    Hi there, I am a musician. Although I am mixed, I am a UK citizen and I am currently staying as a "tourist" which entitles me to 6 months stay with my passport. This 6 month period will be over in july and my stay will expire. I am trying to pursue my musicial career. I have opportunities and there are things that I can do, but it will take more time and I don't have a company to sponsor me for a working visa.

    What are my options? Can I apply for the quality migrant scheme? I would only get 100 points at most. Is it even worth trying? Would it get processed in time before I get kicked out in July?

    Alternatively could I start a business (maybe for example teaching music and / or providing bands to venues) for the sake of getting a business visa to be able to stay and pursue my career?

    I am aware that I would have to prove that I can fund the business, but since it would have virtually no costs, I can do that. However, I wonder if there is any size limitation? Would the business be too small to be eligible for me to start up to get a business investment visa? I am also aware that i'd have to employ local workers, although ideally i'd just run the business by myself and teach some lessons. My real goal is to be able to stay to pursue my musical career.

    If I must employ locals, will employing one other musician be adequate or would there be a limit? There is no information regarding this on the government website and they are not very clear and don't spent the time to explain anything when I go there in person to ask.

    Alternatively, would there be some way I can apply for a visa as a freelance worker? This would be ideal. Maybe I could start a "freelance business", which is only run by myself?

    What options do I have? Any suggestions and input? Any big downfalls with any of my suggestions?

    Also, if my only option is to find a company to sponsor me for work (which I do not have right now), I would definitely need more time to do this. But since it's now almost the end of May, I fear that even if something comes up later it would not get processed in time before my time runs out. Is there some way I can get an extension of stay after the 6 months that my passport allows to bide me some time to find a company to sponsor me for a visa application?

    The main problem with all possible options (ie - getting sponsored by a company, quality migrant scheme, etc.), is that the nature of my work is music, which is not considered very academic in terms of fulfilling the criteria for visa applications, in particular the quality migrant scheme. Although I do have a degree, it is not related to music. On the other hand, my musical "abilities" can definitely be considered unique in Hong Kong and I can certainly bring something to Hong Kong that nobody else here can do so far. It's just a question of whether that something is considered worth having or not in terms of applying for a visa.

    Really the point of all this is, I need to stay and pursue my career. My stay runs out in July. I need more time. How can I get more time? Even if i'm going to find a sponsor later, I need more time right now.

    Many thanks.


  2. #2

    I thought if you got over 85 points that you had a good shot at QMAS?


  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by thanos:
    Hi there, I am a musician. Although I am mixed, I am a UK citizen and I am currently staying as a "tourist" which entitles me to 6 months stay with my passport. This 6 month period will be over in july and my stay will expire. I am trying to pursue my musicial career. I have opportunities and there are things that I can do, but it will take more time and I don't have a company to sponsor me for a working visa.

    What are my options? Can I apply for the quality migrant scheme? I would only get 100 points at most. Is it even worth trying? Would it get processed in time before I get kicked out in July?

    Alternatively could I start a business (maybe for example teaching music and / or providing bands to venues) for the sake of getting a business visa to be able to stay and pursue my career?

    I am aware that I would have to prove that I can fund the business, but since it would have virtually no costs, I can do that. However, I wonder if there is any size limitation? Would the business be too small to be eligible for me to start up to get a business investment visa? I am also aware that i'd have to employ local workers, although ideally i'd just run the business by myself and teach some lessons. My real goal is to be able to stay to pursue my musical career.

    If I must employ locals, will employing one other musician be adequate or would there be a limit? There is no information regarding this on the government website and they are not very clear and don't spent the time to explain anything when I go there in person to ask.

    Alternatively, would there be some way I can apply for a visa as a freelance worker? This would be ideal. Maybe I could start a "freelance business", which is only run by myself?

    What options do I have? Any suggestions and input? Any big downfalls with any of my suggestions?

    Also, if my only option is to find a company to sponsor me for work (which I do not have right now), I would definitely need more time to do this. But since it's now almost the end of May, I fear that even if something comes up later it would not get processed in time before my time runs out. Is there some way I can get an extension of stay after the 6 months that my passport allows to bide me some time to find a company to sponsor me for a visa application?

    The main problem with all possible options (ie - getting sponsored by a company, quality migrant scheme, etc.), is that the nature of my work is music, which is not considered very academic in terms of fulfilling the criteria for visa applications, in particular the quality migrant scheme. Although I do have a degree, it is not related to music. On the other hand, my musical "abilities" can definitely be considered unique in Hong Kong and I can certainly bring something to Hong Kong that nobody else here can do so far. It's just a question of whether that something is considered worth having or not in terms of applying for a visa.

    Really the point of all this is, I need to stay and pursue my career. My stay runs out in July. I need more time. How can I get more time? Even if i'm going to find a sponsor later, I need more time right now.

    Many thanks.
    Oh, by the way I hope you can stay. We need more people like you here in HK. Hong Kong will survive in the future based on the quality of its human capital. We need good people.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    TST and Macau
    Posts
    1,487
    Quote Originally Posted by jchew11219:
    I thought if you got over 85 points that you had a good shot at QMAS?
    Did they change anything? It used to be 80 (and not "over").

  5. #5

    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    9

    Hello guys, thanks for the reply. Jchew, thanks too. Unfortunately since my "quality" is guitar playing, many people (including the government) will probably not see that as a valuable skill or real work. Although there are many opportunities and many things I can offer to HK as a musician, authorities may not see it this way, so i'm not sure how to manage to stay based on being a guitarist. Other than trying taking the opening a business route. Although even this may not be accepted, I can only try and see.

    I can get something good going, but it will take longer than the 1.5 months I have left before my time is up. Not to mention, since the processing time i've been told is 1-2 months it's already potentially too late!

    To both you guys, regarding the points system, they told me 80 points to be eligible to apply. Meaning that if you are gonna get less, don't even bother applying. But even though I can apply, compared with all the people with so-called "proper" qualifications and skills, being a musician, I will only get 100 points (at most) and that's throwing my degree in. Which is unrelated to music anyway. I am thinking compared with all those people, 100 points will not be enough to get the visa that way.

    Plus it just went out the window when they told me that one takes 6-12 months to apply.