visitor to dependent

[m4nn]

hi, if i arrive in HKG as a visitor staying for those six months and half way through my partner applies for a dependent visa when she is sorted and stuff, would i need to leave HK after the 6 months are up and return once its accepted or something?, and if a dependent visa is applied for, would i need to leave and return as that status as I would no longer be a visitor?.

thanks.....................

[jaykay]

You can apply for your dependant visa while here on a visitor visa. That's not too much of a problem. When your visa is granted you will need to leave HK and re enter via the resident channel to activate. A trip to Macau or Shenzhen is fine.

[jimbo]

Ummm you do know that you'll need to marry her to become a dependant right?

[joseph77]

If you get married here you don't even need to leave the country to activate it. I got my dep visa last week an it just extended my right to stay for 1 yr (of course renewable). No need to get out of the country n come back. Most important thing you get married, it doesn't exist a dep visa for fiancé (in fact it used to b called spouse visa).

Cheers

Joe

[jaykay]

If you get married here you don't even need to leave the country to activate it. I got my dep visa last week an it just extended my right to stay for 1 yr (of course renewable). No need to get out of the country n come back. Most important thing you get married, it doesn't exist a dep visa for fiancé (in fact it used to b called spouse visa).

Cheers

Joe

Do make sure you check that. I was also married here. Usually there is a note of good for single journey or similar on the visa which means you need to leave and come back to activate unless you appear at immigration and they do that for you.

[Pekkerhead]

I didn't leave HK after issue of my DV until 6 months later and had no problems. I was also here on a visitor visa initially and didn't end up getting the DV until after about 3 months.

[hello_there]

I didn't leave HK after issue of my DV until 6 months later and had no problems. I was also here on a visitor visa initially and didn't end up getting the DV until after about 3 months.

Had a similar experience. Came in on a visitor visa (had just married a couple weeks before) and applied for the dependent visa in HK. Did not have to leave HK to have the dependent visa activated.

[jaykay]

Guess its all changed then!

[Zhang Huike]

Nothing is changed, I think. You can still change your immigration status without leaving in the country only in very exceptional circumstances.

The immigration officer may decide to give you a letter to the Director of Immigration that you should sign - it states that due to some circumstances you were not able to apply for a dependant visa outside of Hong Kong. Obviously being married in HK after arriving there is a good reason for that.

If your reasoning is approved, your visa will say "conditions of stay are hereby varied" and you don't need to re-enter the country. If it doesn't say that, you'll have to do a visa run.

[hello_there]

Nothing is changed, I think. You can still change your immigration status without leaving in the country only in very exceptional circumstances.

The immigration officer may decide to give you a letter to the Director of Immigration that you should sign - it states that due to some circumstances you were not able to apply for a dependant visa outside of Hong Kong. ...

If your reasoning is approved, your visa will say "conditions of stay are hereby varied" and you don't need to re-enter the country. If it doesn't say that, you'll have to do a visa run.

I did this about 6 years ago - entered on a visitor visa (while aready recently married outside of HK) and applied for my dependent visa while here. They let me stay in HK without going out and back to re-activate it. I don't remember citing any exceptional circumstances for why I didn't apply for the dependent visa outside of HK, so it couldn't have been that big of a deal. I may have prepared a letter that said I had only been married a few weeks and not had the time to get the documents together to apply for a dependent visa before coming to HK, but I would hardly consider that an exceptional circumstance. My first dependent visa has the "conditions of stay are hereby varied" language.

Similarly, I switched from a dependent visa to a work visa while in HK and didn't need to leave HK to have it activated either (and don't remember doing anything special other than submitting the work visa docs, but maybe HR asked for it??) - the work visa sticker had the same conditions of stay are varied language. Again, no exceptional circumstances or reason why I couldn't leave HK and come back in to activate the visa.