Taken from the SCMP
Gay partners given 'relationship visa': Prolonged visitor visa effectively sanctions same-sex partnerships with aim of retaining business talent
Hong Kong is quietly handing out visas which allow the partners of gay professionals to live in the city long-term despite officially not recognising same-sex relationships.
The visa - known as an extended visitor's visa or de facto relationship visa - allows the partners of homosexuals who have a work visa to stay as long as they remain in the relationship. However, it does not give the same rights to homosexual married couples as heterosexual ones, which critics say will hurt Hong Kong's commercial competitiveness.
Inquiries by the Sunday Morning Post (SEHK: 0583, announcements, news) reveal that many couples have extended the visa several times, without needing to take a trip out of Hong Kong to renew their stay. However, successful applicants live the life of a permanent tourist; gay partners may not work, do not get an ID card or qualify for permanent residency after seven years. The visa must be renewed at least every six months.
Among immigration consultants, gay rights advocates and lawyers its existence is common knowledge. An Immigration Department spokesman said policy for dependants was based on "the concept of a married couple consisting of one male and one female" but that "the director may consider exercising discretion on an exceptional basis".
An internal study by Goldman Sachs found that more than five per cent of its 1,000-strong workforce in Hong Kong identified themselves as either lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
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