Britain opens door in working holiday pact

[emx]

From today's Standard

Youngsters may now work in Britain and their counterparts here under a bilateral working holiday scheme starting on January 1.

Britain is the ninth country to be included under the scheme, which began in 2001.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung made the announcement at Central Government Offices, Tamar, yesterday.

It followed a meeting with the British Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau, Caroline Wilson.

"Britain is one of the popular tourist destinations for Hong Kong people. The arrangement will further strengthen bilateral ties between the two places," Cheung said.

Wilson said: "Britain is pleased to welcome Hong Kong young people to our youth mobility program. It strengthens long-standing social ties between Britain and Hong Kong, and should promote greater cultural, economic and business links."

Hong Kong youngsters may apply for a visa under the Youth Mobility Scheme, which will allow them to stay in Britain for up to two years.

They will be able to take up employment in order to finance their stay, study self-financed courses or participate in volunteer services.

While there is an annual quota of 1,000 for SAR passport holders, those with British National (Overseas) passports will not be subject to a quota.

Similarly, youngsters from Britain may apply for the Working Holiday Scheme visa, which will allow them to stay here for up to 12 months.

Hong Kong already has such arrangements with New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Japan, Canada, Korea and France.

The scheme gives youngsters an opportunity to broaden their horizons and gain work experience in another country.

So far, more than 30,000 Hong Kong youngsters have benefited under the scheme.

[drumbrake]

Finally, an advantage to having a BNO passport - although I wonder how many young adults still have BNO passports?

You can’t register as British National (Overseas) now - the registration deadline was 1 July 1997.

from https://www.gov.uk/bno-passports

[Claire ex-ax]

So Hong Kongers can stay for two years, while Brits have one year and presumably the usual 3-months-per-job thing. Tad one-sided.

[HKthe]

So Hong Kongers can stay for two years, while Brits have one year and presumably the usual 3-months-per-job thing. Tad one-sided.

Sounds so.
Very restricted in what you can do having to switch every 3 months. Afaik, HK is the only WHV country with such stringent restrictions. I believe most other whv countries give at least 6 months with 1 employer.

[Beanieskis]

It's great news though for young unmarried couples who want to move out here for a period when one of them gets a role with an employment visa.

[brightstar106]

Glad to hear this, will be applying for it in the new year Was just wondering though, is it an easy enough process to transfer from the working holiday visa to a normal working visa if an offer of employment from a company is given? And also once the year is up for the working holiday visa, do you have to leave the country for a year like with the training visa? Sorry for the questions I just haven't found these answers on the immigration dept website!

[Gruntfuttock]

If you meet the normal conditions for an Employment Visa then it's no problem.

I'm not sure about the "leave for a year", but clearly you could not continue to reside here without some sort of visa allowing you to do so.

[brightstar106]

That's good to hear, I'm hoping that I'll impress whoever I will (hopefully!) work for enough to sponsor me for a full employment visa! Intrigued to find out about the 'leave for a year' thing though - if I was allowed to return immediately after the visa had expired I guess I'd just stay on a tourist visa until I found a job..