Dependent visa - no savings

[SigmaX]

Hi all,

I am a young European working for a tier-1 investment bank here in HK. I have been here for 3 years and recently got married to my Filipina wife, whom I have known for the majority of my time here. Admittedly, we have been doing the Macau visa run for quite a while now and decided to get married to avoid her visa hassle and to help her get a job.

We have applied for her dependent visa and have submitted holidays photos, photos of the apartment, text messages, etc. My job pays HKD 30k+ and is a 1-year contract that has been renewed once. I have not been able to get a Visa card through HSBC as they require your contract to be longer than 1 year (and mine is exactly 1 year), so I send most of my salary back to my home country where I have credit cards from my local bank. I was called this morning by the Immigration Department, who had noticed that the balance in my HSBC account was rather low and that this was not enough to support my wife. I explained them the situation and they asked for a copy of my foreign savings account statement but to be honest I don't have much savings to speak of.

I could of course borrow from friends and family and deposit whatever amount into my account, but I am a bit reluctant to do so as it would be so obvious that this was only done to please the immigration officer. I see several posts mentioning either 20k+ income OR ~200k savings. I do satisfy the income part but not the savings part. So what do you guys think of our situation? Any advice? Thanks a lot

[Enderman]

I could of course borrow from friends and family and deposit whatever amount into my account, but I am a bit reluctant to do so as it would be so obvious that this was only done to please the immigration officer. I see several posts mentioning either 20k+ income OR ~200k savings.

We did exactly this on the advice of the immigration officer!

[SigmaX]

@Enderman, cool. Isn't it just too obvious? Anyway, if it works then fine.

[wtbhotia]

@Enderman, cool. Isn't it just too obvious? Anyway, if it works then fine.

the requirement is 200K savings not how long its been in your account

[hktraveller]

@Enderman, cool. Isn't it just too obvious? Anyway, if it works then fine.

You could say you consolidated all your assets into one account to make it easier for them.

[emx]

I have not been able to get a Visa card through HSBC as they require your contract to be longer than 1 year

You can get a local credit card here by maintaining a time deposit.

so I send most of my salary back to my home country where I have credit cards from my local bank.

Keep it all here from now on to improve your local savings.

I don't have much savings to speak of.

Party less and save.

[Claire ex-ax]

the requirement is 200K savings not how long its been in your account

That's changed then, right?

[jmbf]

What is your wife's current visa status?

[SigmaX]

@jmbf Only visitor visa.

Instead of a certain amount in your savings account, would a bank guarantee work? It's quite commonly used in Europe when applying for dependants' visa.