Online freelance translator work on a student visa

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  1. #1

    Online freelance translator work on a student visa

    I am currently a university student in Hong Kong. I am a Korean national, and so I am on a student visa. Now, the terms of the visa state that I am not allowed to take up employment in Hong Kong during the school year unless it is part time work for the university that I attend. During the summer break, I can work for whoever for any length of time.

    I am also on a full scholarship from the university, but would like to make some extra spending money. The part time work offered by the university is fairly limiting and more for experience/resume than for money. So I have looked into tutoring Korean/English. Many of my other foreign friends do this and no one has been caught by Immigration that I know of. I have also looked into working as an online translator. The thing that concerns me is that I have to fill in my address and upload my resume and stuff that shows what univeristy I go to and other information. I will also get paid by paypal, and since the bank is in Hong Kong, I guess authorities could look into it if they wanted. I could get the money paid to a bank in Korea, then transfer it to the one in Hong Kong, but transfer fees would be bothersome. The university also advertises on its jobs website about work in other companies and I was going to apply for a few, but thought it would be kind of dangerous with Immigration.

    I'm most interested in the online translation work since I could decide my own times. I figure I can do this during the school year and take up a full time job in the summer. I don't think the likelihood of me getting caught by the Immigration Department would be hight since it wouldn't be very much money (100-200 usd per month). However, I'd still like to get some advice before following through because I don't want to mess up my scholarship.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    6,317

    Well technically you are not allowed too. So you have to make that decision yourself.

    The chance is quite low of any trouble but then again it depends who you tell this too. Better to keep it to yourself and go from there.