Like Tree2Likes
  • 1 Post By alexdown
  • 1 Post By riversidejr

Non Resident on a Project

Closed Thread
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2020
    Posts
    3

    Non Resident on a Project

    Hello!

    Apologies if my question has already been asked many times, i did search first!

    I am currently residing in Singapore. I work for an SG company with no entity in HK. My company has a client who will be starting a project that will last 12-18months. The client is a company in HK. I have been asked to work on this project in HK. I would fly in and out of HK every week or two and will probably be on location for 80-90% of the time.

    My company being clueless has asked me to "research" my visa requirements.

    So my question is, what type of visa would I need? As a reminder, I will not be employed by an HK company and I have no desire of being a resident of HK. My employment will continue to be with the SG company. I dont think the client company can (or wants to) sponsor me as I will not be employed by them

    Many thanks if anyone can give me pointers


  2. #2

    I am not really able to give any qualified advice on the visa situation, but I assume that you are aware that right now and potentially until 31.12.20202 you will not be able to come to Hong Kong without a valid visa and if you have one, you will be required to quarantine for 14 days each time, so I don't think your envisaged mode of working will be feasible this year.

    Elegiaque likes this.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    香港特别行政区
    Posts
    2,841

    As long as you are not conducting business in HK (i.e you are just doing sales, gathering information) you are fine. As soon as you start performing your day to day duties here you need a visa

    https://hongkongvisageeza.com/long-t...ployment-visa/


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    3,988

    you need permission to work here, aka visa.


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Taiwan and HK
    Posts
    6,158

    I am an attorney and before I got my HK visa I would visit clients in HK and stay a few weeks each time...it's natural for people to visit clients on business trips and even though you are working on a business trip it's not illegal work.

    But, yes, right now, cannot get here without a resident visa of some kind but if the situation improves, can go back to more frequent air travel.

    You can also e-mail the Immigration Dept, they are pretty good about answering e-mails- use a personal e-mail account if you don't want to implicate your company...


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Jul 2020
    Posts
    3

    Thanks for your answers and the link in particular is helpful. The link does seem to apply to my situation but doesnt really go into the specifics of the visa. The problem is I have no HK company to sponsor me. I will not be employed by an HK company. I will not be filling a HK job vacancy. But I will actually be doing 9-to-5 work in HK (not just "business meetings" or "sales pitches" but actual work).

    So how do I apply for an employment visa?


  7. #7

    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    1,186
    Quote Originally Posted by soleil1:
    Thanks for your answers and the link in particular is helpful. The link does seem to apply to my situation but doesnt really go into the specifics of the visa. The problem is I have no HK company to sponsor me. I will not be employed by an HK company. I will not be filling a HK job vacancy. But I will actually be doing 9-to-5 work in HK (not just "business meetings" or "sales pitches" but actual work).

    So how do I apply for an employment visa?
    You need a working visa. If the HK-based client of your SG company wants you on-site in HK, they know they need to apply for a working visa for you.
    We have overseas consultants all the time and if they stay for more than a one-two weeks of meetings, we apply for a visa for them.
    chuckster007 likes this.

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Taiwan and HK
    Posts
    6,158

    I think this kind of work visa would not be hard to get and then you could get into HK albeit with 14 days of quarantine.


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    12,323

    Ordinarily this is exactly the kind of situation an APEC card covers. It's basically a business visa. But with Covid, who know if that will allow you in!


  10. #10

    Join Date
    Jul 2020
    Posts
    3
    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    Ordinarily this is exactly the kind of situation an APEC card covers. It's basically a business visa. But with Covid, who know if that will allow you in!
    Are you sure an apec card would work? I thought that was just for business meetings, are you allowed to do actual work? That might actually solve my problem

    Quote Originally Posted by alexdown:
    You need a working visa. If the HK-based client of your SG company wants you on-site in HK, they know they need to apply for a working visa for you.
    We have overseas consultants all the time and if they stay for more than a one-two weeks of meetings, we apply for a visa for them.
    Ok i can try this route but which visa is it exactly? The regular employment visa?
    Last edited by soleil1; 24-07-2020 at 10:03 PM.