Working vs. Tourist visa

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    Working vs. Tourist visa

    I am due to come out to Hong Kong from the UK for a period of 7 months to run some training programmes for staff at our new offices. I will still be employed in the UK, paid in the UK and aying tax in the UK, so the question is am I eligible to come to Hong Kong on a visitor visa or do I need to get a working visa?

    Any help/advice most welcome!


  2. #2

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    Feb 2009
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    You need to get a working visa, the company need to provide you with the necessary documentation in order for you to work legally in Hong Kong.


  3. #3

    Join Date
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    I think that in principle that sort of thing is OK on a visitor visa (certainly many people do things like that for a few weeks), but 7 months does seem a rather long time, and you would need to renew or extend your visa at least once since you only get 6 months. I would email [email protected] with the details and ask them.


  4. #4

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    Mar 2006
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    It is not uncommon to take a trip to Macau so could s/he not do that at the two month mark (not arouse suspicions of any sort) and then get his visa extended thus vaulting the poster past the 7 month mark?

    But if your company needs you this long, is it not better to have them do the paper work and do it properly?

    Last edited by Football16; 20-02-2009 at 01:17 PM.

  5. #5

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    This is actually how we now set up our transferees while we are waiting for them to get real visa's, so they 'work' as visitors to the office employed and paid by our US hq for a number of months before they get a real work visa. So it sounds perfectly doable on a visitor visa. If you have a UK passport you will need to leave once as others have indicated, if you are actually not a UK citizen you only get 90 days per entry so would need several renewals - that is more iffy.

    Given how extensive and time consuming the paperwork can be, frankly I'd stick with the visitor visa approach but it does get abit borderline....