Dependent Visa Interview

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    2

    Dependent Visa Interview

    My husband is sponsoring dependent visas for my son and I and we've been having a heck of a time trying to understand the situation.

    His employer originally gave us the forms to apply and instructed us to just hand it in to Immigration for dependent visas. So when we arrived here to HK, we filled out the form and handed it in. The lady there told us that we had the wrong form - turns out that they were an extension of stay application, not a dependent one. So after giving us the correct form and the list of documents needed, we came back the next day to hand it in.
    Now we find out that my husband was supposed to apply for these before we got to HK. So, they set us an interview to attend to explain why we didn't do apply for it before we arrived in HK. They set it at a date when my husband is supposed to be working, and we asked the lady if it's okay that he's not there even if he's the sponsor. She said it wasn't necessary for him to be there.

    But lo and behold, when we got home to look at the time I'm supposed to go to Immigration, it says on the paper that the sponsor is supposed to be there. To quote the paper:

    "To facilitate our consideration, will the applicant and the sponsor attend in person on/within one week from date so and so (except Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays) to counter No.1 at 7/F of the Immigration Tower.

    Now, I'm just asking, to anyone who might know, if I my husband and I can go maybe a couple of days later than the specified date so that he will be present, or will I have to go alone and risk looking bad in front of Immigration? (I don't know if that lady at the counter was too reliable, she couldn't even read my husband's pay slip right, stating that we didn't give her January's pay slip when it was in her hand.)

    Any help would be appreciated!


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    23,205

    Since this is at least in part caused by your husband's employer making a mistake I would think he could take time off work to attend an interview at Immigration can't he?

    One of the things that ImmD might be looking for is to check that the marriage is a genuine one and not just one designed to get you into HK, so it would help if he were there in that case. Have you been married long? Do you have strong evidence of the length and seriousness of your relationship? How long are you allowed to stay in HK as a visitor? Dependant Visas can often take 6-10 weeks to process so you need to have a plan for what you will do if you run out of time on your Visitor Visa.


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    2

    Unfortunately, we already asked and they said no. =S

    We've only been married since August, but we've been together for three years. All I have in hard copy is the cards from the flowers he's sent me while he was away. (He was in training in Australia for 15 months, while I was pregnant with our son.) And he's probably kept the cards I've sent him on his birthday. Most of our relationship has been through Skype, and some sms. But save from the text messages my husband saved, everything else has been erased when I cancelled my number in Canada.
    My son and I are allowed to stay in March, so if it's for short term, he take us to Macao to visit and such, to renew the Visitor Visa for another 90 days. If it's longer term, since we can't really afford shelling out a lot of money to go back to Canada where we have citizenship and all that, we'll be going to Manila, since my grandmother lives there, and we can stay there for a little while.