Yeap, and I have been upfront with the Immigration since I arrived.
Would you mind giving us a few more details, because I've never heard of anything like this before?
Are you on an internal transfer from another country with the same company? Or did you just come to HK on a visitor visa and start working for a new employer?
I know of people that came on a visitors visa and started working while the work visa application was in progress, they even had to go to Shenzhen and stay over 1 night and came back to renew the visitors visa and kept on working. Illegal as it maybe but come on people its not like they are murdering someone. jaywalking is illegal but people still do it.
At least the work visa is in progress so we shouldnt be making such a big deal about it.
My 2 cents.
Indeed - but what surprises me is that the previous poster says that he has told ImmD he is doing it and they are OK with it. That seems very strange to me.
It seems like PDLM seems to always trying to bait people in admitting they work without a visa
Not really - this poster has freely admitted that they are doing so and that they are doing so with the full knowledge of ImmD. At first sight this appears contrary to all the advice we give people here, so if it is indeed possible to come, start working and then worry about the visa without any problem from ImmD then we need to revise the advice that we give to people here.
Somehow I suspect we're not getting the full story though...
I think you should ask the Immigration Department about why they do this. To be honest I didn't think i would get the visa considering my contract hadn't been finalised by the company before arriving. Anyway I outlined a number of things to the Department on the business I was setting up, provided all the documentation, business plan, company registration, employment schedule, investment etc. They asked for additional references, why I was needed other than a local etc etc which was all explained. It was completed over about 2 months as I was going in and out of the country regularly.
In terms of any advice you can give people coming here, the best way is to work with the department. You can provide experiences of yourself and other people you know of but I think every case is different and if you are honest I am sure things will work in your favour.
Virago
But were you not living here though? You were a company director coming on business trips to oversee your company in HK, but still living elsewhere? In which case maybe it wasn't perceived as working in HK.
Indeed - this is clearly quite different from a standard Employment Visa, and if you're not resident here anyway then the question is moot.