Where to begin!!!

[arthemisme]

How bout Lamma Island?

[JRC]

For a 29y/o singleton, wouldn't recommend DB. Just all a little surreal over there, great for kids and the pooch but that would be about it.

Second the recommendation for Midlevels, Pokfulam or Kennedy Town. All have access to green area for walking the pooch.

[HiSue]

Thanks all for comments on areas to look at.
Can anyone give me advice on social networking, visa requirements, health care, MPF & banking requirements... and anything else which will assist with the reloaction.
Thanks

[MovingIn07]

Social networking .. hmm - that's Facebook innit? Seriously - just join some of the events Geoexpat hold, or take a look at meetup.com for activity based events, won't take long to find a circle of friends.

Visa requirements - you need one. If you are working you need a work visa, if you are a (married or child) dependent you need a dependent visa (can work on this provided the main visa is a work visa). Your employer can sort both of these out, but make sure you have all the supporting information (education certificates, marriage certificate etc etc). There are hundreds of threads on here re visas for more detailed information and links - just search.

Healthcare - public system - free and good, abit of a wait at hospitals. Or get private - but not 100% necessary except if you want to have a baby while here. I've not used it but plenty of members here say the free public system is excellent.

MPF - you have to have one - usually provided by the employer, max contributions 1000HKD per month so if you are on a decent salary you hit the max pretty easily.

Banking requirements ... you need one? Easy to open an account. If you have HSBC Premier at home, you can open from there really easily. If not, just arrive with passport, proof of address and work contract and stand in a queue for a while.

[Beanieskis]

I think sites like geoexpat and meetup.com, twitter, myspace etc all count as social networking too?

[timklip]

re MPF - if you are already contributing, or have in the past contributed to a retirement/pension plan, you DON"T have to enrol in MPF...

max contributions by employer (matching yours) are 1000k/m, but you can choose to contribute more yourself

[Beanieskis]

re MPF I think it also depends on your employer's policy? My OH has a pension elsewhere, but whilst he's here he has been told he has to contribute to the MPF rather than to that. However if / when he leave HK he is allowed to withdraw what he and his employer have paid into MPF and he will then re-invest in his existing pension. Don't know if this is common.

[timklip]

my comments came from reading on the MPFA website where it is their policy...shouldn't depend on the employer (I would think any employer would be happy to NOT have to contribute an extra 12k per year...but it is free money for your OH in any event)

[Beanieskis]

timklip

I think the MPFA policy is that an employer and employee has to contribute to either the MPF or their own pension? But it is the employer who won't let my OH have this go to his existing pension fund. Guess it just makes life simpler for them!

[ray98]

my comments came from reading on the MPFA website where it is their policy...shouldn't depend on the employer (I would think any employer would be happy to NOT have to contribute an extra 12k per year...but it is free money for your OH in any event)

The "extra" 12k is just another element when the employer considers an employee's total annual cost - it's not an extra at all, and it's certainly not free! Theoretically, if the employer did not have to make MPF contributions, that 12k should/would/may be in the employee's pay packet