Needing help with HK salary!!

[PDLM]

No vaccinations are necessary beyond what you would have in Australia. Some recommend hepatitis A & B if you don't already have them.

[Load Toad]

Any vaccination that covers alcohol poisoning and STD's.

[gilleshk]

I was just wanting to know if ppl think I should negotiate this seeing as though it isn't a great deal for working full time hrs. I understand that filipinas work for less yet I am coming from Australia with native english so I was thinking there would be a big difference for me...

While not all the filipina maids are the same, there are many with university degree that speak English just as well as any native. English is widely spoken in the Philippines which is one reason they are so popular as domestic workers all over the world. Often cheap and overly qualified labor. I'll avoid the easy joke about Oz english...

It never hurts to ask for more though...

[kokoyashi]

Why wouldnt you want to work as a native english teacher ?Seems like they are wanted here in HK. My friend works as an english playgroup teacher for 1-3 year olds and she gets 20 000 HK dollars per month.If my english was good enough I would go for it myself hehe

ps: she got no experience

[carang]

i pay my part-time teacher $13,000/month for 3 days per week...

[Raccon]

I am not afraid to speak up so I'm not worried about problems arising and never would I hand over my passport. I have sufficient funds to take care of myself reasonably well if need be (without working). This is another reason a visa is important so as I will be protected in these types of situations so that I have the ability to find other work (the family appear to be very sweet so I doubt this will be the case at all).

The employment visa is tied to a specific employment, you can't use it for other jobs and it does not permit you to stay while you are looking for a(nother) job; once expired or terminated you will have to leave the country (within 7 days I think).
So unless you immediately find an employer that sponsors a new visa and gets this done before your current visa expires you will be kicked out.

I was just wanting to know if ppl think I should negotiate this seeing as though it isn't a great deal for working full time hrs. I understand that filipinas work for less yet I am coming from Australia with native english so I was thinking there would be a big difference for me...

Make sure you get some health insurance, nobody expects getting sick but people do, or you may have an accident etc.
In addition you could ask for a flight home every year if your Au Pair job is intended to last more than a year.

[Beanieskis]

Raccon

I don't think that bit about having to leave the country is true - if you lose your job you can stay until your visa expires, but of course you can't work. A friend was in this position recently - had quit her job before she even went to get her HKID. She told Immigration what had happened and they said that was fine, they would still issue her an HKID. I don't think they'd have done that if she'd had 7 days to get out?

[PDLM]

What Beanieskies says is correct - if you have an Employment Visa then you can reside in HK until that visa expires, even if you lose your job in the meantime.

(It's different for FDHs who must leave within 14 days)

[hongkong7]

i have not read through the whole thread so this may be covered but if you are australian looking to work as a domestic(au pair) without a visa ie working holiday--- then dont do it

Only because if you do get caught (however unlikely but maybe someone reports you out of spite) and have an immigration offence against your name then it is going to be a big hassle not only if you ever want to come back to hk in the future(they wont let you in basically ) but this info is shared with other countries and the australian passport office etc

a criminal record is always a hassle in your future no matter how minro the offence

[Beanieskis]

Have you thought about getting a working holiday visa (if you're under 30)? You could then work as an au pair for this family for 3 mths. Or maybe you could come to some arrangement whereby you did some au pair duties for them in return for board and lodging, and earnt money elsewhere (for example English teaching?). It sounds like your main reasons for wanting to come to HK are for the experience rather than to further your career, so I'd have thought the working holiday visa is the way forward if you qualify for it.