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  • 5 Post By Scousebanana

Pre-Move Preparations

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  1. #1

    Pre-Move Preparations

    Hi All,

    I've accepted a job offer in Hong Kong to work in Central and will be moving over within a month or two and have done some reading here and another HK expat forum but still have some answer I hope the more experienced expats in Hong Kong can help answer. Here goes.

    My employer has agreed to cover the initial 2 months of accommodation in a serviced apartment (budget of 40K for 2 months) while I settle in. I'll probably need a Hong Kong bank account for my employer to pay my salary to from the 1st month onwards. I understand that to open a bank account I'll need proof of address and my passport. But if I'm staying in a serviced apartment how will I have a proof of address to open the bank account? Would I be able to use the serviced apartment as a temporary address for opening the bank account and update the address once I find my permanent home? Would they accept an invoice/receipt from the apartment as a proof of address?

    Secondly, I actually have the option of going 1 or 2 months for the serviced apartment. I'm just wondering if anyone has required a full 2 months to find their new home or in reality 1 month is actually more than enough time? If I go with 1 month, I actually have more from the budget to find a nicer serviced apartment for that 1 month.

    Finally, for 2 months at a serviced apartment, I'm intending to spend maybe 14 - 15K per month as I'll be able to use the remaining of the 40K budget to ship personal belongings from my home country to my new home. I've been looking at Central Shorts serviced apartment since it's walking distance to Central and being new in the country I believe the convenience would really help with settling in. Does anyone have any experience staying there, heard anything good/bad about them, or have any other recommendations?

    Thanks,
    HK Bound Newbie


  2. #2

    Thanks DeletedUser. I think I'll go with the recent utility bills/bank statements route since that's something I readily have available. I think I'll probably settle for 2 months of serviced apartment then. I've been browsing apartments for weeks and still haven't decided on an area yet. It'll probably be easier to focus on an area when I'm there.


  3. #3

    Actually another question just popped up. I've heard about these payroll accounts but I'm not entirely sure what they are. I'm guessing it's an account where our salary goes into and the banks want that because the more money they're holding the better it is for them. I think I've read that there's Standard Chartered's Salary BonusPack and Citibank's which is simply called Payroll Account if I'm not wrong. Would I be able to open any of these as my first bank account in Hong Kong? Would I require some documentation that I should be able to request from my company?


  4. #4

    We moved to HK last November and took a 2 month lease on a serviced apartment to give us a chance to look around. We were very glad we did this as we have ended up living somewhere completely different to where we thought we wanted to live. Even though we found an apartment we really liked quite quickly and could have moved within a month of our arrival, our apartment was unfurnished and it took 6 weeks for our furniture and personal effects to arrive from the UK, so we needed most of the 2 month lease.

    Bank account wasn't a problem - I opened an account within my first week of arrival using an id and a letter from my employer.

    Be prepared for some large upfront cash outgoings. I get a generous accommodation allowance, but it is only payable upon showing signed tenancy agreements. The landlord for our serviced apartment only managed to return our tenancy agreement just before we moved out, by which time I had paid 1 month deposit and 2 months' rent on the serviced apartment and a further 2 months' deposit, 0.5 month agent's fee and 1 month's rent on our long term apartment - so over 6 months' rent before I started to get any reimbursement.