[eburns]

I am a British and American dual citizen and have been waiting more than 6 weeks for my Hong Kong work visa.

Could I just go ahead and enter Hong Kong as a tourist, wait for my work visa approval, then go to Taiwan for an overnight stay and re-enter on my work visa? I heard that trips to Macau and mainland China do not permit you to do this, but what about Taiwan?

Thanks, waiting in Los Angeles. . .
Eric

[chris780]

Hi,

Yes, don't worry, i think it is permitted to come to HK with a tourist visa, wait for and pick up your newly secured visa and go to macau for a short stay. Then you can enter HK with your working visa sticked on a blank page of your passport.

The only thing you must be careful about is not to stick the visa on your passport immediately, you need to leave HK first, then at the moment you enter HK you can stick the visa on the passport, and you can validate the visa.

As long as you applied for a working visa while you were abroad, it will not be seen as a "change of status".

Anyway it is your company that is going to pick up the visa at the immigration dept, therefore I know that some companies do not want to take the risk to send you the visa by DHL and prefer to wait for you to come to HK (on a tourist basis) and treat you the trip to Macau.

Christophe.

[PDLM]

This whole "trip to Macau" thing is a myth. It is perfectly OK to be here as a tourist, or on a buisness visitor, be granted your Employment Visa, get the stamp stuck in your passport at ImmD and then just carry on. This is what I and many other people did. There is no need to leave and re-enter just to somehow "activate" the Employment Visa.

[geohk]

That's interesting and helpful PDLM. I was also told I would have to leave HK to "activate" my work visa. Can anyone else confirm this? Any government info on this somewhere?

[cerberus]

precisely PDLM, i didn't leave HK when the work visa was added.

and they'll put it in your passport anyway, there's no sticking involved on your part.

[Andi]

Hi Guys,

Need your suggestion/advise..

I arrived in HK on a tourist visa ( for 14 days ). the company applied for my work permit 6 weeks ago..not still come through..so presently chilling out and looking for stay options..

But if i do not get the permit till the end of the 14 days, have been suggested to renew the tourist visa by another 14 days by going to SZ or macau.

- what are the risks of not getting a re-entry?
- i was holding a return ticket for the 14 days period, obviously this will need to e changed but at what time? before leaving HK? or at macau?
- Optimum time to leave HK, 14th day or earlier?

thanks for your help

[eburns]

The HK govt visa office would not simply stick my visa in my passport and let me carry on, because it was my first HK visa. My company picked it up at the govt office, gave it to me, and I stuck it in my American passport on a single-day round trip to Macau. No problems re-entering.

I'm a dual passport holder and was hoping to get a Chinese multiple entry visa in my UK passport. Do you know if I can do this since I have no Hong Kong arrival stamp in my UK passport since I used my American passport to enter HK? Am I stuck paying double and getting a visa only for my American passport?

Cheers,
Eric

[PDLM]

There seems to be no consistency on this - I (some years ago) and many others have reported no problem with ImmD putting the sticker in and just carrying on. But many have reported having to leave and re-enter.

On the China Visa I don't think there would be any problem getting it in either passport. As I understand it UK passport holders are charged pretty much the same high price as US holders, so I'm not sure there's much to be gained.

[Geishboy]

just curious, but are you able to enter HK as a tourist with a one-way plane ticket and wait for a work visa? I was told that i'd either have to wait for the visa or book an open-end round-trip ticket.

[PDLM]

Legally that's true but I don't know anyone who has ever been asked to show their return or onward ticket when entering HK on a Visitor Visa.