[Aprilrain]

Guys and Gals,
I'm on dependent visa. Is it possible to work for any company as a consultant first while applying for the visa at the same time? Would any company be willing to do that? A few companies told me that they needed immediate avalability. Please comment! Thanks!
April

You are not allowed to work full time or part time for a company until your visa has been approved. Is your spouse on an employment visa or are they a permanent resident?

[berryplucker]

And if your spouse is on an employment visa, was your dependent visa issued before or after 1 July 2003?

[Aprilrain]

Thanks guys! Ya. My husband has his working visa, and I applied my visa this year. Bummer! I just thought that maybe I can work for a company as a consultant first on the project base. Is that possible? Does any company hire project based consultants? Is that legal here?
April

[aventino]

This is the same f**ked up situation my (post June 2003) wife is in. She has companies requiring her for short term projects in HKG of 1-2 weeks every couple of months. Each Company visiting Hong Kong is expected to apply for her work visa for each project i.e. 6-10 applications a year that I'm told take 1-3 months to process. They can't find anyone else with the same qualifications here so they bring someone with them from Europe instead. Unbelievable.

And she isn't allowed to start up a company here because she will be working for herself as a consultant. But if she hires some locals who don't have the qualifications and are of no use then that will help her chances. And the most depressing part of this is that there is work for her in China which she could do as a Hong Kong based consultant that would put no HKG locals out of work while bring money back into HKG. Which she isn't allowed to do on her dependant visa.

[HK Guy]

What is the type of work your wife involved in, and why is it so specilaised that no one in HK can do it may I ask?

[JJexpat]

There are a numer of information managment speciatities that are not well grounded in Hong Kong. Don't know if that may be the consulting area in question, but it applies in my own case. But, 'm set for a while anyway...wondering how I'll approach the same problem in the future.

[aventino]

Originally Posted by HK Guy

What is the type of work your wife involved in, and why is it so specilaised that no one in HK can do it may I ask?

I didn't say no-one could do it, I said they couldn't find anyone that wanted to. They need to be sales and marketing oriented and fluent in at least 3 European languages plus English. I suppose the other option is to hire 3 visa holders that are fluent in one european language each and they can go via English or Cantonese to translate amongst themselves which would make a joke of translating required at any conferences or meetings.

[berryplucker]

There are still international businesses out there that work in languages other than English???

[Vic78]

Well, naturally, did you seriously think that English is the only language in the world?