[ukraindrop]

Hi im moving to HK soon...and I got 2 questions....
If all goes to plan my dependant visa will be granted....

1) when i get to HK how do I go about applying for an identity card, and how long does it take?

2) As a dependant, can I look for jobs, and do I have to apply for a work permit?
I'd like to look for jobs as soon as I get there but I understand that I cant work with a dependant visa?

Any help would be great!!!!

[berryplucker]

1) Forms available from the Immigration Department website http://www.immd.gov.hk About 2 weeks once you have the dependent visa.

2) If you are a dependent of a Permanent Resident then you have the right to work. If not then you will need to secure sponsorship for an emplyment visa from any potential employer. This means it has to be reasonably clear that they could make a case that there is no local who could do whatever it is they wish to employ you to do.

[ukraindrop]

im a bit confused...isnt there a new thing that dependants do not automatically have the right to work?

[berryplucker]

If you are the Dependent of a Permanent Resident then you automatically have the right to work.

For Dependent of other Residents (people here on Employment or other visas) then if you applied to be a Dependent after 1 July 2003 then you do not have the right to work without first securing a separate Employment visa in your own right.

[ukraindrop]

thanks so much....that has been a lot of help to me!!!!!!!!!

[ukraindrop]

ok...do i still have to let the immigration know of the job im doing or anything?

[nivantj]

Originally Posted by ukraindrop

ok...do i still have to let the immigration know of the job im doing or anything?

As long as you are eligible to work under the criteria mentioned by Berry, You dont need to inform ImmD.

[mangomui]

i have a question too... i'll be going back to HK in November and was thinking of changing my HK id to the new smart id, but the thing is the last time i went back to HK was just gone past 3 years and someone said to me that i wouldn't be able to do it. Is this true?

[berryplucker]

If you hold a HK ID then you are required to change it to a SmartID. However, if you were a permanent resident but not a citizen then after being absent for 3 years you will lose the right of abode and your status will change to "right to land". As far as I can see this doesn't make any significant difference in practice, but you new ID card will have different words on the back.

[martykay]

Originally Posted by berryplucker

If you hold a HK ID then you are required to change it to a SmartID. However, if you were a permanent resident but not a citizen then after being absent for 3 years you will lose the right of abode and your status will change to "right to land". As far as I can see this doesn't make any significant difference in practice, but you new ID card will have different words on the back.

yes thats right, but one major difference is that if u dont hold a permanent id card, the government has the right to export u back to ur home country (or the country of citzenship u hold). one such reason of giving u the boot is if you break the law. (fraud/ robbery)
If u hold the permanent Id card, the goverment has no rights to kick you out of the country.