[Lozzapop]

I've recently moved to HK with my partner. I worked as a probation officer in the UK and have not been able to find any information on whether I can continue working in the same profession in HK.
Can anyone provide insight/had dealings with probation (on either side of the law)!!!

[PDLM]

Do you speak Cantonese or Mandarin? Otherwise I'd have thought you'd be rather short of customers!

Presumably also you're looking for something that would be eligible for an Employment Visa?

[Lozzapop]

Nope, just an english speaker. Im getting married, so I don't require a visa.
I thought there could be something I could do in a related field.. unless there are enclaves of english speaking offenders out there?!

[AdeleMarie]

Hi,

Im in exactly the same situation. I am a probation officer in the UK but moved here 3 weeks ago...im really struggling to find something related...I will let you know if I come across anything!!!

[KnowItAll]

What??? Two probation officers from the UK who've moved here in two months?

Bankers, IT, Traders I can fully understand...

Had no clue probation officers formed a large enough %age of the population to become statistically relevant.

[XI_YAN]

isn't there some statistical law to do with probability that covers coincidences like this?

[jayinhongkong]

Sorry guys, unless you have a strong command of both spoken and written Chinese, law enforcement is out of the question for you. If you're a pretty large bloke and good at unarmed combat, you might be able to snag a gig as a bouncer/security, but that's about as close as you're going to get to law enforcement here. I would've been very interested in joining the HK Police, but by the time I got written Chinese down to a level that they'd consider adequate, I'd be in my 30s.

There's also the prospect of being a professional bodyguard, but they'd want you to know HK and speak Cantonese as well, and qualifications in bodyguarding always help too.

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by jayinhongkong

{Some stuff about bodyguards and bouncers}

I think you have misunderstood what a Probation Officer is - they are not at all like bodyguards or bouncers.

[jayinhongkong]

No, but they're considered law enforcement officers (at least in the US) and carry firearms, so they get the same kind of respect police officers do, who often work security gigs off-duty or after retiring. I guess that's more for male POs though. Perhaps the situation in the UK's different.

[ScotchDrinker]

This might shed some light. There's also a list of phone numbers and addresses of the probation offices if you wanna contact them directly. One word of advice though - keep your enquiries short...

Social Welfare Department