[Duffer]

Hi,

My partner is being transferred with work to HK for 2 years and I am planning on joining him. Our relationship is same sex so there is no hope of me getting an employment visa as a dependent.

I have read many threads here about doing a visa run and realise that eventually questions will be asked by immigration.

My work is internet based so I can continue to work for my Australian company from home in HK.

When the inevitable questions come from immigration does anyone know if they will allow me reentry if I can show that I am fully supporting myself and am not working for a HK company?

If anyone is in or has been in a similar situation any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I will probably do some of my visa runs back to Australia or the US and would be away for about a month so will that help delay immigration getting suspicious?

Thanks in advance.

[PDLM]

It's very problematic. If you are here as a visitor then you're not allowed to work, so showing that you are doing that as a means to support yourself is probably counter-productive.

Some people seem to get away with it for years, some get pulled up within months, so it's impossible to say for sure - every time you try to re-enter there's the possibility of being declined or getting a short-term restricted visa. If it will definitely only be for two years then my pure guess is that you probably wouldn't have a problem with, say, 5 or 6 visits of 3 months or so during that time with breaks of several weeks. But who knows, particularly the way China seems to be going into Xenophobic mode at the moment.

Another option, so I have heard, is that there are people who can arrange a marriage for you to a HK Permanent Resident who you will only ever have to meet at the wedding. This would get you a Dependant Visa, allowing you to work as you wish. Obviously it is highly illegal, but if you do succeed in getting the visa the chances of it subsequently going wrong are very small. Having said that it would probably take 6 months to work everything out and get the paperwork.

[Duffer]

Thanks PDLM.

One other alternative is getting my company to set up an office in HK. You don't happen to know if my company can sponsor me if they set up a rep office? Or does a company need to have a minimum of a branch office to be able to sponsor an employment visa?

[PDLM]

The legal status of the office doesn't really matter, but if you can't show how the business is adding value to the Hong Kong economy (beyond you paying taxes) then you may have difficulty getting ImmD to approve an Employment Visa like that.

[Boris]

One other alternative is getting my company to set up an office in HK. You don't happen to know if my company can sponsor me if they set up a rep office? Or does a company need to have a minimum of a branch office to be able to sponsor an employment visa?[/quote]

If you set up a company here in HK. That company can then provide the basis of sponsoring you.
However -- it would have to be seen a a valid and worthwhile company and not a shell with a virtual office. Your local company sec - or a specialised visa providing company - would then put the required details to Immg for their decision.

[Duffer]

Thanks again PDLM and Boris.

My company writes industry reports on Aus, US and China so we should be able to come up with a valid reason to have a representative there.

A rep office is the cheapest and easiest way of setting up there as far as my research tells me and there are no tax or audit requirements on a rep office. I was just having trouble determining whether a rep office has the right to sponsor.

It will be easy for me to convince my company to set up a rep office but if you need to have a 'proper' company in order to sponsor well that will be much tougher due to the expense on the company for what is a personal decision on my part.

Thanks - your advice has been great.

[Boris]

" I was just having trouble determining whether a rep office has the right to sponsor."

If its a registered company in HK - yes.
The cost is not prohibitive to register. Work harder and pay it out of your bonus !

[Duffer]

That's the plan Boris! Thanks again.