[rb1234]

Well I finally managed to land a job in HK and should be moving out there permanently in May sometime.

Tomorrow I will be flying out to HK for one week to meet the team I will be working with and also to meet a relocation agent to start looking for apartments.

My Employment Visa has now been arranged and I received it yesterday. The company who arranged my Visa have also arranged an appointment for me to visit the Immigration Department in HK next week so that I can apply for a HK ID card.

One thing I have noticed is that on my Visa it states 'Good for a Single Journey to Hong Kong'. Now I don't know whether if I have the Visa approved on my arrival into HK on Monday morning that I will not be entitled to leave the country at the end of the week (to come back to London) and then re-enter HK in May when I make my final move there ?

So the question is, should I have the Employment Visa approved on this (one-week) trip ? or should I wait until I actually make the 'official' move into HK ?

Please help soon as my flight leaves tomorrow !

Thanks in advance,
Rick

[littleblom]

Hi Rick

Hmm.. as you're just coming for 1 week this time, I think you can use your identity as tourist, rite? As a tourist from UK you're entitled to stay here for 3 months (I think).. in that way you don't have to worry about the "one-way" problem then..

Btw, welcome to HK Have a safe trip!

Cheers, Blom

[paulmears]

When you come in come in on the visa and get it stamped at immigration, don't worry about the single journey (it refers to first one). You come in, get visa stamped and they put date to leave HK by (one year probably), when you come back just come back in on that one and you will get exit stamp to end of visa rather than the 180 days.

To be honest don't know of anybody who has ever been asked about return tickets in HK

[rb1234]

Thanks for the replies but now I'm kind of confused as to whether I should or should not get my Visa stamped when I arrive tomorrow...

If I do stamp then I guess this allows me to then still apply for my HK ID card later this week (I assume you need a working stamped Visa before you can apply).

If I don't stamp it means I don't have to worry about the possibility of something going wrong later on and it also means that I should get 12 months from the date I actually move to HK rather than 12 months from this week. Would I be right in thinking that ?

One more thing. Paulmears, you say that "when you come back just come back in on that one and you will get exit stamp to end of visa rather than the 180 days." Does that mean my Visa will be shortened to 6 months (180 Days) rather than the full 12 months when I re-enter in May for my official move?

Thanks again,
Rick

[KnowItAll]

Rick -- HR department .. bug them harrass them ... abuse them ...

Your question has me all confused. What was it again? ( Sorry .. cant deal with posts which have six questions in one para and all are marked urgent help needed)

[paulmears]

I would get it stamped, they put a stamp across it "journey completed" and you will get 12 months from that date. For example my visa was issued to me 10 Oct 05, came to HK 26 Nov 05 and have it dated now to 25 Nov 06, each time I leave and come back the date is to 25 Nov 06.

When it come to about Sept 06 , I will send in forms to extend for another 12 months. From what I know this is simple process

If you come in as tourist, don't think you will be able to get the HKID this trip. There is benefit of getting the HKID (initially you will get temporary and be able to pick up real card in about 10 days) as enables bank account to be opened and helps when looking for accomodation etc. You might want to get the relo agent to also pick up the real ID card for you as guess you will be back in UK

On below

"One more thing. Paulmears, you say that "when you come back just come back in on that one and you will get exit stamp to end of visa rather than the 180 days." Does that mean my Visa will be shortened to 6 months (180 Days) rather than the full 12 months when I re-enter in May for my official move?"

If you come in as tourist on UK passport you get 180 days, with the work visa 12 months from first entry so say you come 2 April 06 you will be able to come in and out to 1 April 2007 rather than 180 days max each entry as a tourist

[rb1234]

Hi again,

Ok, it sounds like I can get the Visa stamped on this journey and then continue with trying to get my ID card sorted out this week too.

My only concern was when I read the Visa itself and noticed the phrase 'Good for a Single journey to Hong Kong'. It sounded like it was a Single entry and not a multi-entry Visa.

Knowitall,

I guess to sum up, my real question is as above, if my Employment Visa states this Single journey, can I exit and enter HK at will over 12 months ?

Thanks again,
Rick

[freeier]

good for a single visit into hk to stamp your 1 year working visa.
but your hk id not likely to be issued within the week, still you can just use your working visa to get in and out of hk as a 'hk resident' status.