Supporting Letter

Our helper wants to bring her son to Hong Kong for a holiday. She tells me she requires a supporting letter for us. Anyone had any experience of this?

If your helper is from the Philippines, her son can come over without a supporting letter for 2 weeks to visit/have a vacation. A supporting letter will probably mean that you will be responsible for repatriating the son to his country of origin if he is caught overstaying among other things. How old is the son? Maybe he is here to look for a job and that might put you at risk. If the son is young, then where will he be staying? In your house? That might cause a problem too. Will your helper be able to concentrate on her job and take care of her son at the same time?

the baby is only six months old apparently he is going to stay at a boarding house with relatives. While I understand her desire to see him I don't think we want to take the responsibility of him overstaying

When we got married last year we had to provide a 'supporting letter' (actually it was a form provided by the PH consulate) for family members to come to HK for 2 weeks. (And yes, it was saying that we would be responsible for all of their expenses while in HK.) But when mother came back the baby was born a couple of months ago it was not a requirement. The difference as I saw it was that a year ago everyone came on a 2-week tourist visa but this time we applied for a 1-month visa for mother, and the 'declaration of support' was included in the sponsor's section of the visa application.


So my guess is that if your helper's son is coming for 2 weeks on a tourist visa then the supporting letter will be required - but whether it's you that should be providing it is the big question. I'd get your helper to get a copy of the form from the PH consulate in Admiralty and then show her that you are not prepared to make such a commitment (if that's what you want).

According to their web site Philippine citzens are entitiled to a two week visa but i will give them a call to confirm