What is "ordinarily resident"?

I have been residing in Hong Kong for almost 4 years with an Investment Visa. Prior to this 4 year period, I was living in Hong Kong for almost 14 months with several 6-month visitor’s visas in my British Passport. I would like to know whether I could therefore argue that I have already accumulated more than 5 years of residency towards my Permanent Residency status.


During the first 14 months, could it be argued that I was “ordinarily resident”, despite having no employment visa or investment visa? During those months, I was staying with my brother in his apartment, was unemployed, and I could provide evidence that I had reasonable means to support myself (bank statements of savings in UK). I could also provide evidence from my Hong Kong bank account statement and passport that I was living my daily life here and only temporarily left Hong Kong on short trips. If it would help, I could say that during that time, I was researching and planning my future company, which has gainfully employed me for the subsequent 4 years.


In short, would it be possible to argue that I “ordinarily resided in Hong Kong” and had “taken Hong Kong as my place of permanent residence” during my first year or so in Hong Kong, with a view to achieving Permanent Resident status in approximately two years from now?


Many thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

I had the same question as well. Before getting married in HK I have been on a visitor visa for over a year, renewing it whenever necessary.

Immigration informed me that the time spent on an visitor visa is not considered to be ordinarily resident and therefore not counted on the 7 years you need.

That's also my understanding. Any time spent in HK on a tourist visa (or, for the record, a domestic helper visa) does not count towards the time qualification for obtaining PR status.

No because the early visas are for visitor only. In other words, the entry was not for residence, it was for visit, the antithesis of residency.

First step is to get a Hong Kong I.D. card. You qualify for this as a consequence of employment, or of certain other conditions (dependent/spouse of someone who is employed, etc.) The next step towards Permanent Residence is to keep the I.D. card "active" by being in Hong Kong at least once a year for seven years. That could mean living here, or even living somewhere else but setting foot in HK (and getting this recorded at the immigration checkpoint) at least once a year.


Immigration Department in Wanchai, or the Government website, lists various other qualifiers for "ordinarily resident," such as proof of home ownership, but when I applied for P.R., the only two that mattered were the date I first got the card and the proof that I had physically been here from time to time during the subsequent seven years. I hadn't owned a home so that finally was irrelevant. Note that "being here" was not on a tourist visa: the identity card seemed to convey the right to land for a period of time based on my nationality.


Sorry for being long-winded. The Immigration people at Immigration Tower in Wanchai are extraordinarily helpful and can walk you through the requirements. So can the various websites, though they make it sound harder than it may really be. Others may have had a different experience, but what I just wrote is exactly what worked for me.