how does it work?

i am moving to hong kong in a few months and i was wondering if anyone can tell me what there is to do there. charity work? is it legal for americans to work there? any info would be great!

To work in HK you need a work visa - even if you just do charity/volunteer/unpaid work. The visa is sponsored by the employer and is employer-specific. Some companies are not keen to go through the hassle of sponsoring visas.


The exception to this is if you are coming here as a dependent in which case your spouse (yes, you must be married for this visa) or parent (if you are under 18) can apply for a dependent visa.


Note: It is illegal to work in HK on a tourist visa so get a dependent or work visa sorted out before you start work.


For volunteer work, check out the Agency for Voluntary Service (AVS) and Ho-Sum.

Hi Chef79,


Also, you should get your visa situation sorted out (or at least start applying) before you get here. If you do not apply for the correct visa before you come, you need to have a well-written explanation for why you didn't do that. It's easier for your visa application to be rejected if you don't start the process before you get here.


I went through the whole thing this January. I was sponsored by my husband but because we didn't apply for the visa before we moved back to Hong Kong (he is a Hong Kong citizen) we had to go through extra work to get it. Our explanation for not applying for the visa before we arrived in Hong Kong was very legitimate, though as we actually couldn't apply earlier because of where we were living and they accepted our written statement. It's not always this way.