Posted by
MayC
18 yrs ago
Can you help with the following questions? Thanks.
- When can I apply for permanent residency if my visa expires on the 3rd of July 2008? I've been here for 7 years already.
- Do I go in person or post to them first, then wait for the interview? If I go in person, can I do everything there and then or will I still have to come back for an interview?
- I cannot find my tax letters from 2001-2004. Can I request these from the tax office?
- I am a resident because my husband is a local Hongkonger. Does he need to come along when I apply? Do I need my marriage certificate?
Thanks.
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"If you are maried to a permanent HK'er you don't have to wait 7 years."
Actually, yes you do. Even married to a PR you can only qualify for a dependant visa for the first 7 years. You are entitled to PR after you have been resident here for 7 years. All the required forms are available from the Immigration Department.
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Yes, dadda, evildeeds is absolutey correct; you have to have been ordinarily resident in HKG for not less than 7 years, regardless of who you're married to, before you're eligible to apply for permanent resident.
Before applying for PR, you actually have to apply for verification of eligibility by filling out a form.
You need to have a copy of your passport showing your first visa when you arrived and also your current one.
If you haven't got all your tax receipts, you can request the Inland Revenue Department to provide you with a statement of all your tax years.
You need to show bank statements, employment proof, official receipts.
If you have all these, it's a fairly straightforward process.
You can post your application in or even fax it. Don't send orginals, only copies. It's not necessary for you to attend, nor your husband. You don't need to show them your marriage certificate.
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MayC
18 yrs ago
Thank you all. I will submit photocopies of everything I have on hand and hopefully they are enough for immigration.
I have written to immigration for copies of my tax returns which I have misplaced and hopefully they'll be able to send me those before my "interivew".
Shoe Girl, you're right, I have to fill out a verification of eligibility before applying for PR. I hope I have time because my visa expires on the 3rd of July and if it takes several months to get my PR, that would be awful.
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Baru
18 yrs ago
sorry to hijack, but those who have been issued with a Hong Kong ID card (not permanent), are the holders still required to return to the territory within a 36 months as with those of permanent residency?
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ltxhk
18 yrs ago
"I have written to immigration for copies of my tax returns which I have misplaced and hopefully they'll be able to send me those before my "interivew"."
You need to request your tax returns from Inland Revenue Dept (IRD); NOT the Immigration Dept.
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If you hold permanent resideny, you are only required to return to the territory at least once within a 36 month period if you wish to maintain right of abode, which as I understand it, is simply the ability to vote. once you have achieved permanent residency, you have the right to land for the rest of your life, that is to say, you can live and work and Hong Kong, but cannot vote.
As far as those who do not have permanent residency goes, I think the ID card is valid perpetualy, but your ability to work is dependant on your work visa.
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I thought that MayC's visa was expiring on 3rd July, not that she was leaving town. But anyway, she cannot apply for PR until after 7 years, unlike an extension of a visa when you're able to apply one month before it expires.
MayC, it may be that you have to get an extension of your visa in the meantime.
Email me if you have problems and I may be able to help you.
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MayC
18 yrs ago
Wow, thank you all.
Now I know that I should stay put (in Hong Kong) until I get my PR here in Hong Kong, just in case.
I have a question regarding this remark:-
"Due to your visa expiring in 2 weeks time, there will not be enough time for your permanent card to be issued before your visa expires. This means you will be classified as an overstayer and illegal in HK".
So this means that while waiting for my PR which could take more than 2 weeks by the sound of it, I should go now to immigration to apply for either a visitor visa or an extension of my residency. Does this sound right?
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cd
18 yrs ago
I think you should just apply for a new visa to tide you over, then you can go on holiday, or to Macau for dinner etc without worrying. It could take quite a while to get all your paperwork done for the PR and get it approved. It took us months, although we were having to do all the paperwork times 7.
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MayC, I have one question to ask you: you said you've already been here for 7 years. When did your 7-year period finish? Forget about your visa expiring on 3rd July. You can apply for your PR right now. Forget about how long the Immigration Department take to process it. Once you have lodged it, you will get an acknowledgement card from them and you can be free to come and go wherever you like. You will NOT be an overstayer once your application is lodged. You will NOT come back on a tourist visa once your application has been lodged. Your status will remain as it is until you get your PR. You have to be physically in HKG when you lodge the papers for PR, but once you lodge them you can come and go as you please.
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I think if that was the case Christian, which I am not denying that it may be given your experience, its obviously a loophole, which I think a quick visit to immigration before you actually leave Hong Kong would probably be able to fix.
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Christian, I did not say that you were a permanent resident until everything was approved; I said that once the papers have been lodged and you have received an acknowledgement from them (ie a chop on your application to say they have received it), you will not be an overstayer or if you leave you will not be on a tourist visa when you return. I actually apply for visas for clients every day as part of my job.
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MayC
18 yrs ago
Thank you all for the comments.
I've decided to go to immigration on Monday to hand in my photocopied papers so I can personally ask them about whether or not I need to apply for an extended visa or I get a temporary receipt showing that I'm in the process of applying for a PR.
Will let you all know how it goes.
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Christian,
I am doubting you at all that you had that nasty experience. Unfortunately, as my experience has been, a lot of immigration officers are not that 'bright'. Yours obviously made a mistake, then realised it, but didn't want to appear like he/she knew what she was talking about. If you were truly an overstayer, you would have been fined and maybe even taken to the Immigration Detention Centre. I've often found that if you challenge them when they're obviously mistaken, they do back down.
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Correction, I meant to say above that they don't want it to appear like they don't know what they're talking about.
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MayC
18 yrs ago
Hi, I've just spent half a day at immigration and here are the answers:-
1) They count seven years from the day they issued my first Hong Kong visa, NOT the first day I arrived in Hong Kong.
2) I cannot submit my permanent residency application now. I have to wait until the 3rd of July, which is the date they recognise my 7 years (the day my visa expires).
3) I had to extend my current visa because I will not be able to get my permanent residency on time. I submitted an application to extend today and it is only available on the 15th of July. This means that between 3rd of July 2008 (when my visa expires) to 15th of July (when my extended visa becomes available), I cannot leave Hong Kong or there will be problems.
4) They cannot say when I'll get my permanent residency visa because it depends on whether or not I've got all the documents they need when I apply.
For anyone else that's applying, please note that it is advisable to apply for an extended visa 3 weeks before your visa expires. This means you won't be stuck in Hong Kong for 2 weeks like I will be ;-)
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You can (and they really should have told you that when you were there just now) extend for an "interim extension of stay". This would give you an short extension of your current visa until you can pick up your "regular" extension of stay. Costs another HKD 160 and one form to fill (same as extension of stay). Really easy and they will provde the interim extenions on the spot.
So - if you have to travel, that may be worth considering.
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Is it true one should submit all the utility and phone bills for the past 7 year? I don't think I even kept them!!
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I am pretty sure that is not true. They require your tax returns for the time period, and you can either file them with your application or they will obtain them from Inland Revenue directly is my understanding anyway
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May, the reason they count the 7 years from the date of the first visa and not the first arrival in HKG is because you have to have been ordinarily resident in HKG for a period of not less than 7 years. A lot of people come here on a tourist visa, then get an employment visa, so technically the time you're here on a tourist visa, you can't be deemed to have been resident. Also, a lot of employers wait until their employees arrive before applying for their visas, which is what happened to me when I first arrived. So although I arrived in May, I didn't get my work visa issued until October, so I had to wait until 7 years had passed from October, not May, before I could apply for my PR.
Regarding the extension of your visa, as you have already lodged it today, there should not be any problems with leaving HKG for a short period if you want to. WHen the extension visa is issued, it will be backdated to 3rd July.
They should have given you a white acknowledgement card today. YOU just need to carry it with you when you travel and show the immigration officers to prove that you have an application which is pending.
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Oh, you don't have to have 7 years' worth of utility bills; you just have to prove that you have been resident here for that period of time, so you can use tax statements, bank statements, rental leases. THat sort of thing.
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Shoe Girl, since you are working in this area, I am surprised by some of your posts. Fact is, if you file an extension of stay you can of course leave Hong Kong (but not using the e-channel, because the information stored on your ID Card chip has not yet been updated). However, they will likely enquire about your status and you have a very good chance of running into exactly the troubles, Christian was mentioning above. When you return, you will have to enter as visitor (although you are allowed to use the resident channel (again not e-channel). During the time of your arrival as visitor until you collect your extension of stay visa label you are not allowed to work in Hong Kong.
In addition, they may later, when you are filing your application for permanent resident argue that you entered Hong Kong as a visitor in between and could argue that they will count the 7 years from the date after you received your extension. After all, the law states that you are required to be resident in Hong Kong for seven CONSEQUTIVE years. Their decision is discretionary, and usually they are not that strict - but do you want to take the chance?
So, yes, after filing extension of stay and before collecting the visa label you most certainly will run into some trouble with Immigration.
On another note, you mentioned earlier that if you are an overstayer you will be fined and potentially send to Immigration Detention Center. That may be the case in serious cases. However, the "standard" expat in Hong Kong who just forgot to renew his/her visa will usually not be fined, provided the period of overstaying is not excessive. The Immigration Department is actually quite relaxed in this regard. They will issue an instant retrospective extension of stay (as visitor which will cost you the usual fee of HKD 160). Then you can apply for the "normal" extension of stay (caosts you another 160).
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Wupper, I have not made mention of using e-channels; I just said you can leave Hong Kong and you can leave HKG.
Regarding permanent residency, the term you have to bear in mind is "ordinarily resident for a period of not less than 7 years"; and it's back-to-back employment visas or dependant visas they take into account,
As you mentioned, yes, everything the Immigration Department does is indeed discretionary. That is why if they refuse a visa you can't appeal their decision but can ask them to reconsider it. That also applies to whether they decide to fine you and deport you if you're an overstayer. So do you want to take that chance?
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so in lieu of utility/bank statements etc., would a collection of old passports with the accompanying visa stickers be sufficient proof of continuous residency?
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Yes, you will also need tax returns, they need to see you havent been evading, my friend applied he has been in Hong Kong for eleven years, and the last company that he worked for basically helped him evade tax so he didnt have returns filed for every year he was a resident and they denied him permanent residency status. You dont have to file the returns with the application, it would probably speed up things if you did, but I think immigration get them from Inland Revenue if you dont have yours to submit
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"Yes, you will also need tax returns, they need to see you havent been evading"
Just to note there this only applies if your 7 years has been as a working visa holder. Slightly different for a dependant visa holder as they may have no tax returns at all.
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I think that went without saying
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