Can I apply for a HKID

I am waiting for my work visa to be approved in the next week however I have 5 and a half months left on my Canadian passport before I have to renew it and reapply for my work visa again.


Can I still apply for a HKID under these circumstances? The job I have is a full time permanent position with no end date

You can still apply for a work visa, but the visa will only be issued up to the date your passport expires and so you will then have to get your passport renewed and apply for a new visa again. You're better off renewing your passport now and so you can get the full visa, either 12 months if it's your first visa, or two years if you're renewing. It doesn't matter that your permanent position has no end date, you still have to keep getting your visas renewed.

I would check that. From memory I had a similar issue, and the 2 year visa was placed in my passport. When I had to renew my passport they had me take both (old & new) to immigration & they stamped the new one for free.


Call Immigration. They are surprisingly friendly!

Thank you .. Indeed I will.. This makes a lot of sense Nttaipei.. I hope it isn't a 6 month one (less than 6 month). If so I think I will have problems finding the apartment I want because I won't be applicable for a HKID


Thanks to you as well Shoe Girl.

I have been in HK for the last 4 months without an income . I really value your advice and thank you for it however I can not literally afford to wait to have my passport renewed. I am REALLY stupid for not checking this before I applied for the visa.. Never even crossed my emtpy mind :)

Nttaipei, the example you're giving is for when you renew a passport after you have a visa, then of course you have to take the old passport with the visa and they will stamp the visa onto the new one. What Camnuck is talking about is a passport expiring before the visa is issued, totally different thing. Immigration will not issue a visa for a period longer than the actual passport is valid. Think about it.


Camnuck, I can imagine it must be very difficult to be in an expensive city without an income. Unfortunately if you can't wait to get your new passport, I'm afraid you'll only get a shorter visa and then have to reapply again for another one. There's no other way around it. Why is your visa taking so long to get approved? 4 months seems too long. Immigration don't normally take that long.

Thank you Shoe Girl, thank you very much.


My apologies, I applied for the visa on June the 4th.. I came to Hong Kong 4 months ago to look for work so I could help care for my girlfriend who has been diagnosed with blood cancer.


She was a helper then and terminated her contract in the hope I could find a job and hire her as my FDH. Above everything else her x employer/pilot wanted her to be his mistress. As things take time we could not extend her visa anymore so she flew back the Pinays last week.


It is very hard right now being apart especially because she is ill. I booked a ticket to see her in the Philippines last Friday (whilst I wait for my visa) but was denied to board the plane because my passport expires in less than 6 months.. I am so stupid, I should have checked this first but also didn't know it would cause me these problems.


If/When my work visa is approved I plan to apply for her to be my FDH.. I have already got some tips to only mention the relationship as Proposed Employee/Employer.. I just hope that my 6 month visa wont cause any troubles with this. In the application I will state why I was only given a short term visa and also supply my letter of employment stating that my position is full time with no contractual end date.. I plan to be in HK for at least 4 years immigration permitting.

Hi Camnuck, so sorry to hear about your girlfriend's illness. Hope she will be okay.


Yes, most countries will not let you in unless you have a minimum of 6 months on your passport.


Is there any way the Canadian consulate can help expedite the new passport? I know the Australian consulate does, if you pay a bit extra. It may be worth it in the longrun and save you hassles as I don't think you'll be able to employ your girlfriend as a DH if you only have less than 6 months on your visa, for the same reasons I mentioned before. Her visa is dependent on being employed by you. If you only have 6 months on yours, they're not going to give her a 12 month visa.


Try to get a new passport asap. If you applied for visa on 4th June, you still have time to get the new passport before the visa is approved. In any event, once the visa is approved I think you have 90 days to activate it. So just because it gets approved on such-and-such date does not mean that that is when the visa starts. So I think you'll be okay as long as you hurry up and get a new passport.