Non-Local Graduate Visa

Hi there guys,


There's a possibility that my work is maybe going to offer me a position in their Hong Kong office. At the moment I live in Edinburgh, UK.


I assume that they would sort out a work visa for me and that shouldn't be an issue as I have a degree and garuanteed employment.


However I have a long-term girlfriend (3.5 years) and of course she'd like to come with me. She has just finished university (graduates in June) and so I had a few questions about the possibilities of getting her a work visa.


I noticed on the http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/id991.htm#II website that they mention 'non-local graduates', and as a 'fresh' graduate who has graduated in the last 6 months she would be able to get a work visa without being sponsered by a company. My main question is whether they mean that all graduates can apply for this, or only people who have graduated from a Hong Kong university?


Also assuming she did manage to get a work visa under this scheme, what are the possibilities of employment once she's over there? She has a degree in Zoology although I'm sure she would be open to any possibilities. With a TEFL certificate is it relatively easy to get a job teaching English? Or is it pretty similar to the UK where once you have a work visa it becomes a case of just applying to jobs and going through the application process? I assume that having a visa and accomodation would be a plus point to employers?


Thanks for your help guys, I'm incredibly excited by the prospect of this and I'm just looking to be well informed.


If you have any other information on other possibilities such as Working Holiday Visa's then it would be great to hear that also.


Cheers,

Just read through the document, it seems that to me that non local graduate means those who are foreign national but graduated from a program in Hong Kong and not anywhere. Most countries will not offer employment visa's to graduates from other countries unless the degree is very specialised, medicine for example, so I really wouldn't hold out to much hope there I'm afraid.


You cant work in Hong Kong unless you have the visa unfortunately and they are very strict on that. She can come here on a tourist visa and apply for jobs and have the employer apply for a visa for her if she gets the job, but she will be at a slight disadvantage during the interview process as some employers will prefer to hire those that are already eligible to work in Hong Kong, but if they are keen on hiring an expat, and that person is already on a work visa, they will need to change the visa to reflect new employer, (meaning there will be some sort of visa process for any expat they hire that is not a permanent resident) so its not that huge a disadvantage


If she can get a work visa there are tons of English teaching jobs, but as employers from what I have read they are not keen on providing work visas for their employees probably due to attrition of staff. Sorry I cant be more positive. I read on here there is some kind of working holiday program but I dont know the intricacies of it, I will have a hunt for the thread an post it


You could always marry your girlfriend and she could get a dependent visa, but I assume you are probably not ready for such a drastic step