ayalgueru

I am currently London based but have been for a while thinking of relocating to Asia, I had been offered a job in Singapore but the company I am joining had suddenly an urgent vacancy in Hong Kong and late in the day advised that they strongly preferred me to relocate to HK instead.

Nothing in this life is guaranteed, but I am confident that my wife, with her several years experience in HR (mostly financial services companies in London as well as back in Asia), can get a job in English speaking Singapore, but in HK most positions seem to have a Chinese language (Cantonese) requirement, my recruiter re-assured me that for someone with proper experience not speaking Cantonese is not an issue even if the job advert indicate it as mandatory, as long as the person has the right experience should be fine.

Now my question is ... since the recruiter wants to keep my prospective employer happy he has a vested interest in persuading me to go to Hong Kong as this is what my potential employer wants.

Is it true that for skilled jobs in HK Cantonese language is a nice to have, rather that mandatory, even if the job spec asks for the linguistic skills ... or is the recruiter being too clever here ?

Any helpful comments very welcome.

Thanks !

HK2UK

I don't know in that specific field but generally speaking, there are plenty of foreigners here who don't speak any Cantonese who work and get by fine.
Can she transfer with her current company? That is the most popular route for most expats here.
Also lots of non-English speaking foreigners here too, I don't know how they get by

ayalgueru

Thanks ...

Nope ,she tried to organise the transfer thing but they had nothing at the time which is unfortunate ... I guess we would have to go and see how it goes.

Kooky.

Requesting a Chinese language is usually a way of saying "no foreigners". Common in Singapore to keep out the Malays and Indians as well as the westerners, even if the position does not require the language.

IME it's easier for a trailing spouse to get a job once in the country. That's my experience in Singapore, and that of friends in HK.

I don't know the visa situation in HK, however - in Singapore the spouse of an Employment Pass holder can usually get the necessary paperwork quite easily and it doesn't cost the employer as much as an EP. Have you had advice on that?

ayalgueru

Hello seasider ... Visa details need to be iron out but my understanding is that spouses can work so paperwork aside (which needs to be done) it should be ok.

HK2UK

She can get a dependents visa quite easily providing you are male as HK immigration do not recognize gay marriages.

She will most definitely be able to find work, it just whether she will find work that she is used to/enjoys/pays what she is happy with.