5ummer5

Hi All,

Im new to the forum and I was wondering if I could have some advice please.

Im considering moving to Hong Kong with my girlfriend who has a HK ID.

I understand that it is fairly difficult to get a visa to work/live there but I would want to go and live with her.

I am a Web Application Developer with a good educational background. My ideal situation is to setup my own business(s) exporting goods back to the UK. While still maintaining my customer base for Web Deveopment in the UK. Im really not sure about the visa situation based on my circumstances.

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Many Thanks!

Umpatan

Why not get married to her. And then, get a spouse visa. By the way, I have been to Hong Kong before too last year. Have you been to Chongkin Mansion? It is the best place to trade your currencies. Have you been to Tsim Tsa Tsui St? Jordan St? Nathan Road? Many Chinese Canadians are in Hong Kong.

5ummer5

Hi Umpatan,

Yeah we have talked about it but its not really the right time at the moment. With the way the economy is going at the moment we are going to wait a few years. Plus we are fairly young still (25, 24).

Does anyone have a little advice regarding the visa taking into account my educational and working background?

Also a friend of mine is planning to go to teach English. So worst comes to worst I could join him in teaching i suppose.

No I didnt go to Chongkin Mansion. I did go to Tsim Tsa Tsui, Jordan, Nathan Road to name a few! HK is just such a fantastic place!! I love it all!

joeyseven

You cannot work legally with a travel visa. To have your own business maybe a way for you to stay, otherwise you can only stay for whatever your visa allows. I guess 180 days for a Britian passport.

You may go check this forum where many active expats giving out suggestions. Tons of information that you need.

http://www.geoexpat.com/forum/

Good luck!!

5ummer5

Yeah, I will have to look into it a little more regarding having my own business there. Only if the flights were cheaper I wouldnt mind flying back to the UK for a few days ever 180 days!

Oh well.

Thanks for the information. I will have a look there!

Rincewind42

There's no need to return to the UK every 180 days. Simply crossing the the border out of HK and back will get you another 180 days. So simply taking a day trip to Macau or into PR China proper will be enough. The Macau trip would be easiest since UK passports don't need a visa to go there.

5ummer5

WOW! I didnt think it worked like that! Thanks for the info! Thats pretty good! The only issue I have then, is not holding the right visa to work.

penguinsix

'Topping up' over the border is NOT recommended long term. HK Immigration specifically look for this kind of behavior from folks and have been known to turn away folks who fit the pattern of this behavior. While it might work once or twice, eventually as you get more stamps in the passport your time in the inspection line will increase, they'll pull out a calendar and start counting and eventually you'll find yourself in a pickle.

This has been discussed on other HK expat boards. I really wouldn't recommend it.

fwiw, UK and US immigration also scan for this. I was working a project in Russia, living in the US, and in and out of LHR nearly every 6 weeks before and after my stays in Russia. I got stopped on more than one occasion and had to go through all my itineraries, schedules, etc when asked by immigration 'are you actually living in the UK?' The US says 90 day VWP visa and that covers US, Canada, Mexico and the Carribbean (i.e. you can't go over and top up and come back).

Desert Dweller

Web Application Developers with a good educational background are a dime a dozen in HK and even the good ones will work for a monthly wage less than what you will pay for rent.
The HK Chinese are very tech savvy and anything to do with the interweb can be done well and cheap.

britishbull

Can Brits turn up in HK without a return ticket?

joeyseven

I won't do it if you were flying from England to Hong Kong, unless you have a visa to prove that you don't need a return ticket, or you have a ticket that showing you will be leaving from Hong Kong to other country.

I will get a round-trip ticket to save potential troubles.

zeezack

I am in exactly the same boat. I am a web developer working in a web agency in the UK. I am on an ok wage, but I am concerned about the salary and long term prospects of dropping it all and trying to compete with locals in Hong Kong.

My girlfriend is mainland Chinese, we are now looking to marry in the UK. However she is really against wanting to work and live in the UK, so I will consider opportunities in Hong Kong.

I have thought about starting out my own business, as opposed to competing with locals for less money than what I earn now. I've got nearly 5 years of experience so I got to consider things carefully.

My English family are not so sure about the idea too, worried about me, concerned they will not be as close to my future kids as they would want to be. My father claims I will regret it, be stuck and if I were to split consider how I would feel knowing my kids would be in another country if indeed I was to return to the UK.

I feel I may have to try and start a business up in Hong Kong as a web agency but traffic down to the UK to try and support it. Consider starting a business in both countries and pushing the UK web budgets through to HK to get the work done cheaper, I don't know.

Desert Dweller

From a long-term expats point of view- if you want to be an expat, you can't think about 'what if' and you especially can't worry about what will possibly happen when you maybe have kids and possibly split up. Carpe diem.