A graduate of the London School of Economics, Stephen started his first dedicated Hong Kong immigration practice, LL.B Consultancy, in Kowloon in 1993 straight out of law school. In 1996, Stephen wrote, then published, the first edition of the Hong Kong Visa Handbook on the internet - which went on to be the leading D-I-Y guide to the Hong Kong visa and immigration process. Stephen is an acknowledged expert in all matters relating to Hong Kong immigration and for many years has delivered CPD programmes to the legal community of the HKSAR. Frequently invited to speak on the topic of Hong Kong visas, Stephen is widely sought after for commentary from the Hong Kong press, to deliver talks to business and HR organisations and appears regularly as guest on RTHK Radio 3 answering visa and immigration questions live on air.
Course Objective:
At the end of the session, participants will have a comprehensive understanding of how business immigration practice is experienced and policy is configured availing all the resources required to at once advise and guide clients through their various applications to the Hong Kong Immigration Department.
Course Outline:
Business immigration to Hong Kong has many moving parts taking in commercial dynamics, individual skills of foreign national employees, accompanying family relationships, protection of local jobs, and economic or social benefit to the HKSAR. Given that the Director of Immigration has such broad discretion in the setting and implementation of policy, mostly undocumented in any actionable guise and mainly falling outside of the arena of judicial oversight, advising clients requires a comprehensive understanding of how all the requisite visa types are constructed and day-to-day practice experienced.
This programme will take in the following:
Employment Visas - business investment, for inter company transferees and also specifically recruited foreign national employees.
Capital Investment Visa - Hong Kong residence in exchange for capital commitment.
Family Visas - spouse, children, defacto partners and same sex couples.
Exceptional Talent Visa - the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme.
Visas for Mainlanders - the specific visa types suitable for Chinese nationals seeking to reside in the HKSAR.
Long Stay Visas & Permanent Residence - for foreign nationals having resided in the HKSAR for at least 7 continuous years.
Refused Applications and Appeals - turning a negative decision into a positive outcome.
The session will also look at what constitutes permitted activity for those who hold visitor visas and how ImmD go about handling applications from such visitors to change their status while physically present in the HKSAR.
This programme is designed to be hands-on and interactive. Provided also as part of the session will be an array of templates, application plan resources, screen casts, videos and podcasts to enable immediate practical use of all subject matter taught.
