Hong
Kong Residence and Property
All
nationals require visas to enter Hong Kong
(with the exception of British nationals
who are allowed visa free entry for a period
of 6 months). The rules governing residence
and employment visas in Hong Kong are extremely
complex, and have become even more so since
1997
As
a general rule, any person other than those
having the right of abode or right to land
in Hong Kong, must obtain a visa before
coming to Hong Kong for the purpose of education,
taking up employment, training, investment
or residence.
It
is also possible to travel to Hong Kong
as a visitor, and to obtain employment while
there. However, it has become increasingly
difficult for the employer concerned to
obtain a work permit in such cases, and
this method is not advised.
Transfers
of specialised or managerial staff within
companies for a limited period of time are
usually uncontentious; but recruitment of
specialised staff to enter Hong Kong is
quite difficult.
The
Government's policy on importation of labour
is:
-
Local workers must be given priority
in filling job vacancies available in
the job market, however employers who
are genuinely unable to recruit local
workers to fill their job vacancies
should be allowed to bring in imported
workers;
-
Employers are required to register relevant
job vacancies at the Labour Department
for a specified period;
-
Imported workers are to be paid at least
the median monthly wages of comparable
local workers;
-
Imported workers are permitted to remain
only under direct employment by the
same employer under the standard Employment
Contract throughout their period of
stay in Hong Kong and the contract is
governed by all labour laws in Hong
Kong;
-
Upon the completion of their Employment
Contracts, they are required to return
to their places of origin; and
The Government operates a 'Supplementary
Labour Scheme' under which it is possible
to import labour. All applications have
to be submitted to the Job Matching Centre
of the Labour Department for initial screening
to establish whether the wages and job requirements
for the vacancies for imported workers are
no less than those given to comparable local
workers.
Each application then has to pass three
tests:
-
make genuine efforts to recruit locally
through newspaper advertisements for
two weeks;
-
concurrently with the newspaper advertisements
above, participate in the Labour Department's
Job Matching Programme for four weeks;
and
-
where appropriate, go through the Employees
Retraining Board to see whether special
courses can be organised to train up
local workers in accordance with the
requirements of the employers.
Upon the advice of the Labour Advisory Board,
the Government will consider whether to
approve or refuse each application. Once
an application has been approved, the employer
can arrange for the imported worker(s) to
submit application(s) to the Immigration
Department for entry visas
In
October, 2007, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang
announced new plans designed to ensure that
Hong Kong's position as a leading global
finance hub is consolidated and strengthened.
He observed that China's rapid development
and the opening up of its financial sector
have presented unprecedented opportunities
for Hong Kong's financial-services sector.
Tsang
added that with these large-scale development
projects, Hong Kong will need to expand
its pool of skilled workers, and will "require
talented people from everywhere". Consequently,
to help attract more qualified people, the
Quality Migrant Admission Scheme's requirements
will be relaxed and widely promoted. Last
year, 28,000 foreigners came to work in
Hong Kong and settled in the jurisdiction,
including about 5,500 from the Mainland.
After
a slump in property values and costs in
2001-2003, in 2006 Hong
Kong leaped up the property costs league
table and entered the top three most expensive
office locations in the world, according
to a survey by DTZ, the global property
adviser.
DTZ’s
ninth annual Global Office Occupancy Costs
survey is a guide to accommodation costs
in major prime office locations covering
117 business districts in 46 countries worldwide.
It found that the West End of London maintained
its position as the world's most expensive
office location with occupancy costs of
US$18,740 per workstation per year. Washington
DC climbed two spaces to become the second
most expensive location with occupancy costs
of US$15,370.
However,
according to DTZ, the most notable finding
was the rate at which office occupancy costs
have increased in Hong Kong, posting a 61%
increase over the last decade to US$15,000
per workstation per year. This resulted
in the city climbing 13 places to become
the world’s third most expensive location.
