Hong Kong offers a unique visa program for entrepreneurs who wish to relocate and set up, operate and/or invest in a business here. Put simply, the Hong Kong Investment as Entrepreneur visa grants a business owner the right to stay and work for his own company as an employee.

The eligibility rests on the applicant’s personal qualifications and those of the current or future business he/she intends to set up and/or operate in Hong Kong. Because the purpose behind this visa scheme is to strengthen Hong Kong’s economy, an applicant must convince the officer of the Hong Kong Immigration Department (or the “IMMD”) that the intended business will add tangible value to the city of Hong Kong.

Investment as Entrepreneur Visa Highlights

As a candidate for the Investment as Entrepreneur visa, your academic and professional backgrounds will be assessed by the officer. Therefore, instead of just having a graduate degree from a reputable university, highlighting your proven expertise, experience in a relevant field or track record is highly recommended under this visa scheme.

Once the Investment as Entrepreneur visa is approved, it would typically remain valid for 2 years. After the initial period of 2 years, you may have it renewed – called the Extension of Stay – for two more periods of 3 years to keep operating your company. Once you have accumulated 7 consecutive years of residence in Hong Kong, you become eligible to claim the right of abode in Hong Kong and apply for the permanent residency status.

Under this employment visa scheme, you may also bring along your spouse and dependent children. This dependent status grants a length of stay that is tied to your own length of stay as the main applicant. Dependent visa holders are also free to take up employment or study in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong needs no introduction in terms of being a popular tax haven for businesses, so that more business profits remain in the pockets of their business owners. In fact, PwC and the World Bank have ranked Hong Kong as the business location with the friendliest tax system in 2020, just second to Bahrain.

Also, Hong Kong is the perfect gateway and steppingstone to expand your business in China, with its population of 1,45 billion as of July 1, 2021.

PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Paying Taxes 2020–Overall Ranking and Data Tables." Accessed Dec. 9, 2021.

Top tips for the Investment as Entrepreneur Visa Application

1. The business is preferably within traditional pillar industries of Hong Kong (i.e., trading and logistics, transportation, convention and exhibition industries, tourism, cultural and creative industries, manufacturing, innovative technologies, financial and professional services) or high-value-added industries.
2. Apply for any compulsory license in advance if it is mandatory (SFC, liquor, food, restaurant, recruitment, etc.) under the laws of Hong Kong.
3. It is best to have an executed tenancy agreement for the workplace at the time of submission of the visa application, with a standard 1 or 2-year fixed term. The size of the workspace shall be commensurate to the intended business, but certainly the bigger the better in order to demonstrate commitment.
4. Able to provide traceable records of source of funds and capital injection from the applicant’s personal bank account to a Hong Kong corporate bank account.
5. Personal and existing Hong Kong or foreign company bank statements of the past 3 months to demonstrate that the applicant and/or his/her company(ies) are financially stable and capable of sustaining the Hong Kong business.
6. If at least 1 local employee has already been hired, it is definitely favorable evidence to provide with the visa application. If no staff has yet been employed by the company, then job advertisements with the received resumes from candidates shall be submitted to demonstrate that the recruitment of local staff is underway.
7. The IMMD does not specifically provide a minimum capital injection requirement, but your proposed investment must be sufficient to execute your business plan. Therefore, in your proposed business establishment or projections, make sure that your planned investment covers all the operational (office rent, salary, operation cost, etc.) and startup expenses of your business for a minimum period of at least 6 to12 months.
8. If possible, sufficient audit reports or financial statements of a well-established company which operated for 2 years or more would be ideal for the Investment as Entrepreneur visa application.

Documentation Requirement

1.

Documents required from the applicant:

• Copy of the personal particulars page of his/her passport
• Copy of academic qualifications and relevant working experience certification
• Copy of the company’s employment contract or appointment letter
• Copy of the company registration documents (Business Registration Certificate, Certificate of Incorporations, Article of Association, etc.)

2.

Business plan:

• A feasible and realistic business plan is instrumental in a successful application of the Investment as Entrepreneur visa. To demonstrate the viability of your proposed company and how it could contribute to the economic growth of Hong Kong, you should incorporate in your plan the nature of your business, market analysis, market positioning, business direction, sales target, product marketing strategy, among other key figures of your planned business. To demonstrate that you will bring valuable contribution to Hong Kong, you should also elaborate on the job vacancies your business will create for the local workforce and on your collaboration with local suppliers, service providers and manufacturers while conducting your business.

3.

Financial resources:

• You must demonstrate that you have sufficient resources to finance your proposed business. These proofs could come in the form of bank statements of your personal and/or company bank accounts in the preceding accounting period, letter of credits if any, and the latest audited financial report or statements, credit report, etc.

4.

Business Turnover:

• You are required to prepare a profit-and-loss account statement and balance sheet. You should produce a 2-year forecast, detailing the projection of the profit-and-loss and the assets of your company.

5.

Capital injection:

• As with demonstrating your financial resources, you must highlight the amount of capital investment you have at hand which will be dedicated to the establishment of your business. This is an important consideration by the adjudicating officer. The capital amount must be based realistic calculations and sufficient to sustain the early operations of the proposed company and the execution of the business plan.

6.

Sponsor:

• The applicant of an Investment as Entrepreneur visa needs a local sponsor, which could either be a company or an individual. With this sponsorship will come the assumption of responsibility of your repatriation to your home country should the need or circumstances arise.

If you intend to extend your stay, you are required to submit an Extension of Stay application within 4 weeks of your visa’s expiration date. Your renewal application will be taken into consideration by the IMMD only if you continue to meet the eligibility criteria for which you have been granted entry. An approved Extension of Stay will normally follow the 3-3-year pattern, length after which you might be eligible to apply for Hong Kong’s permanent residency.

Conclusion

Timing is critical to all businesses – especially in the context of the on-going pandemic. It is thus highly recommended to plan and apply ahead of time for this Investment as Entrepreneur visa so that you can start, manage and/or oversee the company in Hong Kong as scheduled. It is worth noting that the 4-week processing time shown on IMMD’s website is not realistic; 8 to 12 weeks are a more pragmatic timeline for the approval of an Investment as Entrepreneur visa application by the IMMD. This does not even include the time you will need to prepare your supporting documents, which typically takes 1 to 4 months, depending on the complexity of your file.

The Investment as Entrepreneur visa application is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. You are more than welcome to use the transparent Hong Kong visa guides and resources (see links below) we have made available to the public, or, if you want to save on the hassle and worries and focus your time and energy on your business, Kaizen’s Visa and Immigration team will be more than happy to help you with garnering a thorough visa application package and guide you through the process.

References:

1. PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Paying Taxes 2020–Overall Ranking and Data Tables." Accessed Dec. 9, 2021.
2. World Population Review. "China Population 2021". Accessed Dec. 9, 2021.
   

Related Topics: Employment Visa vs Investment as Entrepreneur Visa | Hong Kong Company Incorporation | Registration of Sole Proprietorship in Hong Kong

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