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What Impact Will A Temporary Yet Long Term Secondment Overseas For Work Have On My Hong Kong Permanent Residence Application 3 Years From Now?

April 19th, 2021

Posted by / in Long Stay & PR, Your Question Answered / 2 responses


 

Hong Kong being a small, dynamic city which punches above its weight in the region, this situation happens all the time. So what IS the impact on your subsequent eligibility for the Right of Abode if your employer wants to shift you off-shore temporarily to manage a project?

QUESTION

I have been working in Hong Kong now for 3 years on an employment visa and my company wants to send me temporarily for 6-12 months to Malaysia to manage a project.  I will be on secondment as an employee of the Hong Kong branch still and will return to Hong Kong when the project is done so am wondering how this will affect my continuous residency? 

Does this mean that I will have to start the 7 years again when I return to Hong Kong?

ANSWER

This situation happens quite a lot in Hong Kong.

A, because Hong Kong is a small geography physically and, B, because we do punch above our weight regionally, naturally enough foreign nationals who work for Hong Kong companies do from time to time find themselves on long term projects working outside of Hong Kong in pursuit of their Hong Kong employer’s business interests overseas.

So, the Immigration Department see this quite often and it’s not typically a major problem as long as everything is lined up properly to allow the eventual test for a right of abode application to be satisfied at that time. So, the test for the right of abode is that the person that has to have been continuously an ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for a period of not less than seven years and there any absences from Hong Kong in that time need to have been of a merely temporary nature and there must be manifest evidence to show that the applicant is settled in Hong Kong at the time that the application is made.

So, the issue here is really a question of settlement. So, firstly once you are sent overseas, as long as you leave behind in Hong Kong the vestiges of your life to return back to, the normal vestige of your life to turn back to then you ordinary residence will be on the face of it maintained.

Secondly, if you are going to be overseas for your employer’s interests then your Hong Kong employment contract will continue and your MPF payments and your liabilities in relation to Hong Kong salaries tax ostensibly will continue and you’ll certainly be reporting to the Inland Revenue Department as you should do in relation to your earnings as an employee of a Hong Kong entity.

Thirdly, if your family are not going to be joining you and they’re going to be remaining back in Hong Kong that is excellent evidence that you’ve made the secondment merely on a temporary basis.

Fourthly, naturally enough your employer should be kind of appraised of the potential impact this temporary secondment can have on you and your continuous ordinary residence for the purposes of your eventual right of abode application and so a conversation with them can ensure that all the necessary bits and pieces from a documentation perspective are put in place to show that your secondment is basically mandatory and that it is only temporary and that your employment will continue in Hong Kong throughout all the time that you do spend abroad.

So, for all practical purposes if it is a temporary secondment and you’ve got your docs lined up and you can show that you’ve got all the vestiges of your normal life waiting for you when you come back for all practical purposes your continuous ordinary residence will continue.

If your employment visa is due to expire during the time that you’re overseas then naturally that will have to be extended because it’s important to have had back-to-back residence visas throughout the other qualifying seven years for your rights of abode application in due course.

So, no, you won’t have to start the seven years all over again when you return to Hong Kong so long as you follow those essential precepts to evidencing your continuing intent to remain settled in Hong Kong throughout.

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The Hong Kong Visa Geeza (a.k.a Stephen Barnes) is a co-founder of the Hong Kong Visa Centre and author of the Hong Kong Visa Handbook. A law graduate of the London School of Economics, Stephen has been practicing Hong Kong immigration since 1993 and is widely acknowledged as the leading authority on business immigration matters here for the last 24 years.

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RESPONSES
  • Lorraine

    30 Nov 2018 pm30 6:21pm
    01

    Hi Visa Geeza,

    What happens in the case if I am seconded overseas by my company and they want to pay me in the new seconded country? My family will remain back in HK whilst I am being seconded for the 6 months. I have been in HK for 4 years, will this allow me to apply for PR in 3 years time?

    Thanks!

    • The Visa Geeza

      3 Dec 2018 am31 10:47am
      02

      Where your compensation is settled is not material. The key thing is that your HK employment contract subsists at all times during your temporary secondment, your employment and family dependant visas are kept valid, your MPF contributions in HK are maintained and you continue to file tax returns in HK even if no tax is likely payable due to your temporary secondment arrangements. If all of these are in place and you eventually return back to HK to pick up with your employer from where you left off then your continuity of ordinary residence for the purposes of a PR application subsequently will be maintained.

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