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Simple enough of a question – will your Hong Kong work visa be compromised if you are forced into bankruptcy while temporarily resident in the HKSAR?

QUESTION

If I am currently a working visa holder in Hong Kong, how will my visa be affected if I go bankrupt?

Will the Immigration Department tell me to leave Hong Kong immediately or will I be allowed to stay until the expiration of my limit of stay?

Also, I assume this will definitely be a huge detriment if I want to apply for an extension of stay right?

Thanks.

ANSWER

This is a great question and I’m surprised that it hasn’t presented itself over the last few years in its current guise. But essentially the thing to understand is that if you have become bankrupt in Hong Kong, it’s not good news. As you can appreciate, the ability to remain here over the long haul could be problematic and is indeed highly case specific.

Whilst you are being managed by a trustee in bankruptcy and you do maintain your current employment, then the Immigration Department will probably have something to say about that arrangement and would look at the extension of stay with a set of eyes that to put it sort of mildly, would not be routine.

Doesn’t automatically follow that you wouldn’t get an extension of stay. But if you’re seeking to change your employer and all this kind of stuff, then it might be problematic. But in the final analysis, it really does all depend. In any event, at the point of bankruptcy, if you do have a current limit of stay endorsed in your passport, that shouldn’t be affected.

That is, the Immigration Department won’t suddenly come sweeping down on you and say, hey, you’ve been made bankrupt. Therefore, we’re going to put. Pull the rug from under your feet and cancel your current limited stay and send you off, uh, from whence you came. No, the issue really only presents itself in the context of an application subsequently to extend your stay or to go through the processes of perhaps changing your sponsor.

Both of which would require express disclosure to the Immigration Department so that they could make a true assessment of whether or not you represent a security objection to Hong Kong, all things considered, as a result of your bankruptcy. But certainly, in my experience, there shouldn’t be an immediate impact on your current limited stay. Extensions could be problematic as could be change of sponsorships, if that’s what’s going on.

Okay, I hope you found that useful.

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