Is Hong Kong one of the popular destinations for Indian professionals to relocate and work? Hong Kong is an excellent destination if your objective is to live and work in Hong Kong for the next couple of years. If you believe you possess the adequate qualifications and professional experience, then what may still be stopping you from doing so? With Asia-Pacific, China and India becoming the happening economies, gaining expertise or experience in the regions will add a lot of value to your resume and opens up many more opportunities in the future years. Hong Kong has always been seen as the hub that connects all the surrounding locations.
As an expat, a time spent working for a job in Hong Kong will definitely add a lot of mileage and a big boost to your working career in later stages. You can always demonstrate this foreign experience to show that you can versatile and are able to always adapt to unusual environment. This experience may well put you in the driver seat for a fast track for advancement. Very few of your colleagues may be able to have such opportunity.
Hong Kong has no quota limit (or upper limit) on how many foreigners may enter and work in each year, as long as you can prove you are a skilled migrant in which your work experience is in need. Certainly the person who are interested must first get a job offer from a local HK company and then obtain a Hong Kong work visa with the company being the sponsor.
There are several ways that an Indian person can be considered a skilled professional by Hong Kong Immigration Department. Most usually you would have to obtain a university degree (or a higher qualification) in your own country. In this case, you may be eligible to apply for immigration through the General Employment Policy or GEP.
Get your education in Hong Kong, as a full time student and actually graduate from your degree program. This way, you may be able to extend your stay in HK through a program known as the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates or IANG. For the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates, you must apply within six months after graduation of your degree (or qualifications) from Hong Kong. This way, you will get an exemption for not having to first get an employment offer from a HK local business.
If you happen to apply for IANG only after you have graduated for longer than 6 months, then you must get a bona fide job offer from a local company when you apply for IANG. Usually once approved, you will be granted a visa or residence permit for a period of one year i.e. The duration of your visa. You can apply for visa extension before your first visa expires. The extension would usually be granted for two years (should it be granted). Subsequently you can extend for a further two years. After that, the extension would be for three years.
There are exceptions. When you are originated from a few countries such as North Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Albania, Cambodia, Cuba, Laos, or Nepal, you are not eligible for the programme. So being from India, you would have a much better advantage.