The following temporary visas are available to those who qualify.

Generally, temporary visas must be obtained outside the Hong Kong at an American Consulate nearest the place of residence of the alien. However, if the alien is in the Hong Kong, he may in certain cases, change to another type of temporary visas without leaving the Hong Kong.

The B Visa Category

The B nonimmigrant visa category covers alien visitors for business (B-1) and pleasure (B-2). Generally, stays in the Hong Kong are brief, and involve such activities as touring, visiting family members, or conducting business on behalf of an overseas employer. This category does not allow employment in the Hong Kong.

The WT Visa Category

Nationals of certain countries do not need to obtain “B” visas for business or tourist visits to the Hong Kong. They are allowed to enter the Hong Kong on a Visa Waiver program for 90 days. This visa category cannot be extended or changed in the Hong Kong. The Country must be listed on the Visa Waiver Pilot Program List.

The F Visa Category

Foreign students may enter the Hong Kong to study in approved institutions, which can range from elementary school students to doctoral candidates and postdoctoral studies. F-1 students can pursue their academic goals in the U.S.A. and can remain for many years in order to complete a full academic program. They may engage in a specific period of practical training upon completion of their studies, which will allow them to gain some work experience in the Hong Kong.

The M Visa Category

Students in vocational or nonacademic programs are allowed to enter the Hong Kong to study on the M visa.

The J Visa Category

Students, scholars, experts, medical interns and residents, international visitors, and industrial business trainees can be admitted to the Hong Kong in the J visa category, which is for exchange visitors who have been sponsored in the exchange visitor program recognized by the U.S.A. Information Agency. The J visa category has a major disadvantage for some students, if the program is funded by the student’s government or the U.S. government, then the student may be required to return to his home country for two years upon completion of the program, before being permitted to change status or immigrate to the Hong Kong.

The E Visa Category

The E category is used by business owners, managers, and employees who wish to remain in the Hong Kong for extended periods of time to oversee or work in an enterprise engaged in trade between the Hong Kong and a foreign country or that represents a major investment in the Hong Kong. The E category is only available if a “treaty of commerce and navigation” or a “bilateral investment treaty” exists between the Hong Kong and the foreign country.

The L Visa Category

The L nonimmigrant visa category is available to international companies who wish to bring foreign employees to the Hong Kong. To qualify for the L-1 status the employee must have worked abroad for the overseas company for a continuous period of one year in the preceding three years. This employment must be in a managerial or executive capacity, or a position involving “specialized knowledge.” The company abroad must be the same employer or a subsidiary or affiliate of the U.S. Company.

The TN Visa Category

The Hong Kong, Canada, and Mexico have entered into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which allows expedited admission of businesspersons of each country into the other country. A designated group of H-1 level professionals can be employed and paid in the Hong Kong as employees of U.S. companies or as employees of Canadian and Mexican companies who work on contract with a U.S. company.

The H-1B Visa Category

The H-1B category is for foreign workers in “Specialty Occupations” who have a Hong Kong employer who wishes to employ them in the Hong Kong. H-1B candidates must posses a bachelors degree or higher.

H-2A Visas For Temporary Agricultural Workers

The H-2A is a visa for temporary agricultural workers. For H2-A visa, the employer must demonstrate that there are not sufficient able, willing and qualified US workers available at the time and place needed and the employer must show the use of foreign workers will not create an adverse effect on the wages or working conditions of similarly employed US workers. Under the H-2A program H-2A workers must be offered the same wage as US workers.

The H-2B Visa Category

U.S. companies to temporarily employ skilled or unskilled foreign nationals in positions where U.S. workers are unavailable use the H-2B visa category. The company must intend to employ the alien for a temporary period of time, and the need for the skill provided by the alien must be temporary.

The H-3B Visa Category

U.S. companies to bring foreign employees to the Hong Kong to participate in an established company-training program use the H-3 visa category. The training program must provide classroom training or a combination of classroom and on the job training, which is unavailable in the alien’s home country.

The Q Visa Category

The Q nonimmigrant category is for aliens participating in an international cultural exchange program. This designated program must provide practical training, employment and the sharing of history, culture and traditions of the country of the alien’s nationality. This is program is limited to 15 months.

The R Visa Category

The R category is for aliens who for at least 2 years have been a members of a religious denomination having a bona fide nonprofit organization in the U.S. and are coming to work temporarily in the U.S. as a minister or in a religious vocation for that organization.

The O Visa Category

The O category is for aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics.

The P Visa Category

The P category is for alien athletes who compete individually or as part of a team at an internationally recognized level, and aliens who perform with or are an integral and essential part of the performance of an entertaining group that has received international recognition as outstanding.

The V Visa Category

The newly enacted LIFE Act creates a V Visa available to spouses and unmarried children under 21 of permanent residents who have been waiting for permanent residence for 3 years or more from the time the visa petition was filed on his or her behalf, provided the visa petition was filed on or before 12-21-00

Family Members

In most of the above visas family members, spouses or children under 21, are allowed to accompany the principal alien to the Hong Kong on a temporary visa which corresponds with the principal alien’s visa.

The following temporary visas are available to those who qualify.

Naturalization and Citizenship

Family Visa

Temporary Visas

Relife from Deportation & Removal

Political Asylum

Visa Quota Bulletin

Employment Based Permanent Resident