Jobs for the betrothed

[Valentine Rodondo]

Howdy folks.

As a Cathay hopeful, I'm curious as to what employment opportunities (if any) exist for our women in HK. I understand that on a CPA wage, a second income is unnecessary- however, my wife would probably go nuts without a job. She is Australian, with a couple of uni degrees (if that makes any difference).

Thanks for your feedback. :ok:

[VR-HFX]

Trawl the FH Wannabe thread.

Immigration rules have changed with the ownership of the place.

Basically if 'She who must be Obeyed' comes to HK on your visa, she cannot work. If she wants to work she will have to get her own visa which generally means getting a job and sponsor before she arrives.

Jobs there are but it has to be done ahead of time.

Hope this helps.

[BuzzBox]

Actually, it is still possble for your wife to work in HKG on a dependant's visa, however, now that dependants no longer have the automatic right to take up employment, she must first get approval from the Immigration Department.

According to the Immigration Deparment:

"The new policy is not a wholesale prohibition on dependants preventing them from taking up employment. They may still work provided that they apply to the Director of Immigration and meet the eligibility criteria under the General Employment Policy which applies to all overseas persons who seek to enter Hong Kong for employment."

The relevant eligibility criteria are:

1. The applicant should have a good education background, normally a first degree in the relevant field, but in special circumstances, good technical qualifications, proven professional abilities and/or relevant experience and achievements supported by documentary evidence would also be accepted;

2. The applicant must have a confirmed offer of employment before making the application. The employment secured must be relevant to the applicant's academic qualification or working experience, and the job cannot be readily taken up by the local work force; and

3. The remuneration package is broadly commensurate with the prevailing market level for similar jobs in HK.

I take that to mean that someone holding a dependant's visa can seek employment after coming to Hong Kong, but must have an offer of employment before applying to the Director of Immigration for the right to work.

As HFX said, the other option is for your wife to be sponsored for her own employment visa, which must be organised before she comes to Hong Kong.

Regarding the types of jobs available for a female with several degrees, it depends on her area of expertise, her work experience and any other special qualifications she holds. Most, if not all, lower level positions are filled by locals, so someone with a bare degree and no experience would find it pretty difficult to find employment. On the other hand, there are senior positions around for people with management experience or special qualifications that are not easily obtainable in the local employment market. If your wife doesn't have any contacts in Hong Kong, her best bet might be to explore the employment pages of your national newspaper - companies looking for foreign employees often advertise vacant positions.

Hope that helps.

[stillalbatross]

Buzz box, thanks also for that reply. #2 is a problem as my wife wants to work part time and though her field of expertise isn't saturated in HKG we are finding that most local companies cannot be bothered with the sponsorship deal for those who arrived post June 2003. So if you are the only applicant then no problem otherwise the companies may ask you to work illegally as they don't want to deal with immigration.

[Schrodingers Cat]

It must be difficult enough overcoming the language problem...:p

[Just an other number]

That's some nerve you've got suggesting Strine is a language problem!:ok:

[Valentine Rodondo]

Thanks for the responses- much appreciated.

[Cripple 7]

If your wife is a qualified teacher, there would be no problem at all.