Visa entry requirements for helper's relative

N

nltempany

Registered User
I am going to fly my helpers sister over from the Philippines so we can meet her and trial her to be our second helper.
What I need to know is will she need to Have proof of a return flight ticket in her possession?
I know she gets a 14 day tourist visa upon arrival. But what will she need to provide to get her visa?

I would also be interested to hear from anyone who has flown a potential helper over on a tourist visa and started the processing once she arrived. I believe that when the tourist visa expired the helper can go to Macau and then return to HK. Then when the 2nd visa expires she can return to Macau and wait for the FDH visa? Is this common? What are the risks?
 
I had similar situation before, but she couldnt even get on the plane. First attempt it turns out there is an exit tax in philippine for locals and she didn't have enough money on her to pay. We changed her flight and then the immigration won't let her leave the country because they didnt believe she was coming to visit. They believed she was coming to work illegally. This is despise support letter from us explaining she is here to visit her aunt who works for us. Perhaps she just didnt know "the right answer" (or bribe?) to get through. This was leaving Cebu.
It might not happen to you, but just to share my experience.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
i would also beware of sending the helper to macau to wait for the visa. a visa application can take 6 weeks. airfare to PH is cheap as is their living cost when they are there. if you send them to macau, would you be paying for their hotel & food, too?

i would be VERY wary of sending the helper to macau at the end of her 14 days in order for her to get another 14 days. it is completely up to immig how long they allow them back into hk, if they let them back in at all.
 
We brought my then helper's cousin over for a two week visit several years ago. (my helper was moving to Canada and we wanted to meet her cousin before hiring as her replacement.) I did have to write a supporting letter and HK Immig called me to confirm details when she arrived at the airport. But she was successfully let in and returned home two weeks later. )We then processed the papers while she waited in the Phils.)

But this was several years ago and the authorities may be more strict now.
 
we brought our first helper's husband here prior to hiring him, too. the first time he came, he stayed for a month. we DID have issues with immig and i had to talk to them on the phone on more than one occasion.

last april we brought their son here for 2 weeks, no issues at all...
 
Thanks for the advice. I think to be safe I will provide the helper with documentation to prove that she is coming to trial as our second helper. And I will also provide her with proof of her return airfare to Philipines.
 
no, no, no......do NOT, NOT NOT do that!

it is illegal for her to do ANY work at all for you until she has the visa! telling them she is coming to "trial" for you would certainly put a full stop to her trip!!!
 
Absolutely agree with Carang. If you do that, they will definitely not let her in and you will have wasted a plane ticket!

What I wrote in the supporting letter was that 1) she would be staying with me (providing address info) and that I would be responsible for all of her bed and board needs 2) I also gave an itinerary of the things she would be doing here (plans to visit Ocean Park, go up the Peak etc). 3) provided my mobile so I could be contacted any time for questions.

Honestly i doubt HK Immig believes the itinerary part but I was advised at the time that they like to see it in there.

Good luck!
 
My experience has been that it's the Phillipines immigration that has proven to be difficult, not HK immigration.
Apparently, Phillipines immigration is making it tough for their own nationals to leave if they do not have proof of an employment visa to which ever country they are heading to.

Like you, I naively thought I could sponsor my helper's sister for a visit to "offer her a trial". So got her a return ticket, wrote a supporting letter to say she was visiting her sister and that we would fund her stay at our home. Didn't make it pass Phils immigration - and apparently 6 other ladies on her flight were turned back too. This was at Clark airport.
I called the Phillipines Consulate and they suggested that we get an affidavit of support from the Phillipines Consulate for her sister's stay. This required my husband to personally trek down to the consulate, pay a fee, hand over docs ( they wanted 3 mths bank statements, salary, address & employment proof etc - insane! And dodgy! We insisted a letter of HR attesting to above was sufficient). Got the official affidavit, and another plane ticket and guess what, turned away again!! This time at Manila airport - Immigration insisted no work visa, no go!

Livid by now, I called the Phils Consulate for an explanation - and all they said was they had no jurisdiction over Immigration!!
Another friend of mine experienced the same thing with her "trial candidate"- and this friend is Filipino!! All this was between Feb and May this year.

Sorry for the long post but just wanted to warn you of our frustrating experience. In the end, I just capitulated and got an agency to process my helper's sister...if I had known earlier, I would have just done that and saved myself a lot of time, money and effort. There really is no guarantee that your candidate will be allowed through....
 
Thank you so much for the long post tenten. I really can't afford the time, hassle or money so I think I'll take your advice and just do it the agency way. I guess a trial isn't really important when a contract can be broken at any moment. I really like my helper so I'm sure I'll like her sister.
 
Biggie said:
I had similar situation before, but she couldnt even get on the plane. First attempt it turns out there is an exit tax in philippine for locals and she didn't have enough money on her to pay.
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...

There is an exit tax for all people leaving the Philippines. We always paid it as well.
 
That's how we felt too nltempany re helper's sister. So we sat my helper down and explained that we would see how things go once her sister arrived, and if for whatever reason, things didn't work out that there would be no hard feelings. They both understood.
I just felt so sorry and bad for her sister And her family - being jerked around by immigration twice, not knowing next steps twice etc. Thankfully it has all worked out and we're all glad she's joined us now.

Btw, processing a direct hire is a another whole story - PM me if you need help in that regard. Phils mandates that all contracts go through agencies now so lots of ways for dodgy agencies to gauge these poor ladies and employers! All the best!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top