new employment policy for spouse visa holders

Taken from Mondays Standard


All clear for the trailing spouse


Less than three years after enforcing a ban on holders of dependant visas taking up jobs in Hong Kong, the government has announced a change of heart.


Leslie Kwoh


Monday, April 17, 2006



Less than three years after enforcing a ban on holders of dependant visas taking up jobs in Hong Kong, the government has announced a change of heart.

"As Hong Kong's economic and employment conditions continue to improve, we've decided to remove this restriction to enhance our edge in attracting professionals," an Immigration Department spokesman said.


The announcement was made discreetly at a Security Bureau press briefing on the new Quality Migrant Scheme - the latest in a string of efforts to open Hong Kong's doors, albeit cautiously, to "top-notch" foreign professionals.


Though the exact date of the lifting has yet to be announced, officials said the new policy will also apply retroactively to all dependants of persons admitted for employment or capital investment who have entered the territory since July 2003. But they declined to reveal whether the change will apply to dependants under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, also launched in 2003.


According to Paul Yip, senior lecturer with the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Hong Kong University, the move is a telling sign that "things did not work out as the government had hoped."


In 2003, then-chief executive Tung Chee-hwa insisted the ban was a "timely and necessary move to underscore serious concerns attached by the government to tackle unemployment." But Yip said he believes the ban backfired and the government now realized Hong Kong was losing its "competitive edge."


He said: "That restriction was not conducive to welcoming people to come and work in Hong Kong.


"Combined with an aging population and the northward flow of talents to China, the number and quality of people coming in was probably lower than anticipated.


"We're coming to terms with the fact that the more restrictions you put on, the less people will come. Removing barriers is a first step."


Dependants of working expatriates are often labeled "trailing spouses," but often they are actually highly- skilled professionals who gave up their jobs to come to Hong Kong, he said.


Since the restriction was introduced, however, only 769 dependants have applied for and received special permission to work, according to the Immigration Department - a scanty number, considering almost 30,000 dependant visas were issued in 2004-05.


That means potentially thousands of new job seekers are just waiting to flood the local market - which begs the question: are there enough jobs in Hong Kong to go around?


"We haven't seen the job market this active since we've been here, and we've been here for 10 years," said Dan Chavasse, managing director of executive recruitment agency Michael Page International. "2005 was a big year, and we had a tremendous start to this year."


Chavasse said he believed many of the dependants who have entered the territory since 2003 have been "put off" from applying for special permission to work because of the anticipated "hassle."


He said: "Our clients will be delighted to hear about this change. There're so many jobs that would suit the `trailing spouse' - it could be a marketing event, professional support lawyer, or a nine- to 12-month assistant program."


But before locals despair about the inevitable consequence of a sudden influx - stiffened competition in the job market - Yip said he expected the new policy would increase Hong Kong's overall "competitive edge" and eventually create even more industries and jobs.


"Yes, it'll produce some competition, but at the same time it'll also compensate for the holes in Hong Kong's manpower. We should appreciate talent from overseas, because they'll eventually make our economy more active," he said.

The policy actually created a shortage of people in some areas - supply teachers for international schools, casual nursing staff, and other jobs which required a high level of english, and cultural understanding such as educational assistants in international schools. It is good that it has been reversed as the jobs the trailling spouses take up usually are not jobs that locals can, will or are happy to do anyway.

Would this lifting result in downward wage pressure for certain jobs (such as teachers at international schools)?

I don't think so.

Fenman,

Remember that these spouses are the dependants of employment pass holders. Those employment pass holders are only here because they have skills that cannot be found locally.

It is unlikely that the spouses of such well paid people will go out and clean public toilets or sweep the streets or wash dirty glasses in bars, because the extra income they would bring in to the family by doing unskilled jobs would be tiny relative to that of the employment pass holder. Therefore, the spouses also tend to do skilled jobs, or at least jobs that require foreign languages (such as secretaries in international banks/law firms).

Yes, they can - but it's a hassle to get an employment visa in any country. And the first question at interview is "Do you have the right to work here?"