Hong Kong student visa

Student visas cover full-time locally accredited post-secondary programmes (including short courses), part-time locally accredited taught postgraduate programmes, exchange study (up to six months at sub-degree level or up to one year at undergraduate level and above), full-time non-local higher education or professional courses registered under Cap. 493, and primary or secondary study at registered private schools. Public and aided schools are generally excluded, apart from ESF and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools.

You need an acceptance letter and must show you can pay tuition, living and accommodation costs without working or relying on public funds. Nationals of Afghanistan, Cuba, Laos, the DPRK, Nepal and Vietnam face restrictions.

Every applicant needs a local sponsor. This can be the admitting institution or an individual who is at least 18, a bona fide Hong Kong resident, known to you and able to support you and provide accommodation. The applicant completes form ID 995A and the sponsor completes form ID 995B. Institutional sponsors do not have to submit identity and financial documents for themselves.

For students under 18, a parent must appoint a guardian in Hong Kong, with a consent letter signed by both. Documents that are not in Chinese or English need a certified translation, so diplomas, transcripts and bank letters in other languages should be translated before upload.

Applications can be submitted online through the GovHK portal or sent by post to the Receipt and Despatch Sub-Unit at Immigration Headquarters in Tseung Kwan O; underpaid mail is not accepted. Many universities submit or coordinate applications for their admitted students, so check the instructions in your offer pack.

After approval you receive a payment link. Once the fee is paid you can download the e-Visa and present it with your passport on arrival, either on a phone or printed on A4 paper.

ImmD normally needs about six weeks after receiving all required documents, so apply as soon as you hold your acceptance letter. Status can be checked online or on the 24-hour line (852) 3160 8663. The student visa is not one of the specified schemes; the fee table lists HK$330 for an ordinary visa in the other category, paid only after approval.

Extensions should be applied for within four weeks before the current stay expires and are usually granted a year at a time. Spouses or recognised partners and unmarried children under 18 of full-time undergraduate or postgraduate students may apply as dependants. They normally receive 12 months at first, renewed annually; they may study but need the Director of Immigration's permission to work.

Students generally may not work or start a business. Full-time non-local undergraduate and postgraduate students on local programmes may take a curriculum-related internship arranged or endorsed by their institution, lasting up to one academic year or one third of the programme, whichever is shorter. Sub-degree students on programmes of at least two years may take a compulsory internship of up to six months.

Full-time non-exchange students on local undergraduate or higher programmes with at least one academic year of study may also work on campus for up to 20 hours a week, and may take summer jobs between 1 June and 31 August without limits on hours or location.