Moving to Hong Kong/Singapore.

Hi Op
I have lived in HK but on European company payroll.
As such I was just considered as a tourist and had to renew my permit every 90 days (a day trip across the border to Shenzhen was enough to get a new stamp).
This was enough to rent a serviced apartment, purchase a phone card and so on. But this wouldn't grant you anything that would be based on citizenship.
Most expats I knew where there on work visas, and that's probably the easiest way to gain citizenship: being hired by a local company that sponsors your visa.
Then you are more legit in regards to the HKGov.
Back then you could claim citizenship after 7 years spent on a real visa in HK. Dunno if this has changed, if I were you I'd get in touch with your local embassy.
Godspeed anon

>>1146254
Would you mind sharing what industry you're in? Also, were there any language requirements besides English? A lot of the online job postings seem to require Cantonese.

>>1146264
>A lot of the online job postings seem to require Cantonese
Hongkonger here. This is true. Most of the jobs that do not require Cantonese are "expat" jobs (eg. ESL teacher, vet, pilot, business manager/executive, professor, etc)
Where are you from?

>>1146274
Originally from Eastern Europe, but now living in Denmark. I work in IT Security.

>>1146280
I've heard that it is easy to find IT related jobs in Hong Kong these days. I don't see many Eastern Europeans in Hong Kong. I know a Polish teacher teaching at an international school and he was born and raised in Australia. I also know a family of Danes who runs a jewlwery business in Hong Kong.
You are right - not so easy to find a non-expat job without a knowledge of Chinese. There are also other barriers such as not have HK citizenship, not having local networks, etc

>>1146382
Well, I would guess finding a job would be the main problem. Everything else comes later anyway.

Do you think it's worth it to study Chinese/Cantonese/both, or can you kinda eventually make it work without those two?

>>1146407
>Do you think it's worth it to study Chinese/Cantonese/both, or can you kinda eventually make it work without those two?
If you find a job that does not require Chinese, then you are set.
Many immigrants from the Middle East who do not speak Chinese work in manual jobs.
Can you find a job related to teaching though? Teaching in English may not require a knowledge of Chinese
Also, may I ask why you are interested in Hong Kong?

>>1146407
Anyway why don't you consider Singapore instead? Singaporeans speak English amongst themselves so there is less of a language barrier

>>1146264
>Would you mind sharing what industry you're in?
I was monitoring the factories where my Company was having its Products manufactured. I would live in HK and travel to China Mainland for few days/few weeks depending on how far the factories were, and how urgent/important the matter was.
It was still cheaper for the Company to have me living there rather than flying me over several times a month.

>Also, were there any language requirements besides English? A lot of the online job postings seem to require Cantonese

Back then, and even moreso today (I'm self employed now but still working with Chinese factories) every factory had a salesperson that spoke decent enough English.

Virtually none of the expats I knew spoke cantonese. Some spoke a bit of mandarin but all of them spoke English.
As a frenchman I hanged with other francophones, and a few locals. English was the common denominator.
And to be frank, it rustles my jimnies when I read anon complaining that noone in HK spoke English. I lived there for 4 years and got by with English.

>>1146653
>Also, may I ask why you are interested in Hong Kong?
Many reasons. I don't like Europe and I think it's going to get worse in the future. Honestly, I'm also a bit of an orientalist and I think HK would be a good hub to travel to other Asian countries from time to time. Finally, I did some research and I like the social and economic climate of the place.

>>1146654
>Anyway why don't you consider Singapore instead?
Sure, but I think it's more expensive, right? What are the significant differences when it comes to finding work etc?

>>1146916
I see. Well, I kinda expected exactly what you've described, but it still seems to me that it's hard to get my foot in the door without knowing the local lingo, especially given my field.

>>1147250
Major difference is that most jobs in Singapore will only require you to know English

>>1147258
Okay, but how open are they to hiring expats? Do they help you out with accommodation like some HK companies do?