Batgung

Hi,

Having visited HK for both work and holidays about 10-15 times since 92, I have been talking about relocating for years. I finally took some serious steps earlier this year and both my wife and I have found jobs in our respective fields.

My problem is that a decision on my work visa has not (as yet) been forthcoming and I was seeking some local wisdom on the reality of visa processing as against the official information provided by the Immigration Department.

Their website says visa processing takes 4-6 weeks, and I am now getting close to 8 weeks, with no news. I was wondering what the general experience of yourselves and your readers have been in the time it takes for a visa application to be processed. Also wondering if it is worth contacting the Department myself to see where things are up to, or should I get my company to follow up for me? They are keen for me to start asap after I get my visa.

Also, I have a question about language learning.

I'm a (nearly) fluent Mandarin speaker (I lived in the Mainland for 3 years, and I did 4 years of Mandarin at university) and I was wondering what your thoughts are on the usefulness of Mandarin in HK now that it has been returned to the Motherland for some years.

Will English/Mandarin meet most of my business/social needs, or will I need Cantonese as well? My main reason for asking is that I'd like to spend 6 months or so really trying to brush up my Mandarin, as it's been nearly 10 years since I lived in China and while my spoken language is holding up, my written Chinese has well and truly faded. I was also planning to try and get some more technical-specialist Mandarin in my field of work.

What are your thoughts on whether I'd be better off in HK trying to get some basic Cantonese to get around with early on, or getting my Mandarin up to near native-speaker level?

Thanks in advance for your help.