If the concern is at the immigration counters then I think invitation letters might be a good idea. The USA does have a somewhat more strict process (in which they ask targeted questions before stamping passports) that perhaps doesn't exist in Hong Kong, but as someone who has only ever been through HKIA once I can't really tell how strict they'll be there.
Of course, I defer to Alan and his much great knowledge of Hong Kong's process!
Dear All,
I think I must first reiterate the fact that Hong Kong is one of the most accessible place in the world in terms of visa free access [1], therefore our concern is more of whether our participants would be turned away at our immigration counters.
However, it is also true that there is little we could help about would-be participants would-be applying for visa. We encourage participants to plan ahead and apply for Hong Kong visa (or visas of nearby countries like China, Macau and Taiwan if they're planning to go these places) well before the start of the conference so that they can be certain of their entry status. We can only assist a little of the Hong Kong visa application process by sending invitation letters and notifying the Immigration Department about their intentions to view the application favourably.
Our Immigration Department usually view visitors favourably unless there is legitimate reasons not to and usually approve visa applications. However it is still a bureaucratic process that takes time especially if you apply through Chinese diplomatic missions (embassies and consulates) so it should be no less than 4 weeks before departing towards Hong Kong as the web page suggests [2]. Nearby countries especially China would require a separate visa and we urge caution to plan your itinerary and visa application so that you won't have issues of entry.
Best regards,
Alan Lai
Sent on the road
[1] http://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org/wiki/Visas
[2] http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/pledge_p4_6.htm
On 24 Nov, 2012, at 20:40, "Federico Leva (Nemo)" <nemowiki@gmail.com> wrote:
Joseph Fox, 24/11/2012 13:12:
It would be almost fraudulent to send out invitation letters to people who haven't yet received allowance to even enter HK I think. But I don't know, maybe send them to people who have paid?
I've no idea what's the best way or even if invitation letters are required/useful at all for anyone to get HK visas, people who know more will decide/find out; I'd only want to be sure that our scholarship recipients don't fail to attend due to visa problems again.
Experience teaches that we're bound to underestimate visa problems people will have... better to be safe.
Nemo
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