Been living and working in HK for almost 10 years - currently all visa-ed up and legal, but haven't necessarily always been... There are persistent stories of

Been living and working in HK for almost 10 years - currently all visa-ed up and legal, but haven't necessarily always been... There are persistent stories of people who've been living here for years doing regular visa runs, but oddly they mostly seem to be stories, not direct experiences. There are also stories of people who got 'caught', in that the immigration officials decided they'd done too many runs and couldn't explain how they were living in HK without working, and were given 2 weeks to clear up and move out. It's a risk... With a UK passport you'd get 180 days of visa-free stay per entry, with most other 'developed-world' passports you'd get 90 days. The actual rules on what you can do during that stay are quite strict - attending meetings, negotiating/signing contracts, etc. is allowed, but most other work isn't - to the extent that technically you're not even allowed to do voluntary work. That said, nobody is going to bother you if you're here for a few months and happen to be working for a remote client/employer at home or in a coffee shop. It's the visa runs which are the danger, since that's when they can pick you up. May not be a nice thing to say, but being white does help quite a lot. It's easier to be here as a resident, legally. You get (almost-)free access to government healthcare, and things like banking are much easier, plus of course you don't have that looking-over-your-shoulder feeling. One standard piece of advice, which definitely doesn't fit everyone but might be worth considering - assuming you and the GF are a heterosexual couple, a civil marriage is relatively simple in HK, and assuming she is working and/or a resident in her own right, that would get you a visa as a dependent. HK doesn't recognise non-heterosexual relationships in any useful way... An alternative might be Taiwan, maybe not for you, but for others seeking 'Asia' - I do know a Brit who's been living there for years doing visa runs while writing code for people mostly in the UK, and it seems to work for him and his drunken bum lifestyle :)