Model behavior

Stringent visa rules

Working as a model on a visa got much more complicated in August 2021 when Hong Kong's General Employment Policy was amended, requiring models on agency contracts to provide proof of income with their visa extension application. It's a big ask, considering models' visas generally need to be extended every three months. And while the grapevine has it that the required minimum monthly income is HK$20,000 ($2,549), there is no publicly accessible official statement to corroborate this.

"Now we need to earn a certain amount, and provide statements from the agency and clients in order to prove that we're models," Todorova elaborates. "Your agency needs to print out your financial statement for the whole year, provide all your photos (and) prove that invoices were issued." Foreign models in Hong Kong are allowed a three-month extension only after the paperwork meets with the Immigration Department's approval.

A model's income may not be the Immigration Department's only criterion but it's definitely "one of the main considerations, and this puts a lot of pressure on agencies," says Lilian (name changed for privacy), a booker at a prominent local agency.

However, she adds, the rationale for rejecting a visa is sometimes a mystery. "(The Immigration Department) have their reasons and they prefer not to make (them) clear to us."

"If they reject a visa, there's nothing we can do," she adds.

A Romanian model, who also wished to remain anonymous, shared that her visa extension application was rejected even though she had worked in fittings for a renowned luxury e-commerce platform every day for three months - and that during the fifth wave, no less.