Expatriates still heading for HK despite the recession
Number of foreigners moving to the city is rising
Dan Kadison 22 March 2009
Immigration Department statistics appear to reflect a trend seen by local relocation experts - expatriates are moving to Hong Kong despite the financial crisis.
Arrival and departure records show there were 551,329 foreigners living in Hong Kong at the end of last year, compared to 534,427 in 2007.
There was a slight rise in the number of US expatriates, up from 27,230 at the end of 2007 to 28,624 at the end of last year. The number of Canadians also increased marginally, from 19,584 in 2007 to 20,598 last year.
Restaffing, reshuffling and new opportunities may explain why people are relocating to the city amid the economic downturn.
“I’m almost afraid to talk about it because I’m afraid it’s going to bring bad luck down, the bad mojo,” said Rob Chipman, CEO of Asian Tigers, a removals and relocation company based in Hong Kong.
“But we’re seeing it. I’m looking at the board right now, and we colour-code it. Red is inbound and I’m seeing a lot of red. It flies in the face of every single thing I hear or read.”
Overall, Mr. Chipman estimated that 1,000 to 3,000 expatriate families have arrived in Hong Kong since the beginning of 2008.
He said the reason could be that more Asian companies were sending workers here, and companies from elsewhere may perceive Hong Kong and Asia on the whole as safer bets than other regions.
Mr. Chipman would not predict whether the trend would wane in the coming months. Five months ago, he asked himself: “Who’s going to move to Hong Kong now?”
Lance Allen, managing director of Santa Fe Relocation Services, said the firm’s inbound numbers had increased 20 per cent a year over the last three to four years. This year’s numbers were similar to last year’s, he said.
“Inbound remains strong. People are still coming in,” Mr. Allen said. He could not say why workers were still heading this way - especially since most people would have predicted the exact opposite amid the downturn.
“For us right now, it just seems like the normal in-and-out flows of corporations doing business in Hong Kong. There are occasional accounts that have slowed down, but there are other companies who have sped up as well.”
Stacy Tucker, owner of Ferndale Kennels & Cattery, which transports family pets on international moves, said her company “is still getting quite a lot of imports”, assisting many people from Australia and the US.
“I think that people coming in are on different contracts from the ones going out ... they may be getting lower salaries and not quite so many benefits,” Ms. Tucker said.
Shriram Chaubal, chief operating officer of GeoClicks, which owns Geoexpat.com, noted there were a “fair number of posts” on the site’s “Moving to Hong Kong” forum.
“There ... seems to me like there are still plenty of jobs [in Hong Kong], maybe not the high-paid jobs,” Mr. Chaubal said. “But we’re seeing people moving in [for] all sorts of things, especially like education [positions].”
1 comment:
Expatriates still heading for HK despite the recession
Number of foreigners moving to the city is rising
Dan Kadison
22 March 2009
Immigration Department statistics appear to reflect a trend seen by local relocation experts - expatriates are moving to Hong Kong despite the financial crisis.
Arrival and departure records show there were 551,329 foreigners living in Hong Kong at the end of last year, compared to 534,427 in 2007.
There was a slight rise in the number of US expatriates, up from 27,230 at the end of 2007 to 28,624 at the end of last year. The number of Canadians also increased marginally, from 19,584 in 2007 to 20,598 last year.
Restaffing, reshuffling and new opportunities may explain why people are relocating to the city amid the economic downturn.
“I’m almost afraid to talk about it because I’m afraid it’s going to bring bad luck down, the bad mojo,” said Rob Chipman, CEO of Asian Tigers, a removals and relocation company based in Hong Kong.
“But we’re seeing it. I’m looking at the board right now, and we colour-code it. Red is inbound and I’m seeing a lot of red. It flies in the face of every single thing I hear or read.”
Overall, Mr. Chipman estimated that 1,000 to 3,000 expatriate families have arrived in Hong Kong since the beginning of 2008.
He said the reason could be that more Asian companies were sending workers here, and companies from elsewhere may perceive Hong Kong and Asia on the whole as safer bets than other regions.
Mr. Chipman would not predict whether the trend would wane in the coming months. Five months ago, he asked himself: “Who’s going to move to Hong Kong now?”
Lance Allen, managing director of Santa Fe Relocation Services, said the firm’s inbound numbers had increased 20 per cent a year over the last three to four years. This year’s numbers were similar to last year’s, he said.
“Inbound remains strong. People are still coming in,” Mr. Allen said. He could not say why workers were still heading this way - especially since most people would have predicted the exact opposite amid the downturn.
“For us right now, it just seems like the normal in-and-out flows of corporations doing business in Hong Kong. There are occasional accounts that have slowed down, but there are other companies who have sped up as well.”
Stacy Tucker, owner of Ferndale Kennels & Cattery, which transports family pets on international moves, said her company “is still getting quite a lot of imports”, assisting many people from Australia and the US.
“I think that people coming in are on different contracts from the ones going out ... they may be getting lower salaries and not quite so many benefits,” Ms. Tucker said.
Shriram Chaubal, chief operating officer of GeoClicks, which owns Geoexpat.com, noted there were a “fair number of posts” on the site’s “Moving to Hong Kong” forum.
“There ... seems to me like there are still plenty of jobs [in Hong Kong], maybe not the high-paid jobs,” Mr. Chaubal said. “But we’re seeing people moving in [for] all sorts of things, especially like education [positions].”
Post a Comment