Foreign Company Directors in Hong Kong

With literally tens of thousands of foreign owned companies operating in Hong Kong, it is obvious that there are a lot of foreign nationals who act as company directors in Hong Kong based companies. Since Hong Kong follows a liberal immigration policy for qualified entrepreneurs and investors, several overseas business owners form a company in the city and relocate as the managing director of their Hong Kong Company.



In Hong Kong, anyone can become a company director regardless of their nationality. Annual director meetings of foreign owned Hong Kong companies can also be held anywhere in the world. The only real eligibility criteria should be that they need to be at least eighteen years of age and they need to be of good moral character. Basically the character reference is with respect to the past record of the person wanting to be a director in a Hong Kong Company. They should not be found guilty of any kind of malpractice, fraud or scams. They should also not have been prosecuted for any kind of criminal activity in the past.



Of course managing directors in Hong Kong apart from being of good character also has a lot of responsibilities. They need to ensure that their company operates in a transparent and trustworthy manner. They need to ensure that the company maintains all rules and regulations as set by the Hong Kong Companies Act and other laws prevailing in the city. Most importantly, they are the ones who are held accountable for all ongoing compliance requirements of Hong Kong companies. If a company in the city fails to meet with its compliance obligations or it willfully withholds information with respect to its financial transactions etc., then the directors of the company can be fined by the concerned authorities. Directors could also face legal and criminal charges in Hong Kong if they do not ensure that their companies meet with all ongoing compliance requirements and pay taxes accurately.



A company based in Hong Kong can have more than one director. If the company has only one individual owner, then that person can act as the sole director as well as the sole shareholder. It is not necessary that either the director or the shareholder needs to be a local resident or live in Hong Kong. Also if a foreign company owner wants to relocate to Hong Kong to manage their business and act as the director, they will have to apply for the "Entry for Investment" visa in order to legally relocate to Hong Kong.



Author Bio

Bryan Wong is a business analyst in the Asia-Pacific region and in his free time writes business articles. In this article, Bryan talks about Hong Kong company setup services and Hong Kong company incorporation.