US State Dept warning on travel to or transiting Hong Kong

[Happy Dude]

Absolutely, in any of those cases you would have that argument. But there are also cases where people will travel for holiday and bring along a work device to be able to do quick updates while travelling or to work a few days remotely. For other international travel I have done for work I have been told where I need to go and given a budget to travel there, the rest is my choice, in that case I can now not select HK for either or those situations.

Kinda OT but interestingly, my company recently brought in a policy for just this situation. The policy requires you to demonstrate a right to work in that country, which of course most people would not have nor would be able or be coughd to obtain. Seems I might've breached visa and/or labour laws on occasions. In the context of this discussion, entering a country on a tourist visa with a work device may give cause for a more detailed investigation at immigration.

Edit: added not

 

[tomlee1986]

Kinda OT but interestingly, my company recently brought in a policy for just this situation. The policy requires you to demonstrate a right to work in that country, which of course most people would have nor would be able or be coughd to obtain. Seems I might've breached visa and/or labour laws on occasions. In the context of this discussion, entering a country on a tourist visa with a work device may give cause for a more detailed investigation at immigration.

I don't believe it is OT, BUT too many people seems to mistaken and misinterpret this phone password business is about airport, but the problem is NOT about airport searches, it is on the streets of HK where you are "randomly" searched by HK police (popo for insulting term - which I believe it is MORE accurate) for "crimes", but the real reason is that you are foreigner!

 

[HMcM]

Kinda OT but interestingly, my company recently brought in a policy for just this situation. The policy requires you to demonstrate a right to work in that country, which of course most people would have nor would be able or be coughd to obtain. Seems I might've breached visa and/or labour laws on occasions. In the context of this discussion, entering a country on a tourist visa with a work device may give cause for a more detailed investigation at immigration.

I know of people who would have working rights in both places (largely ex-pat workers who go home on holiday but will work for part of it), it can be a very grey mess with what counts as working though. If I am sitting on a beach with a coughtail in hand and I respond to a slack have I breached my passport conditions? I know for an ESTA you can definitely attend a conference or a meeting without needing an actual work visa as long as you're not being directly paid by a US company.

I don't believe it is OT, BUT too many people seems to mistaken and misinterpret this phone password business is about airport, but the problem is NOT about airport searches, it is on the streets of HK where you are "randomly" searched by HK police (popo for insulting term - which I believe it is MORE accurate) for "crimes", but the real reason is that you are foreigner!

I don't think it's a misunderstanding, I think it is people focussing on the relevance to them. Unfortunately due to the current control of HK I don't think I will ever travel to HK, which is a shame. There would have been many circumstances though where I would have considered flying Cathay and transiting through there. I think this comes down to when you travel to a country you do so with an understanding that you must abide by their laws, when you transit through a country those laws are generally not as relevant, but in this case they certainly are.