With Michael, managing director of Shin Management, for seven (+1) questions about the new “immigration trend” that seems affecting Hong Kong people recently

Q.Shin Management offers bookkeeping and company secretary services, what’s the link with immigration?

A.I like direct communication; everyone quickly understands when I say we do “accounting, bookkeeping”. Actually, most of our business is done on management consulting.

Long-to-short: we take care of our clients so to make every expect of their business profitable. No way to do this without keeping books sharp and clear. Anyway, our job brings us very close to our clients who usually tend to ask for advices on how to protect assets and families and recently, almost every day, clients ask me: “do you know how I can get an XXX passport?”

 

Q.What do you think about this trend? We saw several articles about the topic on local media as well…

A.Hong Kong is probably the most international, fastest thinking and fastest changing city in the world, I think is normal. I cannot see anything wrong in seeking alternatives of life, but I am afraid the way people think of “another passport” here is a bit too naive and the answer of service provider most of the time goes accordingly.

I do understand the importance of feeling safe, in particular during these times, but holding another passport is not like having a room full of face masks.

 

Q.What do you mean?

A.Ok, let’s put it this way: if you have a lot of masks at home you are truly quite safe (at least considering what masks are used for). Getting a passport does not guarantee you straightaway 100% life safety. Of course, service providers know very well how local people think so they will not get into this matter, they will happily assist you in getting your other passport and all the rest is (will be) your problem, sooner or later.

 

Q.Wait, what kind of problem can I face holding the passport of another (one more) country?

A.Well, first of all, you need to consider that holding an XXX passport does not secure you free legal assistance from that country, no free flight tickets “back home”, no free home there no easy job when “back” there.

People do not know that most of the countries offering friendly passport plans may actually not even be able to support legal expenses for their overseas citizens. Best case scenario they will do it only after having deeply looked into your specific case (while probably you are held somewhere…).

Some examples: when landing on your “new home-country”, maybe in a rush, you may
not be able to open a bank account quickly so to move your money there. It may become quite hard to pay rental, utility bills etc… Last but not the least, you may not be able to speak with most of the people; not to think about the issues related to your kids education and integration. And these are just few examples.

 

Q.Wow it looks pretty scary also considering how much a new passport can cost! How can we “be” safe and not only “feel” safe, any straight advice?

A.I suggest everyone to consider his/her own whole picture with care and see what is most worth to do. My “straight” advice is to always take care of your source of income or savings at first. Second, I would suggest thinking of your kids. Before burning money for other things, it is probably easier to put the kids on an international path from the very beginning of their social life. This will ensure you more safety than what you can imagine.

 

Q.So, if I were planning for a “new home-country” how Shin would help me?

A.Generally, we keep company books tidy and clear; we help with statutory filing as well, but as you can easily figure out, our job’s final target is to make sure that our clients have a true picture of their streams of income, asset location and value. We can help you with this at first. Suppose you can effort a trip, when packing your luggage properly you need to know what you (1) need to carry, what you (2) want to carry and (3) where you usually keep those things inside you home/closet. At home you may ask your housekeeper, in office for sure you ask your bookkeeper. After that, we can assist you with all the further arrangements.

 

Q.Can you tell us something about Shin and the way you guys work at the firm?

A.I like beautiful things that are well made. No matter the task we are involved in, at Shin we strive for excellence and we keep the customer at the forefront of our mind at all times. We are actually obsessed with our customer. We do really care of them. If you care, people will see. It will come through.

 

Q.What’s next for you today?

A.hmm, a difficult one!!!! I have conference call with a client from Milan. In January we started setting up a furniture factory in Vietnam but… you can imagine how fun it turned to be.