Helper visa activation

[kiffguy]

Wonder if somebody can confirm for me whether my hunch is correct.

My helper needs to exit before October in order to re-activate her visa.

She told me last week that she would prefer not to go home as there are some problems there she would prefer not to deal with. She claims that if she went to Macau and re-entered Hong Kong, her visa would be re-activated.

I know this is possible for a normal temporary resident when they first get a visa, but I'm not sure if the same applies to workers who have domestic worker visas. I thought the government was pretty strict about them going home for a holiday?

At the same time I don't want to force her into a situation she clearly doesn't want to be in.

Can anyone shed light on this?

[PDLM]

Something strange is going on here.

There is no need to "reactivate" an existing visa. If she is employed by the same employer and all the conditions of her visa are unchanged then when she is within 1 month of the expiration of her existing visa she simply goes to Immigration and applies for an extension for another 1-2 years. If granted then that's it, no need to go anywhere. If not granted (very unlikely) then she has 14 days to leave.

There is a requirement on the employer to provide home leave to the FDH every so often, but that's a different matter.

[kiffguy]

Something strange is going on here.

There is no need to "reactivate" an existing visa.

We hired her during a period where she was granted a short extension after her previous termination. As I understood it, she was meant to go home before she could take up a new contract.

So when we gave her a contract, the Immigration officials said that she didn't have to go home, but had to leave and re-enter at least before the first year of the contract over.