Applying for family members to join you under QMAS

Which family members qualify?

If you hope to bring your family, begin with the relationship category that applies to each person. Current policy allows a QMAS principal applicant to apply for a spouse, a qualifying legally recognised partner, and unmarried dependent children under 18.

Partner arrangements cover specified civil partnerships, civil unions and similar relationships that are legally and officially recognised where formed, with statutory registration and marriage-like characteristics. Cohabitation alone, de facto spouses and fiancés or fiancées do not fall within those arrangements.

Parents, adult children and siblings do not automatically qualify because you obtained QMAS status. The dependant policy has a different family scope for sponsors such as Hong Kong permanent residents.

Do not apply its parent provisions to a QMAS sponsor still subject to a limit of stay. For adoption, guardianship, blended families or overseas relationship systems, check the actual documents and official requirements.

Connect the relationship records

Official examples of relationship evidence also include family photographs, correspondence and household registers, but these do not freely replace formal relationship documents. We suggest establishing the relationship through legal records first, then using genuine supplementary material to explain unclear points.

Avoid indiscriminately uploading an entire family photo album or publicly sharing children’s documents and birth certificates.

Show how the sponsor will provide support and housing

Dependant policy requires the sponsor to maintain family members above a subsistence level and provide suitable accommodation. QMAS also requires self-sufficiency for the applicant and dependants without public assistance.

Official examples of sponsor documents include financial and address evidence, such as bank statements, salary or tax information, or rent receipts, as applicable.

Family plans may unfold in stages: one person arrives first, temporary housing gives way to a longer tenancy, and education costs become clearer. We suggest putting those arrangements in one household budget, including the assets that will fund first-year rent and living expenses.

Its purpose is to explain the plan, not to reproduce a government minimum-income schedule. A salary figure circulated in a community for a family of three should not be treated as a universal official threshold.

Apply together or arrange a later application

The official recommendation is to complete the accompanying-dependant section in the QMAS online application. Each person needs valid identity documents, a recent photograph and applicable evidence.

A parent or legal guardian signs for applicants under 16. A sentence saying you will bring your family does not complete their applications.

Keep track of separate arrivals and permissions

Approved dependants must still collect their own visas and complete applicable travel formalities. Mainland families should check Exit-entry Permits and relevant endorsements; the principal applicant’s e-Visa is not a shared family document.

If the principal applicant arrives first, check the later arrivals’ individual visa-use dates and travel arrangements instead of copying the first person’s itinerary.

Dependant stays are generally linked to the sponsor’s, but read the dates on each issued document. Individual travel-document validity or processing circumstances can lead to differences.

We suggest a separate expiry entry for each person, supported by their travel documents, e-Visa and post-entry stay records. Update the connection between old and new documents after a passport or permit replacement.

Completing one family member’s renewal does not complete the others.

When family circumstances change

Marriage, birth, divorce, changed guardianship or a child approaching adulthood may affect the original plan. Record event dates, the current sponsor’s status and each person’s actual permission.

Consult dependant rules or the department on the appropriate procedure; do not assume status necessarily continues after a relationship or sponsor change. A Hong Kong-born child’s birth certificate also does not replace any required immigration or stay arrangements.

These family-file methods are our organisational suggestions. The immigration effect of a change or recognition of an unusual relationship depends on official rules and individual decisions.

For complex families, preparing legal documents early is more reliable than relying on verbal explanations close to expiry.