Change of plan from China to HK-help!

[Shenzhennifer]

I just found out that my husband might be transferred to HK from SZ as early as next month. Bad timing since my baby is due at the end of Jan and we were having him in GZ.
But if we move to HK it doesn`t seem rational to have the baby in China anymore. but the problem is I know all the private hospitals will be full!
So my question is, assuming I can get my HK ID right away, would I be able to use a public hospital? Also, would I be able to choose which facility I would want to give birth in?
Has anyone had this kind of experience before, of arriving to HK like a MONTH before the birth of their baby?
Terrible timing his company!!!!!

 

[mwong222]

just so happens, this kind of happenned to me to. I just got transferred to HK last month. but my wife won't give birth until Feb.

No need to worry about booking a hospital if you have an HKID. For public hospitals, they have to accept you. We booked before my wife got her HKID so had to pay HKD 39,000 to register. She just got her temporary HKID so going to see how to get a refund. We are going the public route. We booked early because i was worried about bookings too plus she is mainland chinese so worried they (Customs/Immigration) wouldn't even let her in.

I have heard different things about registering at public hospitals. I registered at Tsan Yuk hospital (part of Queen Mary). But according to where i live (causeway bay), i have to register at Pamela Youde (the hospitals can only accept public patients by district). So i don't know what hospital we are delivering in anymore until after i get my refund.

getting a temp HKID is very fast (can get within 3-4 days of entering into HK and a real HKID card about 2 weeks later). Can register for public with it. I think private hospitals are already fully booked so difficult to get in. both routes do require a private doctor in HK to refer you.

to be honest, from what i understand, even if you don't register you can still give birth in public hospitals just by showing up because they cannot refuse a HKID holder.

 

[jaz1311]

Hi

I dont think its a problem, I only register at Tsak Yuk at week 36 as a public patient to deliver at QM as I just got my temp HKID then, (in the end I still deliver at private hospital), I only got my permanant HKID early this month. but if you want to deliver at the private hospital I think my OB might be able to help.


If you want to deliver at QM as a private patient you can go and register directly at QM at Blk S 5th Floor.

 

[Shenzhennifer]

Well, we found out that he IS being transferred to HK, and it will happen very quickly, maybe within a month.
The problem is NO HKID. So I know the public hospitals won't accept me as a private patient and I'm pretty sure the private hospitals will be filled up by now.
I don't know a thing about HKID -will have to read up, but I do know it takes a long time. I'm quite happy delivering at a public hospital - I know the system is quite good and very economical (husband does NOT get a salary increase despite moving to a very expensive city!)
This temporary HKID sounds promising. Do you know anything more about that? Will the public hospitals accept me even with this temp status?
I saw a doctor at Union a couple of times before I decided to have the baby here in China, so I could always go back to him and get some kind of referral, plus we'll probably be living in Shatin, as far as I can tell.
But if all fails, what will I do? I'm only 9 weeks from delivery and quite distraught about this. We finally only got my Chinese residency visa!

 

[jaz1311]

Hi

If you do not have a HKID, you can go to any public hospital and they would still accept you as a private patient, the thing that would help is if you could get a referal letter from a private OB.

I went to QM as a private patient initally but my private OB arrange everything for me, but like I say before its not cheap for a c-section as a private patient at a public hospital, and I was concern about the after care. As for normal delivery I think its between HK$39,000 - HK$48,000.

If you can get a OB which have good connection with a private hospital I think its not a problem getting a place there. I got my place confirm in Matilda only in August 08 and I delivered on 7 Nov 08.

As for the HKID, I need to 1st get a dependent visa and it took me about 7 weeks to get it once I got my dependent visa approved I immediately apply for my HKID. I got my temp HKID the day my dependent visa was approved.

The actual HKID will take about another 10 working days to process, but if you can get your HKID the public hospital in HK will still accept you as a private patient.

Well, hope the info helps.

 

[mwong222]

Our HK visa took about 6 weeks. This is about the average time.

The Temp HKID is just as good as regular HKID. The temp ID has your HKID # on it. So you can use that to register no problem. Even if you don't register, the public hospitals will still accept you because they do not turn anyone away in an emergency. It is just they will charge you HKD 49,000 for not registering beforehand. So just be expected to pay this amount.

My advice: go to HK asap to see if you can register at a hospital and apply for HK visa. Get the ball rolling. pay the HKD 39,000 to register. if you can get temp HKID before giving birth then you can apply for a refund. If not, at least you are registered. This is what we did. Just so you know, for non-eligible, public and private hospital is the same price. I think you are cutting it close so i think just getting into a hospital is good enough. doesn't matter public or private.

website for Hospital Authority information for non-eligible:
http://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_visitor_index.asp?Content_ID=1161&Dimension=100&Lang=ENG

i don't think you should worry so much though. putting a lot of stress on yourself. you can just give birth in China and take the baby to hk after he/she is born. unless one of you is a chinese citizen, i don't think there is any difference where (China or HK) you give birth anyways. Only Chinese citizens can get HK citizenship by being born in HK.

i didn't want to give birth in china because they wanted me to register my child's birth under one-child policy as my wife is mainland chinese.

 

[Dink]

Is there any chance of persuading your husband's employer to pay for a relocation agent to handle your visa and HKID processing for you? It would take a lot of the stress and hassle out of it.

 

[Shenzhennifer]

Thanks for all the information.
I called Union today and they informed me that only private rooms were available ($30,000+room fee+doctor fees+other fees). It sounds toooo much for us... I`m wondering if I should then cancel my appt with their doctor, or would he be able to help me get into another hospital...?
I`m going to call around to other private hospitals and see if they have spaces, also some public ones, to see where exactly I stand.

Mwong222 - thanks for your advice and that website is a great find - I love HK! I COULD have the baby in GZ still, but we might have a housing issue (no home base to come back to after the baby`s born since our lease will have expired), and also if we`re going to live in HK I would like my son to be born there and be eligible for the HKID right away to defray some of the health costs we would incur living in China (ex. 20% chance of him having to get surgery in the first months of his life)
One question, do I have to already reside in HK to apply for a visa? I think my husband might have to apply first, since I`m his dependent. I think we would miss our window of opportunity, I`m afraid.

Dink - Yeah, my husband`s company will handle the visa - they have an agent they use already, but I don`t think it would speed up the times, would it?

jackie0109 - to be honest, and in risk of offending any mainland mommies, I don`t particularly like living here. There are many perks but once I got pregnant I started to see things very differently. My husband and I prefer HK - it`s just too bad about this bad timing!!

 

[Dink]

Hi there - you don't need to live in HK to apply for your visa, we got ours before we left the UK and picked up our HKID cards a couple of days after arriving. But you're right, using the agent doesn't speed up the times, but you can start the process right away I think.

 

[sherwes]

Hi, our visas took 6 weeks. My husband's was a working visa and mine and our son's were dependant visas. You apply for the visa outside of HK and then it is activated when you enter HK.

The HK ID card takes no time - just book an appointment time on the net and you will get your temporary ID the same day as your appointment. The temp ID is just as good as a perm one - it has your photo, ID number etc on it.

One thing I am unsure about is whether you have to show Immigration your visa in order to obtain a HK ID. It seems sensible that you do but I just can't remember sorry. This might be relevant because, if your visa isn't ready, you might enter HK on a visitor visa rather than a dependant visa. It would obviously be a bit odd to apply for a HK ID when you have a visitor visa only and this might raise questions. I am sure someone on this forum has been in this situation and can respond...