On 25/8 I finished my employment in Hong Kong. On 26/8 I flew back to the UK, having moved out of my flat in HK. As it happens, on 27/8, having arrived in the UK that morning, I flew out to Spain that night. On 5/10, I flew out of Heathrow (getting upgraded at the gate, which was nice) and landed back in HK the day after, the 6th.
Today, the 9th, I'm leaving Hong Kong again - in fact. I've already been through passport control and I'm sitting at the gate waiting for them to call boarding. Strange, huh? Well, here's what happened...
I officially started work in Hong Kong almost exactly a year ago. In fact, it was on or about 9/10/05 - the day I activated my visa was, anyway. Since the standard 'first' work visa is for 1 year, my visa expired on 9/10/06. When I re-entered Hong Kong last week, I accidentally did it as a resident with 3 days left on his (un-renewed) work visa, rather than as a visitor who would get 180 days stay, given a UK passport. I arrived late enough that there wasn't much I could do about it on Friday, Saturday was a public holiday, Sunday is a non-work day, and today, the 9th, is Monday. I called Immigration this morning, and the best advice they could give me was "if your visa runs out today, you'd better leave Hong Kong today - when you next enter, make sure you're entering as a visitor." This may seem harsh, but it's not that bad - Hong Kong really isn't that big, and there are two convenient borders: to the mainland, and to Macau. As such, I'm at the Macau ferry terminal, waiting to board the 12 noon ferry, so I can turn around and come back - probably stopping for lunch in Macau - and re-enter Hong Kong. Total time, maybe 3.5 hours, total cost about $350 (about £25).
It's not quite what I'd planned to do today, but it's not an unpleasant way to spend an afternoon, so it's not a disaster.
Addendum: I'm now legally in Hong Kong, at least for (up to) the next 179 days. When I came back through passport control after having lunch and some nice ice cream in Macau - there are a couple of very nice little ice cream shops, one Italian, one Japanese, in a couple of side streets off the main square - I came through the 'visitor' lane rather than the 'resident' lane at passport control. The woman asked me if I'd finished working - I said yes - then asked if I wanted to enter as a visitor - I said yes - then reminded me that I couldn't work as a visitor - I said sure. Job done - got a visitor visa. Next thing - find a flat - not going well.