One way to gain residency or citizenship in another country is through immigration by investment. But with the murky waters of international law, having the right legal partner is critical for the best possible outcome.

Enter Harvey Law Group, often recommended as Hong Kong’s best immigration lawyer serving families, corporate clients, and individuals alike. As immigration experts, they have both the scale and services required to make your transition a success.

Our team conducted background research, client interviews, and office visits to assess HLG in various areas. We even engaged one of their lawyers incognito! If you want to learn more about this firm, we’ve weighed in on their offerings to give you insights into their work.

Company Background

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Jean François Harvey founded Harvey Law Group in 1992. Since then, it has grown rapidly into a multinational law firm with a presence in 24 countries around the globe, catering to individuals, businesses, and government agencies.

The firm has earned various commendations in Hong Kong, including winning the Macallan ALB Hong Kong Law Awards in 2014, 2017, 2021, 2022, and 2023. 

With 30 years of experience and commitment to providing legal advice globally, Harvey Law Group has a team of lawyers registered with the Bar in several countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North America, and South America.

As a firm that caters to professional investors, the team provides support in various languages, such as English, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Tagalog.

Services included are immigration by investment for individuals moving to other countries, business law for cross-border trade, and private services for tax planning, wealth preservation, and employment issues.

How We Reviewed Harvey Law Group

The immigration process is overwhelming, especially without help. To help you make an informed decision and to ensure top-notch assistance throughout, we reviewed Harvey Law Group using the following:

Expertise and Specialty: Besides looking into how long they’ve practiced immigration, we checked their expertise in various legal areas and issues.

Work Ethic and Approach to Cases: To make sure you get a trusted service, we looked at the lawyers’ professionalism, reliability, efficiency, and honesty.

Accessibility and Communication: An immigration law firm should provide consultations, and have a staff and lawyers that are easy to reach.

Reputation and Reach: This criterion is built over time, so we looked at case studies and how consistent their track record is.

Practice Areas and Support: Immigration law is broad and complex, so we checked the range of services and how many individuals they cater to.

Expertise and Specialty

Rating: 5/5

When it comes to immigration law, Harvey Law Group (HLG) boasts an impressive profile that spans a global reach. Its biggest draw is its solid 25 Residency & Citizenship by Investment Programs that attract a rich pool of corporate clientele.

With that said, any investor who wants to move to Hong Kong (permanently or temporarily), will find just the right program at HLG. But legal framework is one thing – their other big advantage is their knowledge of the country’s unique culture.

Having an HK office puts them in an excellent position to do the following: assist with legal immigration processes and aid clients with any sociocultural insights they need. 

In fact, this help doesn’t just come off as a piece of spoken advice – HLG actually has services to support these. For instance, the law firm also dabbles in business law which is particularly helpful for foreign corporate investors just starting out.

Even individual investors will find comprehensive assistance with their Private Client Services. These are tailored solutions that include everything from tax planning to succession strategies.

With services that satisfy legal immigration needs with personalized business solutions, HLG ticks all our boxes. The three decades of experience become a bonus at this point – the range of services alone fits our standards just as well.

Work Ethic and Approach to Cases

Rating: 5/5

Having reviewed hundreds of case files for various legal firms, we know that occasional slip-ups are inevitable. But what sets the best law firms apart from the “just-good” ones is the promptness of action and the post-support that comes after.

Granted HLG actually has an almost bullet-proof success rate, we’re more impressed by the tinier details. For example, when a case hits an administrative delay, HLG informs their clients immediately to keep them in the loop.

Communication is important, of course, but we value fairness more. After speaking with a mix of their corporate and individual clients, we’re happy to hear that the level of prioritization, respect, and treatment is the same for all. 

Small and big clients will find a professional legal ground here, which matches our expectations for their client-centric approach. Speaking of which, they’re really straightforward and never sugarcoat any unfavorable news.

This upfront attitude is what we consider essential for building trust and integrity. And of course, it prevents clients from having unrealistic expectations of the outcomes of their cases. 

Clearly, winning the prestigious Macallan ALB Hong Kong Law Awards also speaks about the in-house counsel’s exceptional performance. Plus, being a finalist six consecutive times is evidence of their consistent service quality.

Accessibility and Communication

Rating: 4/5

Similar to most law firms, HLG is open on weekdays from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. But the real highlight is their free consultations, which are easily accessible from their main office in Wan Chai or via their coworking facilities.

HLG’s location itself is a big plus, considering how easy it is to get to the area via public transit. This makes meeting lawyers easy, although we must note that the overall convenience still depends on various factors including the attorney’s available hours.

For starters, it allows HLG to be within arm’s reach of high-profile clients. Secondly, immigrating investors will be working with a firm that’s familiar with foreign communities within upscale residential environments. 

For clients who prefer doing things online, it’s easy to reach them via an inquiry form on their website. The site itself still lacks intuitive virtual meeting features but their representatives do reach back within the day.

Reputation and Reach

Rating: 5/5

As of writing, HLG has 24 offices across the globe – a solid benchmark for international success. Of course, it proves convenient for their clientele too, as this opens a broader immigration opportunity in various countries.

The best part is that they’re aiming to add up to 40 offices, still. Imagine how game-changing this can be for organizing cross-border transitions without getting lost in paperwork and red tape!

While that’s yet to happen, HLG’s recognition is enough to establish a name among high-profile companies in Asia. In fact, they’re a five-time Immigration Law Firm of the Year at the Macallan ALB Hong Kong Law Awards.

In addition, HLG also boasts a Gold Award from the Law Society of Hong Kong for their community work through pro bono cases. While this is typical for most law firms, we do appreciate the good character to carry relatively big cases at no fees.

Practice Areas and Support

Rating: 5/5

As we’ve covered previously, HLG mainly specializes in immigration by investment. In that area, they’re popular with high-profile corporate and individual clients who want to do business outside Hong Kong (or for foreign clients, to do business in Hong Kong).

One of their services really nails this transition on the head, as it’s meant to assist individuals who want to build businesses in the country. It’s called company formation across various parts of the world and is also available for non-HK citizens.

In particular, this service is helpful for English Common Law countries. Clients will get the necessary assistance, all while having easy communication with HLG.

To give you an idea, their support team is available in different languages including Chinese, English, French, and more. This is something we expect from an immigration firm, so we’re adequately pleased with their support.

On top of that, we’re happy to note that HLG also caters to individual services, including taxes, legal employment issues, wills, and inheritance processes. They also have solid due diligence services such as succession planning and wealth preservation.

Finally, we think it’s great that HLG offers a potential alternative for those who want to immigrate but do not have the means to invest. Through HLG’s citizenship by ancestry service, Hong Kong residents can become citizens in countries where they have familial ties.

Pros and Cons

Customer Reviews

“Mr. Harvey is very good lawyer and very responsible. Highly recommend.” – Eugene Lee, Google Reviews

Our Overall Rating: 4.8/5

Conclusion

Harvey Law Group is the best immigration law firm in Hong Kong because of their expertise in residency and citizenship planning and well-deserved recognition.

Individuals, business owners, and investors looking to move or expand to Hong Kong can ask for their assistance from start to finish. And with a dedicated team across the world, global citizenship won’t be too much of a headache with complete assistance.