However, a limited company must have a director living in Hong Kong and have a registered address in the city that acts as that company’s official place of business. It is possible that most of the directors of your business will not live in Hong Kong. In fact, you may have only one Hong Kong native who serves as a director and as your company secretary. If that is the case, you may not even need a true office. Your single native director may work from home. However, in order to be a legal business, your company must have a business address. Renting office space can be expensive, especially if you don’t really need that space regularly. It may be an expense you do not or cannot add to your budget. That is when a virtual office comes in handy.

A virtual office is a service other businesses can hire to avoid renting or purchasing their own place of business. The monthly cost for this service is usually much lower than the cost of renting your own office, especially if you only need the most basic services. Virtual offices come with a number of additional options that you can add to your office as needed. In some cases, you may not need any of these add on options, while in other cases, you may need them on a regular basis.

The main function of a virtual office is to provide your company with a permanent business address in Hong Kong. Many companies that offer these services have multiple addresses, so you can select the one in the area you feel like your business would best fit. Most of these addresses are based in business districts or other influential areas. This can give your company the prestige of being located in a prime area, even though it is really not. Most virtual offices also come with some limited secretarial services. These assistants will collect mail and sign for packages that are sent to your virtual address. They may also act as an answering service. They may take messages and pass them on to you, plus some companies’ assistants provide free call forwarding. If you get a call during your stated business hours, the assistant forwards it to the number of your choice. Some offices offer this service at an additional cost, though. These offices are more than just an address. They are a fully functioning business centre with offices and meeting rooms. You can reserve these rooms if they are available, giving you a physical location to meet with clients or hold board meetings. Many virtual offices include reserving these spaces in your fee, so there’s no reason not to make use of them.