When I encountered Milos for the first time in Hong Kong, one of my first questions was
"Where are you from?"
His reply was "Serbia."
I must have turned my head suddenly because Milos said "Yes, it's unusual."
It is trully unusual. Most expats working in Hong Kong are usually from the UK, USA, Canada,
France, Italy and other first world countries.
Wikipedia says Serbia is part of the broader Central Europe. People in Central Europe are used to crossing over to work in a neighboring country if they know they can get higher pay there.For example, workers in Croatia, Hungary and Czech Republic looking for better pay would go to Vienna simply because the pay there is higher. The top destination for better pay in all of Europe would of course be the UK.
This is Milos's story:
Milos and his wife arrived in Hong Kong 6 years ago. Today, they're still in Hong Kong and are liking it. Milos finds the pay higher in Hong Kong and the people are nice. He also likes the relatively low crime rate in Hong Kong.
Milos says many local Hong Kong people think that if they go to the UK they'd earn more money. But it's not always true. Milos says he actually earns more money in HK because Hong Kong's income tax rate is very low. Yes, in fact, income tax in Hong Kong is one of the lowest in the world.
Before coming to Hong Kong, Milos and his wife were working in the UK. They are both from war-torn Serbia. They had the chance to come to Hong Kong because Milos's wife got a job offer from a company based in Hong Kong. The company was looking for a manager and didn't want to hire a local person. The pay was higher so Milos's wife accepted the job offer and they both flew to Hong Kong together.
Because it was Milos's wife who got the work visa, Milos says it was accidental that he found himself working in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Immigration allows spouses of people with a work visa to work in Hong Kong. The spouse does not have to get a work visa.
Milos says he put himself to work as soon as he arrived in Hong Kong. He got to work in a kitchen and learned as much as he could about cooking. And then, he leveraged his newly-acquired cooking skill to get a better-paying kitchen job. And this went on. Milos says he is now chef in a kitchen and works 9 and a half hours daily. (As opposed to the 12 hours he had to do in his earlier jobs.)
Milos says it took 5 job changes before he got to where he is. He says all chefs do it this way to advance to better working hours and better pay. He also says that most owners of restaurant chains know each other and most often will eventually know who their former chef has gone to work for. So, if you're a newbie chef, better play safe and don't say bad things about your old boss!
5-star hotels probably pay the best salary for chefs, specially if head chef. I just saw an ad for a head chef of a French Pâtisserie. Salary being offered is HK$45K-80K.
