Commuting from Hong Kong to Shenzhen?

[expat35]

I'm currently having interviews for an interesting position that will likely move to Shenzhen from day 1. My DW is not very enthusiastic about that and although neither she nor I have been there I don't think I can blame her for that.

I though I'd post a question here whether it's realistic to live in Hong Kong and commute to Shenzhen but a quick search here gave me this thread http://www.expatsingapore.com/forum/index.php?topic=30478.0 that suggests precisely that.

The main question I'm left with now is what's a realistic time to expect for such a commute?

[GGirl]

Hi Expat,

If you lived in the northern New Territories, the acutal train/MRT ride from say Sheung Shui or Lowu itself across the border is short - 20 mins.

However it all depends on where your office will be in Shenzhen - its a sprawling city and you could find yourself battling it out on public buses.  Go and try it first before you commit.

Also have you considered the visa issue?  I think you can apply for a one  or three year visa so long as you are a HK ID holder.  Good luck, HK is fantastic but shenshen not so.  After you've done one trip /Xmas shoppping foray, there's very little to do there.

[expat35]

Hi GGirl, thanks for your encouraging answer.

The office is at Road Management Center, District 12, Bao An, Shenzhen 518101 (here, according to Google Maps) which looks to me like being in the middle of Shenzhen, though not too close to any of the trains from Hong Kong.

I don't have a HK ID currently. I'm told it matters whether the company has a HK office. To my surprise it looks like they don't.

[SA expat]

We lived in the other direction from Shenzen and used to travel into China to HongKong most weekends.  Something worth considering is not just the commute but the time to go through customs - it can be a nightmare.  After living in China and Shenzen being my only place to shop I would think very hard about whether this position is worth a huge change in lifestyle - Shenzen is certainly not Beijing or Shanghai and in my personal opinion is a dump.  Escaping it is also not great as flights are very expensive from Hong Kong and cheap getaways are very rarely cheap! I loved Hong Kong though.  Sorry I am not giving you more positive feedback. 

[GGirl]

Yes, the PP is correct.  IF you don't have a China visa (must be Chinese born or passport holder) and you enter as a foreigned (even with the 1 or 3-yr entry visa) you get shuffled upstairs to a long queue for foreigners.  IT can can 30=40 mins to process versus the 5 minute scan with the credit card type Chinnese visa (and that's when its not the weekend.....