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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Lau Wong-fat in the Legislative Council today (October 19):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council of the number of applications for permanent right of abode in Hong Kong received by the authorities in each of the past seven years from non-Chinese persons who had ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for not less than seven years (excluding those employed as domestic helpers from outside Hong Kong); and among them, of the number of applications rejected, together with a breakdown of such number by the reasons why the applications were rejected?
Reply:
President,
The statistics of applications for verification of eligibility for permanent identity card submitted by persons claiming under paragraph 2(d) of Schedule 1 to the Immigration Ordinance (i.e. a person not of Chinese nationality who has entered Hong Kong with a valid travel document, has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and has taken Hong Kong as his place of permanent residence before or after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) (excluding those submitted by foreign domestic helpers) from 2004 to now are tabulated below. The Immigration Department does not maintain statistics on the reasons of refusal.
Year Applications Applications Applications
Received Approved* Refused*
---- ------------ ------------ ------------
2004 13,906 11,989 257
2005 12,870 11,699 346
2006 9,282 7,940 419
2007 9,131 7,167 543
2008 9,491 8,113 627
2009 8,754 6,803 513
2010 8,314 6,681 578
2011 8,580 6,755 455
(up to
September)
* number of applications concluded in that year
Ends/Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Issued at HKT 13:00
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