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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, to a question by the Hon Jeffrey Lam in the Legislative Council today (June 26):
Question:
Up to the present, more than 200 000 children have been born in Hong Kong to mainland women whose spouses are not Hong Kong permanent residents (commonly known as doubly non-permanent resident (DNR) children). It has been reported that under the household registration system of the Mainland, DNR children do not have registered residence on the Mainland because of their Hong Kong permanent resident status (Hong Kong resident status). As a result, they will not be admitted by public schools on the Mainland, may not sit for admission examinations for higher education on the Mainland, and are not entitled to the medical and other benefits provided by the mainland Government. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of enquiries on or applications for renunciation of Hong Kong resident status received by the Government in the past five years; among such cases, the number of those in which such status had been renounced or lost, and the number of DNR children involved in such cases;
(b) whether any mechanism is currently in place for Hong Kong residents to apply for renunciation of such status; if so, of its legal basis; if not, the reasons for that; whether the Government will, by means of legislative amendments, establish a mechanism for parents of DNR children to apply on behalf of these children for renunciation of the Hong Kong resident status; and
(c) of the ways by which DNR children can renounce their Hong Kong resident status and obtain registered residence on the Mainland at present; whether the Government will discuss with the mainland authorities the establishment of a mechanism for DNR children to obtain registered residence on the Mainland, so as to ameliorate the problem of shortage of primary and secondary school places caused by DNR children coming to Hong Kong for education?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the three parts of the question is as follows:
Pursuant to paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115), a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is -
(a) a Chinese citizen born in Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;
(b) a Chinese citizen who has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 7 years before or after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;
(c) a person of Chinese nationality born outside Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to a parent who, at the time of birth of that person, was a Chinese citizen falling within category (a) or (b);
(d) 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 7 years and has taken Hong Kong as his place of permanent residence before or after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;
(e) a person under 21 years of age born in Hong Kong to a parent who is a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in category (d) before or after the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region if at the time of his birth or at any later time before he attains 21 years of age, one of his parents has the right of abode in Hong Kong;
(f) a person other than those residents in categories (a) to (e), who, before the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, had the right of abode in Hong Kong only.
The Immigration Department (ImmD) verifies Hong Kong permanent resident status in accordance with the Immigration Ordinance. According to the law, once verified, as long as the person still qualifies for Hong Kong permanent resident, the Hong Kong permanent resident status will not change. The ImmD does not maintain figures of enquiries on giving up Hong Kong permanent resident status.
Household registration in the Mainland falls within the remit of the Mainland authorities and should be handled in accordance with the law of the Mainland.
Mainland women should carefully consider the situation before deciding to give birth in Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:37
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