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Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (February 15):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of persons who resided in Hong Kong for more than seven years applying for right of abode in the Hong Kong SAR ("ROA") since 1997; the respective numbers of persons whose applications were approved and rejected, together with a breakdown by year set out in table form;
(b) of a breakdown of the number of applicants in (a) whose ROA applications were approved by race, age when ROA was granted, sex, profession, income and total asset value (set out in table form); and
(c) of a breakdown of the number of applicants in (a) whose ROA applications were rejected by race, age when ROA application was rejected, sex, profession, income, total asset value and reason for ROA application being rejected (set out in table form)?
Reply:
President,
Pursuant to paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Immigration Ordinance, 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.
Any person claiming to be a Hong Kong permanent resident under paragraph (b) or (d) above may submit, in accordance with established procedures, application for verification of eligibility for permanent identity card to the Immigration Department (ImmD), if he meets the requirement of "having ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 7 years" under the law and other relevant provisions of the ordinance. The ImmD will process the applications in accordance with the law. Breakdown of the number of these applications received, approved and refused from July 1997 to December 2011 by year is at Annex 1. Breakdown of the above figures by nationality is at Annex 2.
The ImmD does not maintain statistical breakdown by reference to the other categories mentioned in the question.
Ends/Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:58
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