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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, to a question by the Hon Wong Kwok-hing in the Legislative Council today (April 24):
Question:
With effect from April 1, 2011, eligible mainland "overage children" of Hong Kong residents (i.e. mainland residents who were under the age of 14 when their natural fathers or mothers obtained their first Hong Kong identity cards on or before November 1, 2001) may apply, in phases, for Permits for Proceeding to Hong Kong and Macau (commonly known as "One-Way Permits") for reunion with their natural parents in Hong Kong. The applications by over-age children whose fathers or mothers obtained their Hong Kong identity cards in 1980, 1981 and 1982 or earlier were/are processed in Phases I to III respectively. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the respective numbers of applications for settlement in Hong Kong made by over-age children which the mainland authorities have received to date for Phases I and II, and since the commencement of Phase III; the numbers of such applications which had undergone preliminary vetting, had been approved and turned down respectively after completion of the vetting procedures, together with their respective percentages in the total number of applications; the reasons why some of the applicants have not yet been or were not issued with One-Way Permits;
(b) whether the Hong Kong authorities have received, since April 1, 2011, any requests for assistance, complaints and reported cases involving over-age children applying for settlement in Hong Kong; if so, of the details;
(c) whether it knows the number of additional vetting phases that the mainland authorities need to launch in order to process all the applications for settlement in Hong Kong submitted by eligible over-age children; and
(d) whether it has compiled statistics on the average time of stay in Hong Kong each year of the over-age children whose applications were successful and have entered Hong Kong with One-Way Permits, and among such persons, of the number of those who ordinarily reside in Hong Kong; whether the authorities have conducted any survey on the over-age children's lives in Hong Kong, as well as their job seeking and employment situation, etc., with a view to finding out the assistance they need and their impact on the local labour market; if they have, of the details; if not, whether they will consider conducting such surveys expeditiously?
Reply:
President,
Starting from April 1, 2011, eligible Mainland overage children of Hong Kong residents, i.e. those who were below the age of 14 when their natural fathers or mothers, on or before November 1, 2001, obtained their Hong Kong identity card and whose natural fathers or mothers still reside in Hong Kong on April 1, 2011, may apply for one-way permit (OWP) for reunion with their natural parents in Hong Kong in an orderly manner. The phased submission of applications by overage children to the Mainland authorities will be scheduled chronologically according to the order in which their natural fathers or mothers obtained their Hong Kong identity cards. The Mainland authorities are accepting applications from Mainland residents whose natural fathers or mothers obtained their first Hong Kong identity cards before 1982.
My reply to the four parts of the question is as follows:
(a) According to information from the Mainland authorities, as at end March 2013, the Mainland authorities have received some 42,000 OWP applications from overage children, of which initial assessment of over 34,000 (81%) has completed with some 30,000 (71%) approved to issue OWP. The Mainland authorities are actively processing the remaining applications with a view to allowing eligible Mainland overage children of Hong Kong residents to reunite as early as possible with their natural parents in Hong Kong. The Mainland authorities have not provided further breakdown of the statistics.
(b) From April 2011 to present, the Immigration Department (ImmD) has received individual requests for assistance concerning OWP applications from overage children. Having regard to the circumstances and request, the ImmD will reflect to the Mainland authorities and provide practicable assistance, including assisting the applicants' parents who are aged or with limited mobility in taking samples for DNA tests in Hong Kong. Up to now, the ImmD has not received any complaint or report concerning OWP applications from overage children.
(c) The Mainland authorities are actively processing the OWP applications from eligible overage children. Depending on the number of applications and progress, the Mainland authorities will announce the arrangement of the next phase in due course, with the aim to allowing eligible Mainland overage children of Hong Kong residents to reunite as early as possible with their natural parents in Hong Kong in an orderly manner.
(d) The Administration does not maintain statistics on the duration of stay in Hong Kong in a year of Hong Kong residents, or the number of ordinary residents in Hong Kong. Currently, the ImmD and Home Affairs Department collect information of new arrivals on the strength of OWP at Lo Wu boundary control point and Registration of Persons Office respectively. The information is compiled into a quarterly report which is distributed to the relevant government departments and non-government organisations for reference. The Census and Statistics Department also takes new arrivals on the strength of OWP into account when making population estimates, which provide a common basis for the Government in the long-term planning for education, housing, transport, social services, medical services, etc.
The Labour Department (LD) is committed to providing comprehensive employment services to assist new arrivals to find jobs so as to facilitate their integration into society. At present, the LD provides free and diversified employment services to job seekers through a network of 12 job centres, two industry-based recruitment centres, the Telephone Employment Service Centre, the Interactive Employment Service website and numerous vacancy search terminals located throughout the territory. The LD also organises regularly large-scale job fairs in shopping malls and community halls at various districts, as well as district-based job fairs in the job centres to help job seekers find work. To meet the employment needs of the new arrivals, the LD has specifically set up resource corners and special counters at job centres to assist new arrival job seekers. Tailor-made employment briefings are organised to help them better understand the local labour market situation and improve job search skills. New arrival job seekers can meet the employment officers in the job centres to obtain job search advice and information on training courses, and to receive career aptitude assessment as appropriate. They may also participate in various employment programmes to enhance their employability.
Ends/Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:21
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