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Following is a question by the Hon Gary Fan and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, in the Legislative Council today (May 18):
Question:
Recently, the media have uncovered that some Mainland officials have long been selling quotas on Permits for Proceeding to Hong Kong and Macau (commonly known as "One-way Permits") (OWPs), and an OWP may fetch as much as HK$2 million. The Director of Audit's Report No. 66 has recommended that the Immigration Department (ImmD) needs to issue guidelines to set out clearly the procedures required for considering the supply of local manpower as well as the market levels of salaries and benefits in processing the applications under the General Employment Policy and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP). On the other hand, all public hospitals have stopped accepting delivery bookings from non-local pregnant women since January 1, 2013, and private hospitals have also unanimously agreed not to accept any delivery bookings, since 2013, made by doubly non-permanent resident (DNR) pregnant women (i.e. Mainland pregnant women whose spouses are not Hong Kong permanent residents) (commonly known as "zero-quota policy"). Regarding Mainland residents' acquisition of the right of abode (ROA) in Hong Kong through various means, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of Mainland residents who came to settle in Hong Kong on OWPs in each year since 2003, and among such residents, the number of those who were subsequently repatriated after being ruled by the court that their OWPs were obtained by illegal means;
(2) whether it has approached the Mainland authorities to gain an understanding about the situation where Mainland officials have long been selling OWP quotas; as the processing, vetting and approval of applications for OWPs fall within the remit of the Mainland authorities, whether the Government has taken the initiative to investigate if any OWPs held by Mainland residents who came to settle in Hong Kong have been obtained by illegal means;
(3) of the respective numbers of people who (i) applied to stay in Hong Kong, (ii) were allowed to stay in Hong Kong and (iii) eventually acquired ROA in Hong Kong, under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, ASMTP and Immigration Arrangement for Non-local Graduates in each year since 2003, and among such people, the number and percentage of those who were Mainland residents;
(4) whether it has formulated measures to improve the vetting and approval procedures in respect of various admission schemes so as to ensure that foreign workers will not affect the employment and wage levels of local workers;
(5) of the respective numbers of live births born to DNR pregnant women (DNR babies) in public and private hospitals in Hong Kong in each year since the implementation of the "zero-quota policy"; and
(6) as it is learnt that albeit the "zero-quota policy", there still have been cases of Mainland pregnant women crossing the boundary shortly before labour to give birth in Hong Kong, thereby using local healthcare resources, whether the authorities will examine the causes of such a situation and consider amending Article 24 of the Basic Law so that DNR babies to be born in the future will not have ROA in Hong Kong?
Reply:
President,
The reply to the Hon Fan's questions, in consultation with the Food and Health Bureau (FHB), is as follows:
(1) Since 2003, the number of persons who have come to settle in Hong Kong for family reunion on One-way Permits (OWPs) by year is as follows:
Year The number of persons entering
Hong Kong on OWPs
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2003 53 507
2004 38 072
2005 55 106
2006 54 170
2007 33 865
2008 41 610
2009 48 587
2010 42 624
2011 43 379
2012 54 646
2013 45 031
2014 40 496
2015 38 338
The Immigration Department (ImmD) does not maintain the other statistics mentioned in the question.
(2) OWPs are documents issued by relevant authorities in the Mainland. The application, approval and issuance of OWPs fall within the remit of the Mainland authorities. The ImmD facilitates at case level in the processing of applications, and when necessary, renders assistance in individual cases in verifying the supporting documents submitted by the applicants and their claimed relationship with relatives in Hong Kong. If any person is suspected of furnishing false information or making false statement, the ImmD will conduct investigation. The ImmD shall invalidate the residence status of persons whose applications are found to be fraudulent and shall remove them from Hong Kong, regardless of their years of residence in Hong Kong.
(3) The statistics mentioned in the question are at Annex 1.
(4) At present, the General Employment Policy (GEP) and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP) administered by the ImmD are applicable to professionals from outside for applying to work in Hong Kong. GEP is applicable to professionals from overseas, Taiwan and Macau, while ASMTP is for professionals from the Mainland. The objective of the two immigration arrangements is to allow local employers to recruit professionals not readily available in Hong Kong to meet their manpower needs.
Professionals seeking to work in Hong Kong have to meet three main criteria:
(i) having a good education background, normally a first degree in the relevant field;
(ii) having a confirmed offer of employment and are employed in a job relevant to their academic qualifications or work experience that cannot be readily taken up by local professionals; and
(iii) the remuneration package being broadly commensurate with and not inferior to the local prevailing market level.
In processing applications under the two immigration arrangements above, the ImmD will strike an appropriate balance between upholding priority employment of the local workforce as an important policy measure and admitting needed professionals to Hong Kong.
Since industries vary in business needs and require different kinds of professionals, the ImmD, in determining whether certain positions cannot be readily taken up by local employees, requires employers to provide justifications for employing the applicants concerned and reasons for failing to hire local professionals. If the ImmD needs further market information on the manpower situation of the relevant positions, employers will be required to provide recruitment details and documentary proofs, including recruitment advertisements published, number of local applicants, record of recruitment interviews and results, etc.
In assessing whether an applicant's remuneration package is broadly commensurate with the prevailing market level, the ImmD shall take into account a series of relevant factors in a holistic manner, including his/ her length of service and experience, prevailing market situation for the stream concerned, etc., while making reference to market information of various sources, as well as seeking advice from relevant professional bodies as necessary. In addition, where circumstances of individual cases warrant, the ImmD shall request the employing company to provide evidence to show that the remuneration package offered is commensurate with an applicant's situation, such as his/her length of service and market situation for the stream concerned.
The ImmD shall make reference to the information provided by relevant government departments or professional bodies on individual cases as necessary to ensure that the applications are in compliance with the objectives of the two immigration arrangements.
(5) and (6) To ensure that local pregnant women are accorded priority for quality obstetric services, the Government has implemented a series of policy measures to limit the use of obstetric services by non-local pregnant women to a level that can be handled by the healthcare system in Hong Kong. Since the implementation of the "zero-quota policy" on January 1, 2013, all public hospitals have not accepted any delivery bookings by non-local pregnant women, and private hospitals have also unanimously agreed to stop accepting delivery bookings from non-local pregnant women whose husbands are not Hong Kong residents (also known as "doubly non-permanent resident pregnant (DNRP) women") since 2013.
The number of local live births born to Mainland pregnant women whose spouses are not Hong Kong permanent residents (including DNRP women) between 2011 and 2015 is at Annex 2. The Government does not maintain the other statistics mentioned in the questions.
Since the implementation of the "zero-quota policy" in January 2013, the number of local live births born to Mainland pregnant women whose spouses are not Hong Kong permanent residents has significantly decreased from the highest of 35 736 babies in 2011 to 775 in 2015.
The Government will continue to closely monitor the utilisation of local obstetric services by non-local pregnant women, and will take actions to tackle the situation as appropriate.
Ends/Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:14
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