HK maids join rush for residency status

HONGKONG—The number of domestics applying for permanent residency here has gone up to an average of more than 200 a month from just one before a landmark ruling in 2010 saying an Immigration ordinance stopping domestics from gaining permanent residency is unconstitutional.

The South China Morning Post on Monday said that from an average of just one a month before the landmark ruling, a total of 334 applications had been filed by domestics seeking permanent residency in this special administrative region.

In late September 2010 Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon favored the application for permanent residency of Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a Filipina who had been living in Hong Kong for 25 years.

The High Court judge said the exclusion of foreign domestics from a rule allowing foreigners to apply for the right to settle in the city after seven years of uninterrupted residency was unconstitutional, but the government has appealed that decision.

Permanent residency in Hong Kong means a person can remain in the territory indefinitely and may not be deported. He or she also wins the right to vote and to run in elections.

Earlier, Vice President and Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers’ concerns Jejomar Binay welcomed the Hong Kong court’s decision.

“The ruling is a step forward in recognizing the rights of migrants,” Binay said.

“[Migrant workers] have contributed to the economy of their host countries, and the decision recognizes their contributions.”

Before the Hong Kong court’s ruling, human-rights advocates said a ruling favoring Vallejos would represent a significant step toward dismantling the system that treats domestic workers as second-tier residents, and that her victory could lead to the more than 270,000 domestics in the city gaining the right to apply for permanent residency.

Still, Starry Lee Wai-king, vice-chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said she was alarmed by what she described as the “astonishing” increase in applications for permanent residency.

Some analysts say it is too early to identify a trend, while other say as many as 500,000 immigrants could flood into Hong Kong if each domestic helper brought in a spouse and two children.

The government-mandated minimum wage for domestics here is HK$3,740 or about US$480 a month, including rudimentary room and board. –Eric B. Apolonio, Manila Standard Today