NOT WANTED | Hong Kong’s top court rejects Filipino maids’ residency appeal

HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s top court, the Court of Final Appeal, has dismissed an appeal by Filipino helpers seeking permanent residency in the city, it said here Monday.

It was not immediately known how many Filipino maids there are in the former British colony, but the Philipines’ Commission on Overseas Filipinos put the number of Filipinos there at about 170,000 as of December 2010.

The court has also denied the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s request for referring the right of abode issue to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for clarification, saying the necessary conditions had not been met.

The city’s High Court in September 2011 ruled that the immigration provision which denies the right of permanent residency for a Filipino woman, who has worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong since 1986, is inconsistent with the Basic Law.

According to the Basic Law in Hong Kong, foreign residents can apply to settle permanently in Hong Kong after seven years, but the city’s nearly 300,000 foreign maids are excluded.

The judges ruled that the nature of residence for foreign domestic helpers was highly restrictive since they are obliged to return to their country of origin at the end of their contracts, and are told from the outset that admission to Hong Kong is not for the purpose of settlement. –Philippines News Agency | Xinhua