Immigration chiefs have 'tolerated' a Filipino woman's presence in Hong Kong for the last five years but have refused to officially extend her stay despite her daughter being a permanent resident, a court heard.
Former domestic helper Milagros Tecson Comilang yesterday officially challenged the Immigration Department's repeated refusal to formally extend her stay in the city.
Her counsel told the Court of First Instance that, while her stay has been 'tolerated' by the Director of Immigration, she fears she could be forced to leave at any time.
Comilang, who came to Hong Kong in 1997 as a domestic helper, married a Hong Kong resident in 2005. Her application to change her immigration status to allow her to remain in Hong Kong was rejected in 2007, and she is allowed to remain only on condition that she reports to immigration every two weeks.
Gladys Li SC told the judicial review hearing it would be in the best interests of Comilang's six-year-old daughter, Zahrah Ahmed, if her mother was allowed to stay in Hong Kong.
'[In this case] the daughter can't possibly enjoy her right of abode without her mother being [here as] the carer ... It is the right of the child to be taken care of by her mother,' Li said. She added that having a family life was a right, and the girl would suffer hardship if she was forced to go to the Philippines with her mother.