'Tourists' in ruse to win right to stay
Some mainlanders had been sneaking out of tour groups in the hope of being given permission to remain, it emerged yesterday.
An overstayer, Ms Chen, 40, who declined to give her full name, said: 'I lied that my dad died many years ago when I joined the tour to Hong Kong.' She said she had done so because Guangdong authorities had recently stopped issuing two-way permits to those with parents in the SAR.
'The eight-day tour I joined had no programme arranged and I just sneaked away on the first day. I've overstayed a few days now,' she said. 'I heard there is another tour in which all the members have gone missing.' Ms Chen said mainlanders with parents in Hong Kong were trying every means to come to the SAR since the landmark ruling and granting of a judicial review.
'I came here to fight for my rights of family reunion, not to become a burden on Hong Kong people,' she said. 'I've a lot of money. My house on the mainland is bigger than the one here.' She said controls at the Hong Kong border had also been tightened. An immigration officer asked her whether she had relatives in the SAR.
'I lied again,' said Ms Chen, who is now with her parents.
Ms Chen, who has applied for a walkabout permit, was among the 300 mainlanders outside Central Government Offices over past weeks fighting for the right to stay.
About 200 mainlanders staged a rally yesterday and about half with expiring two-way permits will apply to the Immigration Department for a walkabout document this morning.
