The number of foreign domestic helpers applying for right of abode went from an average of just one a month before September's landmark permanent residency ruling to more than 200 a month after it.
While this represents just a tiny fraction of the 125,000 helpers who have lived in Hong Kong for at least seven years, it is a significant rise.
The surge was pre-empted by a slight rise to 16 applications in the run-up to the ruling.
In November, a total of 334 applications were filed. 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 an 'astonishing' increase in applications.
But some analysts said it was too early to identify a trend.
Others said it showed estimates that as many as 500,000 immigrants could flood into Hong Kong - if each domestic helper brought in a spouse and two children - were just a scare tactic.