Hong Kong's immigration department challenges boy’s right to abode ruling

A British-born boy who was granted the right of abode by a Hong Kong tribunal is expected to see his case go before the courts in a challenge launched by the Immigration Department.

James McAllister, 11, was born in 2002 to a Hong Kong permanent resident who married a British man, court papers show.

James' two elder sisters and brother were born between 1995 and 1999 in Riyadh and Taiwan. All three have the right of abode in Hong Kong as granted by the department, the papers show.

His mother Chan Hei-yee failed three times to get him a permanent identity card from the department, but succeeded in June before an appeal tribunal.

The director of immigration, in his capacity as commissioner of registration, is seeking a judicial review of the tribunal's ruling, saying the decision is legally unreasonable and should be quashed.

"[Chan] had settled abroad at the time of the birth of [James] in 2002, or even much earlier, i.e., at the time of [her] marriage in 1993 and upon her acquisition of British citizenship in 1994," the department said in its application for a judicial review.