Update | Abandoned 12-year-old boy becomes legal after nine undocumented years in Hong Kong
But grandmother who pleaded on his behalf is arrested for immigration breach
A 12-year-old boy who had lived in Hong Kong for nine years without documentation was given temporary papers to stay yesterday, while his grandmother was arrested for helping him breach conditions of stay.
The grandmother, 67-year-old Chow Siu-shuen, brought the boy to Hong Kong from Shenzhen on a two-way exit permit in 2006 when he was just three years old after he was abandoned by his parents on the mainland.
If I die one day and he does not have documentation … he will have no way to live
Since then, Siu Yau-wai has spent most of his childhood living under the radar - unable to go to school, see a doctor or even borrow a book from a public library.
"Every time I see a police officer I know I must hide," said the boy. "I am scared I will get arrested. I am scared grandmother will be arrested."
After reading about the suicide of a 15-year-old girl without legal documentation who jumped to her death from her Repulse Bay flat last month, Chow decided it was in her grandson's best interests to turn herself and the boy in to the authorities.
Along with Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker Chan Yuen-han and a lawyer, they met the media yesterday before surrendering to the Immigration Department's general investigation section in Kowloon Bay.
WATCH: The boy says he wants to go to school after receiving a temporary permit