Hong Kong families lose appeal against immigration rule denying stay of loved ones in city
Applicants now fear uncertain future and their lawyer says authorities ‘sacrifice families on the altar of immigration control’
Three families had their futures thrown into limbo on Monday when a court rejected their appeal against Immigration Department decisions disallowing their loved ones to remain in Hong Kong.
The affected people are foreign nationals in situations such as being married to a permanent resident in Hong Kong or having children born in the city who are under their care.
Treat us as human beings, plead asylum seekers in Hong Kong
The appeal stemmed from judicial reviews lodged in 2014 by two Filipino mothers and a Malian father, who took the matter to court after they were refused extensions of stay or dependent visas by the Immigration Department.
This was despite the two mothers having children – some of whom have been granted residence in Hong Kong – to care for in the city, while the Mali man is married to a mainland immigrant.
In a 91-page judgment handed down on Monday, vice-president of the appeal court Johnson Lam Man-hon wrote: “By reason of the special circumstances of Hong Kong and the imperative need to maintain restrictive immigration policies and practices, there is a very onerous duty and responsibility placed upon the director whose policies the courts are generally institutionally ill-equipped to gainsay.”
Explainer: how Hong Kong has for decades been a migrant magnet
He added the immigration director had a duty to maintain a “delicate and difficult balance” between keeping Hong Kong a society open to foreigners and upholding the public interest to exercise stringent border control amid scarce public resources.