New immigrants from China have gained access to government retraining courses under a pilot scheme aimed to help them find jobs and adjust to life in Hong Kong, but they will miss out on financial allowances.
The Employees' Retraining Board, which has helped more than 110,500 people since 1992, has been under pressure to extend help to new immigrants.
But, unlike other Hong Kong permanent residents, they cannot claim allowances while on courses until they have lived in the territory for seven years.
More than 172,000 people have arrived in Hong Kong from China on one-way permits in the past five years.
Since July last year, the daily quota for Chinese immigrants has increased from 105 to 150.
Social workers have warned that many arrivals cannot cope with life in Hong Kong.
