The Director of Immigration has too much discretionary power to cancel someone's passport under the new passport bill, legislators said. Speaking on a bills committee scrutinising the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Passports Bill, the Liberal Party's Miriam Lau Kin-yee urged the Government to say under what circumstances the immigration chief can cancel a passport. The Special Administrative Region Passport Bill stipulates that the director can cancel a passport if there is reasonable cause to believe the passport has been obtained through false or misleading statements or information. But, Ms Lau said, the provision could easily be abused. 'What are considered as reasonable causes? I think the administration can only cancel one's passport if it can prove the applicant has used false information,' Ms Lau said. Dr Leong Che-hung said the absence of an appeal channel would make the power of the Director of Immigration harder to monitor. But Principal Assistant Secretary for Security Ingrid Ho Poi-yan said the public could apply for judicial review if an application for the SAR passport was rejected or cancelled unreasonably. The bill was quite straightforward and, therefore, it was not considered necessary to have a channel of appeal. Ms Ho further said the passport bill would have a retrospective effect to July 1, but she maintained that the legality of passports issued before enactment of this law was strong and sound. 'Since Article 154 of the Basic Law stipulates that the Central People's Government shall authorise the SAR Government to issue passports, there should be no problem with legality,' she said.
