Emigrants rush to get residency
Thousands of Hong Kong people who have emigrated have been returning to secure residency rights.
There had been a surge in applications for permanent residency status from emigrants in the past few months, the Immigration Department said.
Overseas-born children of the 500,000 people who emigrated in the past 10 years - and had not been here in the past 36 months - had to return to claim right of abode before the end of the month.
Former residents who had declared a change of nationality, and foreign nationals who acquired right of abode in Hong Kong before the handover also have to beat the deadline.
The number of returnees applying for an identity card increased from 4,983 in September to 6,431 last month, according to a department spokesman.
