Immigrants would flood in unless tough criteria were adopted, a judge warned yesterday.
Mr Justice Wally Yeung Chun-kuen made the comment while rejecting Nepali Gam Bahadur Gurung's application for a judicial review of the Director of Immigration's decision to refuse him residency as a dependent of his wife.
Mr Gurung, 42, unemployed, applied for the right of abode as a dependent shortly after he arrived as a visitor on October 27 last year.
His wife, Man Kumari Gurung, 33, was born here while her father served as a Gurkha soldier. She moved back from Nepal in August last year.
The applicant claimed his wife, who works as a cleaner earning $6,000 a month, could sponsor him.
Senior government lawyer William Marshall told the Court of First Instance that the couple, who have five children in Nepal aged between five and 13, have to send $2,000 a month to Nepal and paid $1,500 rent a month for a Wan Chai flat.