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New permit proposed to allow more visits by claimants

Abode seekers who obey a court ruling to return to the mainland might get a new visa to allow them to visit relatives in Hong Kong more often, the Government announced yesterday.

Officials proposed the multiple entry two-way permits to mainland authorities after the Court of Final Appeal's January 10 ruling that thousands of abode seekers in Hong Kong must return to the mainland by the end of March.

Director of Immigration Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong told legislators of the plan amid calls for action from groups concerned about the welfare of thousands of abode seekers who lost their claims to be allowed to stay.

Mr Lee said a meeting had been held with mainland counterparts on the idea, which was still at a preliminary stage.

Mainlanders can apply for two-way permits twice a year for family visits and stay up to three months each time.

Under the new proposal, they could visit Hong Kong several times without the need to apply for the document each time.

Mr Lee said details of the multiple permit needed to be worked out to prevent abuses.

'We don't want to see people staying here 364 days out of 365, or staying for seven days, going back to the mainland, and returning again on the eighth day.'

But a representative of the Right of Abode Committee, Fu Ka-wai, said while it welcomed a more flexible two-way permit system, all losing claimants should be allowed to stay in Hong Kong.

'We had been granted right of abode by the court. But the Government overrode it by seeking the reinterpretation of the Basic Law,' Ms Fu said.

Sze Lai-shan, of the Society for Community Organisation, said while the proposal might help mainland housewives to travel more frequently to Hong Kong to care for children here, mainland students and workers could not take so many holidays each year.

One of the losing claimants, Lin Yeung-ming, 18, who faces forcible separation from her twin sister, said: 'The proposal can't help much as it won't mean genuine family unity.'

Secretary for Security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee emphasised there would be no amnesty for abode seekers who lost in the latest Court of Final Appeal ruling, which saw all but about 500 of the 5,114 appellants lose their claims.

Ip Kwok-him, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, questioned whether the Government would help adult abode seekers who joined the one-way permit queue during childhood. Mr Lee promised to discuss adult abode seekers with the mainland.

About 510,000 two-way permits were issued last year.

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