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SCMP Reporter

China has agreed to allow abode seekers who go back to the mainland to visit Hong Kong more frequently.

Details of the new multiple entry visits will be revealed later this month.

The announcement by Deputy Secretary for Security Michael Wong Wai-lun came as about 2,200 abode seekers continued to defy an order to return to the mainland by midnight last Sunday.

Mr Wong said the mainland authorities had in principle agreed to revise the two-way permit system to allow flexible and multiple visits. He said details were now being finalised by the two sides.

'We need to sort out how many more visits will be allowed and how long each visit can be for. It could lead to other problems like illegal working if we allow too many visits for too long,' he said.

Mainlanders are currently allowed to come to Hong Kong twice a year for a maximum period of three months at a time.

Mr Wong said the Immigration Department would repatriate the 2,200 defiant abode seekers to the mainland if they were intercepted in the street without legal proof they were allowed to stay temporarily in Hong Kong.

Mr Wong also urged them to surrender voluntarily to the immigration authorities and return to the mainland as soon as possible in their own interests.

'They should face the reality and stop wasting their time in Hong Kong. No matter how long they stay here, they will not get the right of abode,' he said.

Speaking on a radio programme, Mr Wong rejected claims that the SAR Government was indifferent to the abode seekers' pleas for family union, saying that the immigration policy in Hong Kong was more lenient than in other developed nations.

'In the United States, those who apply for family reunions are required to go through a means test to see if they are eligible. If they don't meet the financial criteria, they are not allowed in.'

So far, 11 abode seekers have surrendered to the Immigration Department and eight have returned to the mainland.



Failed abode seekers who go home allowed visits more often