Two-year-old Ching-ching sat outside her Fanling home in tears last month holding a pair of her mother's pyjamas as she waited for her to return from the mainland. Today the reunion is over and Ching-ching, who won residency under a landmark ruling last year, will kiss her mother goodbye again. Ching-ching's mother, Hui Mei-kwan, 29, does not know when she will see her daughter next as her permit to visit has expired and she must return to the mainland. 'She has been unhappy since I told her I would be leaving. She sometimes cries all night and refuses to go out to play,' Ms Hui said. The single mother entered Hong Kong illegally in April 1997 to join her family, unaware that she was entitled to file an abode claim. By the time she did so in May 1999, it was too late. The claim was rejected by the Court of Appeal on January 10 this year. Ching-ching, who was born in March 2000, won right of abode under the ruling on three-year-old boy Chong Fung-yuen in July last year, which stated that a child born in Hong Kong has automatic right of abode, regardless of the parents' status. Immigration officers arrested Ms Hui at her home in August and removed her to the mainland, leaving Ching-ching in the care of her working grandparents. Ms Hui said her child had learned to make long-distance calls to her. 'She told me on the phone that she missed me and asked when I'd be back. On the day she learned that I would return last month, she pulled a chair outside and took my pyjamas in her hands. She then sat there with teary eyes waiting for me.' Ms Hui said she was only issued a two-way permit, which was valid for a month. 'I want to queue up but there is no queue for me. I did not come to Hong Kong with the intention of giving birth. I did not know that my baby would get residency. I don't know what to do,' she said. Ms Hui said she could not take Ching-ching to the mainland as the girl did not have any official household registration there and she worried that she would be discriminated against as an illegitimate child. Society for Community Organisation organiser Sze Lai-shan urged the government to liaise with mainland authorities to resolve the problems brought about by the court ruling on Fung-yuen's case. According to the Security Bureau's record, between the handover and July 19 last year, 6,762 people were eligible for the right of abode in accordance with the judgment on Fung-yuen. A spokeswoman said the bureau could only liaise with mainland authorities on behalf of split families on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with its immigration policy.