Tens of thousands of foreign domestic helpers may win right of abode in Hong Kong if a test case being prepared by a rights group is successful.
Six maids who have lived here for at least seven years have filed for permanent residency. Lawyers have volunteered to take up their case in the courts if necessary, said Aaron Nattrass, secretary of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor.
The move follows a Court of Final Appeal ruling last month declaring an Immigration Ordinance provision unconstitutional. Five judges unanimously struck out the discretionary provision that required applicants first to be granted unconditional stay, or to be declared 'settled', before being allowed to apply for permanent residency. They found the provision incompatible with the Basic Law.
Mr Nattrass said that decision had 'wider implications'. He said he had received legal advice from a senior counsel that other provisions in the Immigration Ordinance designed to restrict residency rights for foreign domestic helpers were also unconstitutional under Article 24 of the Basic Law. Article 24 requires seven years' continuous residency in order for an applicant to obtain right of abode.
'The landmark decision may pave the way for thousands of foreign domestic helpers to obtain right of abode,' Mr Nattrass said. 'The position of Regina Ip [Lau Suk-yee], Secretary for Security, that they are temporary workers, is not correct, as some have lived and worked here for 15 to 20 years,' he said.
'Foreign domestic helpers are here on employment visas and should not be denied right of abode if they satisfy the requirements of Article 24.'
He added that some lawyers had volunteered to seek a judicial review on behalf of the maids to strike down those provisions of the Immigration Ordinance.
