Increase in number of domestic helpers applying for right of abode
The figure represents an increase since a ruling in September 2011 that was later overturned
More than 1,000 foreign domestic helpers have applied for permanent identity cards since a court ruled in September last year that a law preventing them from applying for right of abode was unconstitutional - a decision later overturned by a higher court.
Between the time Filipino helper Evangeline Banao Vallejos won her initial case at the end of September last year and the end of November this year, the Immigration Department received 1,026 applications from domestic helpers, according to figures seen by the Sunday Morning Post.
Between the first ruling and the end of March, when the Court of Appeal overturned the decision, there had been 916 applications.
In other words, before the initial ruling in Vallejos' favour, applications were running at about one a month. Now the Immigration Department receives about 73 a month.
Still, the applicants represent only a fraction of the 125,000 foreign domestic helpers who have lived in Hong Kong for at least seven years - the threshold applicants for permanent residency must meet.
Eman Villanueva, spokesman for Asian Migrants' Co-ordinating Body, said it was "actually a very low figure".
"The 1,000 number shows that the government has been exaggerating that 100,000 migrant workers will flood into Hong Kong," he said.