British-born man whose residency status is anything but permanent
High Court asked to quash ruling on man born in Britain whose ID card status keeps changing
When is a permanent resident no longer a permanent resident? That is the question now being put to the High Court by the Immigration Department in a case involving a man born in Britain to Hong Kong permanent residents.
British national Man Wai-sing, 38, was given a permanent resident's identity card in 1995 when the Immigration Department decided that he was then a British Dependent Territories citizen and he had connections with Hong Kong because his parents were born in the city.
But 15 years later, the Immigration Department considered Man no longer a permanent resident. It ruled that after the handover being a Chinese national was a prerequisite to being a Hong Kong permanent resident under a law it believed applied in Man's case.
The department ruled Man was not a Chinese national because he was born in Britain, he acquired British nationality by birth, and his parents had settled there when he was born.
Man had also been absent from Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 36 months and he did not return to settle in Hong Kong within 18 months after the handover, the department said. He is currently residing in Britain.
However, Man still enjoyed the right to land, meaning that he had no restrictions getting in and out of Hong Kong.
