‘Startling inaction’ by Hong Kong Immigration Department over unregistered births, watchdog Ombudsman finds
Report released after nearly three years of investigations shows most cases involved ‘complicated family problems’ and overstayers
The “inaction” of Hong Kong immigration authorities over cases of parents failing to register the births of their children in time, as required by law, was “startling”, the city’s government watchdog said on Monday.
In a study released by the Ombudsman which looked into 151 reports between 1990 and 2015 of births that went unregistered for more than a year, it was found the Immigration Department did nothing in almost half of the cases.
The report noted most involved “complicated family problems” and “some mothers were afraid of revealing their identities as overstayers, while some even denied giving birth”.
It was later discovered that the girl and her younger sister were born in Hong Kong but had been living without any identity record because their parents had refused to register their births to cover up the fact that their Filipino mother was an overstayer.