LGBT advocates slam government for staying silent on interim scheme that lets same-sex spouses work and study in Hong Kong
Special arrangement, similar to a dependant visa, has been in place for months following landmark court ruling in favour of lesbian expat against Immigration Department
Hong Kong LGBT rights advocates are slamming the Immigration Department for keeping mum on a special arrangement that allows same-sex spouses to work and study in the city – a scheme that has been in place for months but remains largely unknown to the public.
“If people don’t know about their rights, how do they apply for [the arrangement]?” Brian Leung Siu-fai, chief campaigner for local gay rights group Big Love Alliance, said on Tuesday.
The interim arrangement, which grants similar permissions to those from a dependant visa, was put in place following a successful judicial review lodged by a lesbian expatriate, known in court documents as QT, in 2015. The British citizen took the city’s director of immigration to court after his department refused to grant her a dependant visa. Her civil-union partner, known as SS, has a job in Hong Kong.
In a landmark judgment last week, the Court of Final Appeal ruled in favour of QT. The decision essentially requires the immigration department to grant QT and others like her – who have either married or entered into a civil union overseas – a dependant visa. The visa was previously strictly exclusive to partners in heterosexual relationships.
In September last year, however, the Court of Appeal had already sided with QT, meaning that the immigration authority should have begun providing the visa at that point.