Coronavirus: mainland Chinese students to miss DSE examination in Hong Kong, with trouble over visa extension caused by quarantine measures
- Lawmaker calls for special treatment on ‘humanitarian grounds’, as visa stays for some are not long enough to incorporate quarantine and exam
- Government agencies hold firm on rejections, saying such individuals have to sort out their own immigration matters
Some were so desperate that they were considering getting around the rules by flying into the city through a third country, pro-establishment lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun revealed on Thursday.
Some 700 cross-border students, who included mainlanders or Hongkongers living on the mainland, are to join more than 52,000 candidates for the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam, a university entrance test set to begin on March 27, according to the Examinations and Assessment Authority.
About 370 among the group in question are day-school students, with the remainder private candidates.
Leung is representing about 40 affected mainland candidates from Guangdong province. She said they were turned away by Hong Kong immigration officers earlier this week when they tried to enter the city by the Shenzhen Bay Control Point.