Immigration Laws: March, 2002 - Number #15

The week-long Chinese New Year holiday witnesses one of the world's largest migrations, as many internal Chinese migrants return to their villages of origin. However, some of the migrants in coastal areas of China have not been paid for several months, prompting protests from migrants who did not have enough money to return home, or faced the prospect of returning home without presents for their families. Some migrants in Beijing reportedly did not return home in 2002 for fear of losing their jobs, opting to bring their families to Beijing rather than returning to their villages.

China has 130 to 150 million internal migrants, generally young people who left rural and interior areas for jobs in coastal cities. There are believed to be another 150 million surplus rural workers, promising more rural-urban migration. Most of the $45 billion a year in foreign direct investment flows to coastal areas, drawing more migrants from west to east.

Police in Fujian province say they have arrested one of the most wanted people smugglers (snakeheads) in February 2002; the man has been accused of smuggling 400 Chinese illegal migrants in four groups to Japan in 2001.

Hong Kong. Hong Kong has changed from a manufacturing to a service-based economy-the share of employment in manufacturing dropped from almost 40 percent in the early 1980s to 10 percent in 2002. Hong Kong has experienced considerable immigration. Until October 1980, Hong Kong had a touch-base policy toward mainland Chinese migrants- those who made it to Hong Kong could stay. After touch-base was ended, 75 one-way permits a day were available to mainland Chinese. That number was raised to 105, and since July 1995, 150 a day, so that 57,530 mainland Chinese arrived in 2000.

A peak 66,000 Hong Kong residents emigrated in 1992; about 85 percent of those who emigrate move to Canada, United States and Australia.

There are two major immigration issues in Hong Kong: the right of abode and foreign domestic helpers. After July 1997, the government introduced the Certificate of Entitlement Scheme, under which mainland Chinese claiming the right of abode in Hong Kong needed to have their claims verified by authorities on the mainland and in Hong Kong before they could move to Hong Kong. Some Hong Kong parents with mainland children smuggled them to Hong Kong, and asserted that the children had the right to stay.

The Hong Kong government, citing estimates that over one million mainlanders might move to Hong Kong and increase unemployment, maintained that smuggled mainland children could not stay. The Beijing government upheld this position, and eventually so did the Hong Kong courts. Under current law, children born to mainland parents in Hong Kong while they were visiting can stay even if they did not obtain exit permits, but not those born on the mainland who were smuggled into Hong Kong. To compensate for this tougher right of abode policy, Hong Kong and China may relax visit rules, which currently limit spouses, children and parents of Hong Kong citizens to two visits a year to Hong Kong, each up to three months.

The other migration issue is maids. The Hong Kong government in February 2002 decided not to cut the minimum allowable wage (MAW) of foreign domestic helpers; the MAW will remain at HK$3,670 (US$470) a month. There were 230,476 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong in December 2001, making them six percent of the labor force, with 154,744 from the Philippines; 65,027 from Indonesia; and 6,867 from Thailand.

Hong Kong authorities are attempting to limit abuse of maids, who filed 2,500 complaints of abuse by their employers in 2001, and to limit the fees that employment agencies charge maids to a maximum 10 percent of their first month's salary. However, most maids pay more than 10 percent, albeit to agents outside of Hong Kong, making enforcement difficult.

Since 1999, the Admission of Talents Scheme allows mainland professionals to move to Hong Kong for 12 months if they "possess outstanding qualifications, expertise or skills which are needed but not readily available in Hong Kong. They must have good academic qualifications, normally a doctorate degree in the relevant field." In 2000, 369 visas were granted under the scheme; the government reviews each application. The Admission of Mainland Professionals Scheme, announced in May 2001, allows mainland professionals in information technology and financial services to move to Hong Kong for 12 months.

Hong Kong employers would like to import foreign non-professionals, and the Hong Kong government approved several supplementary labor schemes in the early 1990s, over the opposition of unions. Several thousand foreign workers are admitted each year, after employers participate in the Labour Department's Job Matching Program for at least four weeks to demonstrate that local workers are not available.

There are relatively few illegal workers in Hong Kong; some 4,397 were arrested in 1999-00, and 5,693 in nine months in 2000-01. Hong Kong prosecutes employers of unauthorized workers, and makes the general contractor at construction sites liable for ensuring that the workers hired by subcontractors on the site are legal workers.

Authorities prosecuted about 80 employers a month in 2000-01. However, even though general contractors are liable for fines of up to HK$350,000 per worker, the government finds prosecution difficult, since unauthorized workers rarely have employment contracts, and many do not want to testify against their employers. Many of the illegal workers in construction are visitors from the mainland with two-way visitors' passes.

Taiwan. There were 304,605 foreign workers in Taiwan at the end of 2001, including 112,934 who were domestic helpers or caregivers. The largest group, 127,732, were from Thailand; followed by 91,132 from Indonesia; 72,779 from the Philippines; and 12,916 from Vietnam. Beginning in 2002, foreign workers can be employed for two three-year terms, for a total six years. Sanctions on employers who hire unauthorized foreign workers were increased to NT$150,000 to NT$750,000, up from NT$90,000, with criminal penalties of NT$1.2 million and a prison term of up to three years for repeat violators.

The Ministry of the Interior in February 2002 said it would establish a new committee to help foreigners gain permanent residency more easily. Under Taiwan's immigration law, foreigners who apply for permanent residency must be present in Taiwan for at least 270 consecutive days a year for seven years- many of those applying have their applications rejected because of overseas travel.