Hong Kong ruling on maids residency overturned

Foreign maids gather in Central, business district in Hong Kong. AP photo/Kin Cheung

HONG KONG—The hopes of thousands of foreign maids, including Filipinos, to claim residency here were dashed after the Court of Appeal overturned on Wednesday a landmark ruling.

“It must be up to the sovereign authority to decide the extent to which the status of permanent resident should be conceded to foreign nationals,” Judge Andrew Cheung wrote in a 66-page judgment accepting the government’s appeal.

The High Court ruled on September 30 last year that domestic worker Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a Filipino, had the right to request permanent residency status, something that had been denied to foreign maids until then.

But the government argued that the authorities had discretionary power to decide who was eligible for residency, rejecting arguments that restrictions on maids were unconstitutional and discriminatory.

The three-judge panel on the Court of Appeal unanimously accepted that argument, saying the High Court could not override the government’s authority to decide who can live in the city and who cannot.

The decision will come as a major blow to tens of thousands of maids who could have been eligible for residency status if the Vallejos case had been established in law.

“It is a fundamental principle in international law that a sovereign state has the power to admit, exclude and expel aliens,” Cheung wrote.

Vallejos to appeal

Vallejos’ lawyers said they would take the case—the first of its kind in Asia—all the way to the Court of Final Appeal, Hong Kong’s highest court.

“The interpretation of the law creates a second-class citizen,” lawyer Mark Daly said. “We will continue on to the Court of Final Appeal until we get justice.”

Rights advocates said the Court of Appeal ruling sent the wrong message to other Asian nations that relied on poorly paid maids from less wealthy countries to toil at jobs locals no longer wanted to do.

“It’s not just about staying in Hong Kong—we don’t want to be excluded,” Eni Lestari, spokesperson of the Asian Migrants’ coordinating body,  said outside the court.

The group represents over 10,000 foreign maids in Hong Kong, a glittering financial and banking center of some 7 million people, including almost 300,000 foreign domestic helpers mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Lestari said foreign maids should not be treated any differently from other foreigners who flock to the semi-autonomous former British colony to find work as lawyers, bankers, accountants and managers.

Access to services

Most are eligible to apply for permanent residency, granting them additional rights and access to government services, once they have lived in the city for at least seven years.

“What makes us different from others? We work very hard, we support our families too,” Lestari said.

“We are bound by Hong Kong immigration policies and yet they use it to exclude us, this is clear discrimination.”

Some officials have warned of a deluge of permanent residency requests if the Vallejos precedent is allowed to stand. But government figures of applications from 1998 to 2011 show no significant increase since September.

Foreign maids in Hong Kong earn a minimum wage of HK$3,740 ($480) a month and receive other benefits such as one guaranteed day off a week.

Rights groups say, however, that the maids still face discrimination and a lack of legal protection from abusive employers.

Many live with their employers for years and send portions of their pay back to relatives at home, providing a huge source of foreign remittances to the Philippine and Indonesian economies.  AFP

Originally posted at 11:42 am | Thursday, March 28,  2012