IMMIGRATION BILL
Explanatory Memorandum.
This Bill consolidates and revises the immigration and deportation laws. It replaces the Immigration (Control and Offences) Ordinance, the Deportation (British Subjects) Ordinance and the Deportation of Aliens Ordinance by a single code.
REGULATION OF ENTRY TO AND STAY IN HONG KONG.
The following changes of substance have been made in the system of immigration control and in the control of immigrants living in Hong Kong.
(a) The only persons recognized by the existing law as Hong Kong belongers (and who thereby have the right to live in Hong Kong and to come and go at will) are those who possess documentary proof of birth here. In practice, however, British subjects by naturalization in Hong Kong are accepted as belongers, as are British subjects by registration in special circumstances under section 7(2) of the British Nationality Act 1948, and the Bill accords them that status in law. It also treats as a Hong Kong belonger the wife and child of a person who is himself a belonger.
(b) Every person, whether a British subject or an alien, who is not a Hong Kong belonger will continue to be subject to immigration control, and the Bill confers on immigration officers a general discretion with respect to the giving or refusal of permission to land in Hong Kong, as is usual in most countries (clause 5(1)). (c) The existing powers with respect to the imposition of conditions of stay are also retained, and this means in particular that the stay of anyone other than a Hong Kong belonger may be limited (clause 5(2)). A new power is vested in the Governor to curtail the limited stay of an immigrant (clause 5(6)), and the Governor is also given power to cancel or vary conditions of stay and to impose new conditions (other than a limit of stay) by order applying to individual immigrants or to immigrants of any specified class or description (clause 5(7)).
An exception to the general rule that permission to land in Hong Kong may be subject to conditions of stay is made in favour of citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who have been ordinarily resident in Hong
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