Friday, July 9, 1971
It also proposes to confer on an immigration officer a general
discretion to grant or refuse permission to land to any immigrant upon
his examination, as is usual in most countries.
An immigration officer will have power to impose a limit of stay
and other conditions of stay on granting permission to land to an immigrant.
The Director of Immigration may at any time cancel or vary a condition of
stay, except that the power to curtail a limited stay is reserved to the
Governor.
Under the provisions of the Bill, an immigration officer will also
be empowered to remove from Hong Kong an immigrant who is refused permission
to land in Hong Kong within two months of such refusal, or an immigrant
member of a ship's crew who contravenes certain conditions of stay.
The existing law provides that the Director of Immigration may
require removal of a person refused permission to land only in the ship or
aircraft in which he arrived. Removal in any other ship or aircraft has
to be at the public expense.
The Bill proposes to empower an immigration officer to require
the owners or agents of the ship or aircraft in which the immigrant arrived
to remove him at their expense in another ship or aircraft.
The Bill also empowers the Governor to make a removal order against:-
X
*
An immigrant who has been refused permission to land more than two months ago.
An immigrant who has landed illegally or overstayed
or who is in breach of any other condition of stay, and
An undesirable immigrant who has been ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for less than three years.
/It will