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conditions of stay is retained (section 19(1)(b)), but a conviction is no longer a pre-requisite to the making of an order. Formerly, it was often necessary to bring a prosecution for the sole purpose of enabling the Governor to order removal, when the public interest would not otherwise have required that the offender be prosecuted.
8.
A new control on immigrants who have been in Hong Kong for less than three years is introduced by section 19(1)(c), under which the Governor may order the removal of any person whom he considers to be an undesirable person. Such a removal order may not be made against a United Kingdom belonger, except in security or political cases, unless the Governor has considered the report of a Deportation Tribunal (section 19(3)).
9.
Deportation. British subjects in general will no longer enjoy a special position with respect to deportation and, with the exception of United Kingdom belongers, will be liable to deportation on either of the grounds specified in section 20(1), in the same way as aliens who are not Chinese residents.
10. A United Kingdom belonger may only be deported on the recommendation of a court or after consideration by the Governor in Council of a report of a Deportation Tribunal, except in security or political cases (section 20(2) and (3)).
A resident United Kingdom belonger may be deported only on security or political grounds (section 20(4)).
11.
12. The Ordinance also gives legal recognition to the special position in Hong Kong of long-standing residents who are wholly or partly of the Chinese race and provides that they may only be deported in the same way as United Kingdom belongers (section 20(2) and (3)).
13. Section 21 makes the necessary provisions with respect to court recommendations for deportation and section 22 provides for the appointment of Deportation Tribunals. The procedure on an inquiry by a Deportation Tribunal is regulated by section 23.
14.
Removal Procedure. The former provisions governing the removal by sea or air of persons who were refused permission to land were too limited in that the Director of Immigration might require removal only in the ship or aircraft in which such person arrived. Removal otherwise than in that ship or aircraft had to be at the public expense. Section 24 enables 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. An immigration officer will also be able to require the owners of any ship or aircraft to remove an immigrant who is refused permission to land, but in such a case the Government will have to meet the cost of his removal.
15.
Detention. The former law authorized detention for up to 4 days for immigration inquiries. Experience showed that the detailed inquiries which are sometimes necessary cannot always be completed satisfactorily within that period and the Ordinance permits detention for 48 hours initially and for a further five days at the discretion of certain senior immigration and police officers (section 26).