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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
(d)
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Kong for a continuous period of ten years (clause 19). Though such persons may be refused permission to land in Hong Kong on their return from abroad in the same way as aliens and other British subjects (paragraph (b) above), they will not be subject to conditions of stay if they are permitted to land. Since they are also not liable to deportation (paragraph (f) below), the effect is that any such person who is admitted to Hong Kong will have a right to remain as long as he wishes.
Since conditions of stay regulating the taking of employment and certain other matters are invariably imposed in the case of most immigrants, the Bill further provides that the Governor in Council may prescribe such conditions by regulation and deems permission to land in Hong Kong to be subject to the prescribed con- ditions.
A new control on resident immigrants who have been in Hong Kong for less than three years is introduced by clause 17(1)(c), under which the Governor may order the removal of any such immigrant whom he con- siders to be an undesirable person.
(e) The Governor's power to order the removal of illegal immigrants and those in breach of conditions of stay is retained (clause 17(1)(b)), but a conviction will no longer be a pre-requisite to the making of an order. At present it is often necessary to bring a prosecution for the sole purpose of enabling the Governor to order removal, when the public interest would not otherwise require that the offender be prosecuted.
(f) British subjects in general will no longer enjoy a special position with respect to deportation and, with the exception of citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who have been ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for a continuous period of ten years (clause 19), will be liable to deportation on either of the grounds specified in clause 18(1) in the same way as aliens.
REMOVAL PROCEDURE.
The existing provisions with respect to the removal by sea or air of persons who are refused permission to land are too limited in that the Director of Immigration may require removal only in the ship or aircraft in which such person arrived. Removal otherwise than in that ship or aircraft has to be at the public expense. Clause 20 makes new provision in this respect