BACKGROUND NOTE
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
Hong Kong Government Policy
1.
Currently Hong Kong Government policy is:
i) to accept for permanent settlement:
a) those who are spouses, dependent children or dependent
elderly parents of people who were already permanent
residents of the territory before 1975;
b) those who are picked up at sea by Hong Kong registered
vessels.
ii) to provide temporary shelter, pending resettlement elsewhere
by UNHCR, to:
a) those who arrive in Hong Kong in their own boats;
b) those who are rescued at sea by vessels for whom Hong
Kong is the next scheduled port of call. However, the
Hong Kong Government have now said that they can no longer
automatically apply the first porttof call principle in
view of the present overcrowding in Hong Kong.
Numbers Passing through Hong Kong
2. Since 1975, over 72,000 former residents of Vietnam have arrived
in Hong Kong. 11,000 have been allowed to settle permanently. 9,565
have been resettled in other countries. The remaining 51,785 (on
12 June) are still in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement. Small boat
refugees are now arriving at a rate of over 1,000 a day, and Hong Kong
expect that there will be at least 100,000 of them in the territory
by the end of the summer.
/Resettlement