S.
KIMAEF
RESTRICTED
LEGAL AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA
LEGAL IMMIGRATION
Following series of contacts with Chinese, agreement reached in December 1982 that daily average of one-way permit holders crossing from China to Hong Kong for permanent settlement in Hong Kong would
be kept at 75.
Also agreed that daily average of two-way permit holders for
short visits, then at 75, would be increased very gradually.
Daily average of some 250 now enter Hong Kong with two-way
permits. All required to return to China at expiry of period of
stay and are repatriated if they overstay.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
In view of high density of Hong Kong's population, and large, numbers of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the territory from
China, Hong Kong Government has a strict policy of returning to China all who cross border illegally.
Number of illegal immigrants from China attempting to enter
Hong Kong increased sharply in 1987.
Arrests of illegal immigrants averaged 1,863 per month in 1987
compared with 1,402 per month in 1986.
Numbers evading immediate arrest but apprehended later rose to
average of 347 per month in 1987, from 270 per month in 1986.
IMMIGRATION
AND CHINA
RESTRICTED