HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 15 February 1989
香港立法局 一九八九年二月十五日
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under a local settlement scheme for ethnic Chinese introduced in April 1986. In addition, Hong Kong has resettled over 13 000 displaced persons from Indochina in the latter half of the 1970's following the fall of Saigon. They include former Hong Kong residents and dependents of Hong Kong residents who returned by special chartered flights.
While there is no quota on family reunification cases, there is a set quota of 250 under the local settlement scheme for ethnic Chinese who meet certain criteria.
(c) Under current legislation, Vietnamese refugees and boat people in Hong Kong are not considered to be ordinarily resident here. It is therefore not possible for such people to qualify as permanent residents even if they stay in Hong Kong for a continuous period of seven years, unless they qualify under the local settlement scheme for ethnic Chinese to which I have just referred.
(d) Children born to Vietnamese refugee parents in Hong Kong prior to 1 January 1983 automatically acquired British Dependent Territory Citizenship (BDTC) by virtue of their birth and are eligible for right of abode in Hong Kong. There are 138 children in this category remaining in Hong Kong and no further additions are possible.
On 1 January 1983, the British Nationality Act 1981 came into force and abolished the principle whereby children born in Hong Kong automatically acquired BDTC status. Children born of Vietnamese refugees and boat people in Hong Kong since 1 January 1983 do not acquire the right of abode in Hong Kong at birth and have the same status as their parents.
(e) The objectives of the new screening policy are to deter arrivals from Vietnam and to form a basis for long-term durable solutions for both refugees and non-refugees. The long-term effectiveness of the policy will therefore have to be judged in terms of deterring people from travelling to Hong Kong, the level of repatriation and the level of resettlement. It is far too early at this stage to form a judgement on the effectiveness of the policy and we must wait to see the level of arrivals over the summer of 1989 and the outcome of the international efforts now being made to find long-term solutions to this problem.
(f) Repatriation is the only logical durable solution available for those people who do not qualify for refugee status. This means both voluntary and involuntary returns. We are encouraged by the progress which has been made in establishing arrangements with the UNHCR and with the