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To clarify the current definition of the term "lawfully employable" in the Immigration Ordinance, a bill has been introduced to amend the ordinance to make non-permanent residents not lawfully employable if they breach a condition of stay imposed on them.
Mr Lai said the bill was being considered by the Legislative Council, and its enactment would help the authorities to prosecute those employers who hired or directed contract workers to perform illegal work more effectively.
The second obstacle stems from the fact that an identity card does not indicate whether the holder is restricted to a specific job and employer.
"To overcome this obstacle, we are seeking to amend the law to impose a duty on the employer to inspect both the Hong Kong identity card and the travel document held by job-seekers who are not holders of permanent identity cards," Mr Lai said.
To assist employers in checking the travel documents of their prospective employees, a new bilingual and enlarged immigration stamp for contract workers has been introduced setting out clearly that the travel document holder is only allowed to work for a specific employer under a specific contract, and that change of employer is not permitted.
Mr Lai noted that the new stamp had been put on the travel documents of foreign domestic helpers and imported workers with effect from May this year; and that it was anticipated that the travel documents of all contract workers would bear the new stamp in about a year's time.
Another measure to facilitate employers to ascertain the employability of prospective employees is to issue all contract workers with identity cards carrying the W-prefix.
Workers imported under the various importation of labour schemes have already been issued with such identity cards. Starting in December last year, W-prefix identity cards have also been issued to foreign domestic helpers who enter Hong Kong for the first time, or who apply for replacement of lost or damaged identity cards.
"We are looking at ways to accelerate this process in order to complete the replacement of their ordinary identity cards by W-prefix cards in two to three years' time," Mr Lai said.