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Reply:
Mr President,
During the meeting of the Security Panel on 16 December 1996, we informed Honourable Members that the Director of Immigration had granted exceptional permission to 73 two-way permit holders between January and November 1996 on strong humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
(a) Chinese Two-way Permit holders are allowed to enter Hong Kong as visitors only and they are required to return to China when their limit of stay expires. Under existing arrangement, Chinese residents who wish to come to Hong Kong for residence need to obtain a One-way Permit issued by the relevant Chinese authorities. To prevent the One-way Permit system from being abused, as a general rule, applications for residence from Two-way Permit holders will not be considered except on strong humanitarian or compassionate grounds. Some examples of such grounds are: the need to take care of a seriously ill resident spouse or child, to take care of surviving children on the sudden death of the resident spouse. The Director of Immigration will take into consideration all relevant factors and circumstances put forth by the applicant and assess each case on its own merits. Where necessary, the Director of Immigration will also consult other government departments such as the Hospital Authority and Social Welfare Department for a thorough and comprehensive assessment.
(b)(i) In 1995 and 1996, the Director of Immigration approved 110 and 80 applications respectively from Two-way Permit holders who are the spouse or children of local residents for exceptional permission for residence. All are approved on humanitarian or compassionate grounds. As the circumstances of the cases are different, and in many cases more than one ground was advanced for humanitarian or compassionate consideration, it is not possible to categorise these cases according to grounds for approval.
(ii) In 1995 and 1996, the Director of Immigration rejected 54 and 125 applications respectively from Two-way Permit holders because of the lack of strong humanitarian or compassionate grounds. For the same reasons which I have mentioned in part (b)(i) of my answer, it is not possible to categorize these cases according to grounds for approval.