- 2.
On the provisional legislature, the Governor reiterated the position as he had outlined it in the Legislative Council last Thursday which, he said, made the British and Hong Kong Governments' position on the existing Legislative Council and the threat of a provisional legislature crystal clear.
The spokesman said that the British and Hong Kong Governments' position on a provisional legislature had not changed by a single centimetre and it was astonishing that anybody could think that there was even the slightest softening of that position.
End
Seven-year limit of stay for legal immigrants from China
The Government announced today (Thursday) that legal immigrants from China will be granted a limit of stay of seven years on arrival in Hong Kong, with effect from May 1 this year.
All legal immigrants are required to reside continuously in Hong Kong for seven years before they are granted unconditional stay.
A Government spokesman said that at present legal immigrants were given a shorter limit of stay and would have to apply for extension of stay four times before they were granted unconditional stay.
He stressed that the new arrangement was not a relaxation of control on entry from China.
"Entry from China will still be governed by the quota system for the issue of One-way Permits, which has been strictly enforced over the years and which will continue beyond 1997," he said.
"The granting of a seven-year limit of stay will reduce to one the number of visits to the Immigration Department by the legal immigrants during this period, thus saving them time, extension fees and other procedures required for applying for extension of stay.
"The arrangement will also release 52 Immigration Department posts, with staff cost of $18.9 million in 1996-97, and spare office area for other uses," he added.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.