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Bill to help tackle problem of illegal employment

The Government will propose amendment to the Immigration Ordinance in order to strengthen its hands to take enforcement actions against illegal employment, a government spokesman said today (Tuesday).

The Immigration (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 1996, to be gazetted on Friday (May 17), will remove an obstacle which has been hindering the successful prosecution of employers under section 171 of the Immigration Ordinance for employing non-permanent identity card holders who are forbidden to take up unapproved employment.

The bill proposes to require employers to check the travel documents of job seekers who do not hold a Hong Kong permanent identity card before entering into any contract of employment.

"If employers are not careful and employ non-permanent identity card holders on employment status for any unapproved full-time or part-time employment, they will commit the offence of employing a person not lawfully employable, which carries a fine of $350,000 and three years' imprisonment," the spokesman explained.

"The proposed amendments should create a greater deterrent effect on employers in employing illegal workers and will help control the illegal employment problem at source," he said.

At present, one of the prime sources of abuse is contract workers such as foreign domestic helpers and imported workers under the Importation of Labour Schemes.

To help employers identify them, the Immigration Department will soon introduce a bilingual and easy-to-read immigration stamp on travel documents of these contract workers.

"The new stamp will, in addition to English, state in Chinese that the holder of the travel document is only allowed to work for a specific employer, under a specific contract, and that change of employer is not permitted," the spokesman said.

Employers can also watch out for W-prefixed identity cards when determining whether job seekers are contract workers.