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From The Minister of State
210/1
49
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
19 May 1987
Den Brue, Вти,
Thank you for your letter of 13 May on behalf of Mr Bryan E Collis, Llwyn, Llandre, Bow Street, Aberystwyth concerning immigrant domestic workers in Hong
Kong.
The admission of immigrant workers into Hong Kong is of course primarily a matter for the Hong Kong Government to determine under Hong Kong's own immigration and labour legislation.
A review of the employment of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong was conducted by the Hong Kong Government between March and December last year. As a result, on 16 April the Hong Kong Government announced revised conditions of employment for foreign domestic helpers, covering conditions of stay, wage levels and new arrangments for changes of employment and renewal of contract. In revising these conditions of employment, the Hong Kong Government is seeking to be fair both to employers and to foreign domestic helpers, as well as to local people who are prepared to work as part-time domestic helpers.
It is not the case (as you will by now have seen) that "about 3,000 immigrant domestic workers will be deported from Hong Kong effective from 5 May 1987". At present, foreign domestic helpers are admitted into Hong Kong on six-monthly periods of stay. The revised conditions of stay state that if a foreign domestic helper's contract is terminated, he or she will be allowed to stay in Hong Kong only for the remainder of his or her current six months or for two weeks after the termination of his or her contract, whichever is the shorter. The reason for introducing this provision is to ensure that domestic helpers do not stay on illegally in Hong Kong to work for other employers without a legal contract. The Hong Kong Director of Immigration has, however, made it clear that in special circumstances a foreign domestic helper will be allowed to stay in Hong Kong for longer than two weeks after the termination of
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