TNAG-1665-FCO40-2314-Hong-Kong-employment-issues-and-ordinances-foreign-domestic-1987 — Page 135

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 his or her contract, or will be

allowed to change his or her employer. The Hong Kong

Government consider these provisions to be sufficiently

flexible to protect the interests of foreign domestic helpers.

The

You may perhaps be unaware of two other elements

of the Hong Kong Government's announcement of 16 April.

lowest possible monthly wage for foreign domestic helpers in

Hong Kong has been raised from 1,900 HK Dollars to

2,300 HK Dollars. Employers have also been reminded

that they are required to take out insurance policies

to cover accidents arising out of and in the course of their

employment of foreign domestic helpers.

The Director for Immigration has also stated publicly

that he will maintain his existing policy of not allowing

employers to hire foreign domestic helpers if there is

evidence that the former have abused the terms of a previous

contract.

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