S.
KIMAEF
RESTRICTED.
LEGAL AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA
LEGAL IMMIGRATION
Following a series of contacts with the Chinese, agreement was reached in December 1982 that the daily average of one-way permit holders crossing from China to Hong Kong for permanent settlement in Hong Kong would be kept at 75. It was also agreed that the daily average of two-way permit holders for short visits, then at 75, would be increased very gradually. A daily average of some 250 now enter Hong Kong with two-way permits. All are required to return to China at the expiry of their period of stay and are repatriated if
they overstay.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
In view of the high density of Hong Kong's population, and the large numbers of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the territory from China, the Hong Kong Government has a strict policy of returning to China all those who cross the border illegally.
The number of illegal immigrants from China attempting to enter Hong Kong increased sharply in 1987. Arrests of illegal immigrants averaged 1,863 per month in 1987 compared with 1,402 per month in 1986. The numbers evading immediate arrest but apprehended later rose to an average of 347 per month in 1987, from 270 per month in
1986.
CHILD ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
The practice of racketeer-organised smuggling into Hong Kong of the children of recent legal immigrants from China has died down in recent months, following a one-day registration exercise for child illegal immigrants on 28 April last year. The Hong Kong Government emphasised at that time that all illegal immigrants would in future be returned to China, in accordance with the Government's well-publicised policy on illegal immigrants, regardless of whether they were children or adults.
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