ENG-1990 — Page 434

POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION

Emigration

Emigration has been a feature of life in Hong Kong for over a hundred years. In the early 1980s, the number of persons leaving averaged about 20 000 each year. Numbers began to rise in 1987 and the estimate for 1990 is 62 000 persons with a similar number forecast to leave in 1991. The reason for the increase was a combination of factors: some people were nervous about Hong Kong's future after the change of sovereignty in 1997, while at the same time there were more immigration opportunities available in the more popular destination countries. Although a disproportionate number of emigrants were well edu- cated and professionally skilled, the total number of such people in the community has continued to rise year by year. During the year, the government developed a comprehen- sive strategy for dealing with the problems that emigration can bring: in the short term by being more flexible over proposals for importing skills from neighbouring countries; in the medium term by facilitating the return to Hong Kong of former migrants, and in the long term by boosting output from Hong Kong's tertiary institutions.

The government also urged the British Government to take steps to give key people the confidence to remain in Hong Kong. In July, the British Government introduced legislation in the United Kingdom to provide for the acquisition of British citizenship by 50 000 heads of household in Hong Kong and their dependants. In Hong Kong, the British Nationality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Chapter 186) was amended and the British Nationality (Hong Kong) (Recommendations for Citizenship) Regulations 1990 were made during the year for the purpose of implementing the scheme. The scheme was subsequently launched on December 1. Members of the public have three months to make their applications. By the end of the month, the Immigration Department had received 1 127 applications.

Legal Immigration

During the year, the number of new arrivals from the mainland remained steady at about 28 000. Of these, 10 302 were wives, 13 259 were children and 1 042 were husbands of local residents.

Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration has been a long-standing problem for Hong Kong. During the year, there was a marked increase in the number of illegal immigrants arrested. On average, 76 illegal immigrants were arrested each day, compared with a daily average of 43 in 1989. Many were arrested at places of employment and were prosecuted and sentenced to imprisonment before they were repatriated. Employers of illegal immigrants were also prosecuted and fined, and in serious cases, custodial sentences were imposed. To cope with the increase in the number of illegal immigrants found working on construction sites, the Immigration Ordinance was amended during the year to make a principal contractor in the construction industry responsible for the presence of illegal immigrants on his site of operation and liable to substantial fines.

Personal Documentation

After the dramatic upsurge during the latter part of 1989, the demand for travel documents levelled off in 1990. During the year, a total of 308 300 passports were issued, a moderate

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