Appeal Begins Over Same-sex Spousal Visas

The Court of Final Appeal has begun hearing the government's legal bid to overturn a ruling that it must offer spousal visas to same-sex partners of Hong Kong residents from abroad.

In September last year a British woman, known in court as QT, won an appeal against the Immigration Department's refusal to grant her a dependant visa when she joined her female partner who had come to Hong Kong for work. The two expatriates had entered into a civil union in the UK.

The Immigration Department had argued that the couple's status didn’t meet the legal definition of “spouses” – a husband and wife in a heterosexual and monogamous marriage. But the Court of Appeal ruled that was a form of indirect discrimination.

Before a five-judge panel in court on Monday, lawyers representing the Director of Immigration said Hong Kong is not obliged to recognise civil partnerships or adopt policies to benefit those who have entered into them abroad.

Major banks and law firms in the SAR had petitioned the court to be able to support QT in her appeal bid, but their request was denied.

On Friday, the government won an appeal against a lower court's ruling that it should offer spousal benefits to the same-sex partners of civil servants who had married or had civil unions abroad.