Two Mothers Lose Bid To Stay In HK With Their Kids

Two former foreign domestic helpers from the Philippines have lost their final bid to be able to stay in Hong Kong with their children who are SAR residents, after a legal fight for residency that has gone on for years.

The Court of Final Appeal told the mothers on Thursday that they can't rely on the rights enjoyed by their kids to remain in the territory.

Desiree Rante Luis and Milagros Tecson Comilang came to Hong Kong to work as domestic helpers more than two decades ago. They both later got married and had children.

Luis has three boys, all under 18, while Comilang has a daughter who is 13. All four of the children are SAR residents and two of them have permanent residency.

But neither of the mothers have a legal right to be in Hong Kong, with Comilang fighting for residency since 2011 and Luis since 2014.

The Immigration Department refused to extend the women's stays, because they don't meet the criteria of any category in the city's immigration policy.

Officials also decided there are no exceptional circumstances to justify allowing the women to remain in the SAR on humanitarian or compassionate grounds.

A five-judge Court of Final Appeal panel has now unanimously backed the authorities' stance.

It rejected the women's claims that denying them permission to stay breaches Hong Kong's Bill of Rights and the SAR's Basic Law.

These rights don't apply to the pair, the panel said, because they shouldn't even be in Hong Kong.

The judges also said that it would be wrong if a person with no right to enter or remain in the SAR was able to overcome this fact by relying on someone else’s right to be here.

They also reiterated a point made earlier by Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma that there's a recognised necessity for strict and effective immigration controls in Hong Kong.