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Following is a question by Hon Alan Leong and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (October 16):
Question:
In his reply to a question from a Member of this Council on July 3 this year, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare (the Secretary) said that the Immigration Department (ImmD) had all along been assessing employment visa applications from foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) in a serious manner. He also said that if the applicant was suspected to have any adverse records or breaches, including abuse of the employment arrangement for FDHs, ImmD would consider refusing the application based on individual circumstances. ImmD had already strengthened the assessment of suspected abuse of contract termination arrangement by FDHs, such as examining the frequency and reasons of contract termination. Future applications for employment visa would be refused if the abuse was substantiated. Also, in his reply to a question on intermediaries for FDHs (intermediaries) on July 4 last year, the Secretary reassured Members that the Labour Department would step up surprise inspections to the intermediaries concerned and investigate if they had breached the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) and Employment Agency Regulations (Cap. 57 sub. leg. A). In connection with ImmD's assessment of FDHs' employment visa applications and regulation of intermediaries, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of FDHs' employment visa applications rejected by ImmD in each of the past five years, together with a breakdown by reason (e.g. involving "adverse records", "breaches" or "abuse of the employment arrangement for FDHs");
(b) of the respective numbers of FDHs' employment visa applications received by ImmD in each of the past five years; and among such applications, of the number of applications involving FDHs who had prematurely terminated their employment contracts with their former employers for (a) one to three times and (b) four times or more, and the numbers of applications rejected (as set out in Table 1);
(c) of the number of FDHs currently working in Hong Kong who had prematurely terminated their employment contracts with their former employers, together with a breakdown by the frequency of premature contract termination (as set out in Table 2);
(d) as it has been reported that at present, quite a number of FDHs do not return to their places of domicile after premature termination of employment contracts with their employers, but instead they go to the neighbouring regions (e.g. Macao) for a brief stay and then re-enter Hong Kong, whether the Government has explored requiring FDHs previously worked in Hong Kong who have now applied for employment visas again to provide proof of entry to their places of domicile when processing their applications; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(e) of the respective numbers of cases in which the authorities refused to issue a licence to, or renew the licence of, as well as revoked the licence of, an intermediary pursuant to section 53 of the Employment Ordinance, in each of the past five years, together with a breakdown by the reason for the decision; and
(f) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in each of the past five years which involved intermediaries seeking from FDHs rewards other than the prescribed commission, thus constituting an alleged breach of section 57 of the Employment Ordinance, and the number of convictions among the relevant cases?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the Hon Leong's question is set out below:
(a) From 2009 to September 2013, the Immigration Department (ImmD) rejected a total of 1 211 entry visa applications for employment as foreign domestic helper (FDH). Details are given in Table 3.
ImmD does not keep a breakdown of the reasons for rejecting the applications.
(b) From 2009 to September 2013, ImmD received 474 538 entry visa applications for employment as FDH. Details are given in Table 4.
ImmD does not keep a breakdown of the figures of premature termination of employment contract.
(c) ImmD does not maintain the relevant statistics.
(d) Under the existing policy, FDHs must leave Hong Kong upon completion of their contract or within two weeks from the date of termination of their contract, whichever is the earlier. Application by FDHs for change of employer within their two-year contract in Hong Kong will not normally be approved save for exceptional circumstances, for example, if the FDH's contract is terminated on grounds of transfer, migration, death or financial reasons of the ex-employer, or if there is evidence suggesting that the FDH has been abused or exploited. If the FDH wishes to enter into an employment contract with a new employer, he/she must leave Hong Kong and submit a new employment visa application to ImmD. In assessing applications for change of employer after premature contract termination, ImmD will ensure that the FDH concerned has departed Hong Kong before an employment visa will be issued. In the light of the huge demand for FDHs in Hong Kong, ImmD often receives employers' requests to expedite processing of their FDHs' employment visas. On the other hand, FDHs whose previous contracts have been terminated owing to various reasons also wish to resume employment as soon as possible to make ends meet. As a measure to facilitate both parties, ImmD adopts a flexible approach in handling the requirement imposed on FDHs that they have to return to their places of domicile upon termination of their contracts.
ImmD is concerned about possible abuse of premature contract termination arrangements by FDHs, and has adopted a corresponding measure to address the issue by tightening the assessment of employment visa applications of FDHs who change employers repeatedly. Under the new measure, ImmD will, in assessing the employment visa applications of FDHs, closely scrutinise their case details such as the number of and reasons for premature contract termination within 12 months with a view to detecting any abuse of the arrangements for premature contract termination. If ImmD suspects that there is abuse, the application will be refused. Also, if it is found that the premature contract termination is due to the employer's non-compliance with contractual terms or abuse/exploitation of FDHs, future applications for the employment of FDHs from these employers will be refused. In the past three months or so, ImmD has refused 90 employment visa applications which were suspected to involve abuse of the arrangements for premature termination of contract. ImmD believes that the new measure will help deter such abuse and will review its effectiveness from time to time.
(e) In the past five years, the number of employment agencies (EAs), and the reasons for which their licences were refused for issuance/renewal, or revoked by the Labour Department (LD) pursuant to section 53 of the Employment Ordinance (EO), are set out in Table 5.
(f) In the past five years, the number of complaints received by LD which involved EAs seeking from FDHs rewards other than the prescribed commission and the relevant number of convictions is set out in Table 6.
Ends/Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:51
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