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2:47 PM
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At least four Filipino domestic workers who have been working here for more than 20 years have waged a legal battle for the Hong Kong government to grant them permanent residency.
The High Court is scheduled to hear one of the three petitions on Aug. 22, which was filed by Evangeline Vallejos, a domestic worker here since 1986.
A sample Hong Kong permanent resident smart card.
Photo credit: gov.hk
The two other petitioners are Irene Domingo and her husband Daniel, who worked here as domestic workers from 1982 to 2007 and from 1985 to 2007, respectively. Two of their three children who were born here are already permanent residents.
Josephine Gutierrez, who had been working here as a domestic worker since 1991, also filed a similar petition.
The Court is set to hear the petition of the Domingos on Oct. 18 and of Gutierrez on Oct. 26.
In their petitions filed at the Court of First Instance last December, the Filipinos asked the Court to declare them as permanent residents of this city under the Basic Law.
The Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, states that permanent residents include non-Chinese nationals who have “ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and have taken Hong Kong as their place of permanent residence.”
The Filipino domestic workers also asked the court to declare as unconstitutional the Immigration Ordinance that refuses permanent residency rights to domestic helpers.
Continue reading at Philippine Star
