For discussion on
25 July 1997

Provisional Legislative Council
Panel on Security

Arrival of Eligible Children from Mainland who have the Right of Abode in Hong Kong under the Basic Law

When the government introduced the Certificate of Entitlement Scheme through the enactment of Immigration (Amendment) Ordinance (No.3) 1997, we undertook to discuss with mainland authorities on how to admit the eligible children (latest estimate : 66,000) within a reasonable period of time. The daily admission rate will affect the length of this period and an illustrative table is provided here :

2.The D of Imm called on the Director of the Exit-Entry Administration Bureau of the Public Security Ministry on 17 July to discuss practical arrangements for implementing the C of E Scheme and to urge the BEEA to increase the sub-quota for eligible children, within the overall limit of 150 a day. The BEEA agreed in principle that the sub-quota should be increased, but indicated that they could only determine the precise number after an overall review. This is because an increase of the sub-quota for eligible children would inevitably eat into the OWPs for other categories of applicants, such as long separated spouses, and the BEEA needed to review the progress in implementing the Points System and the numbers of other categories remaining in the Mainland before they could determine the increase of the sub-quota. A decision would be taken by end of this year at the latest and the Director of the BEEA agreed to keep in touch with the Director of Immigration on this matter.

3.Meanwhile, the C of E Scheme had commenced and the first batch (674) of certificates had been sent to the Guangdong PSB for affixation onto the OWPs of eligible children. Another 2,000 will also be sent soon. The first arrival will likely be in early August.