Immigration stand on Filipino mother misconceived, appeal judges say
Policy that effectively requires a young child to support her non-local mother as a condition for her to stay on in the city is unsound, judges say
The Court of Appeal has quashed a 2010 immigration decision rejecting a foreigner's plea to remain in the city to look after her young child, who is a permanent resident.
The official immigration approach - which was based on a policy that required the girl, then four years old, to support her mother financially - was "fundamentally misconceived", High Court Chief Judge Andrew Cheung Kui-nung and two other judges ruled yesterday.
The judges unanimously ordered that the director of immigration reach a fresh decision on Milagros Tecson Comilang, a Filipino former domestic helper who has been remaining in Hong Kong on a "tolerated" basis.
Comilang married a Hong Kong resident in 2005 but he obtained a decree to nullify their marriage in 2009 on the basis that he was already married when they tied the knot. That year, the Family Court granted her custody of the child, who was born three years earlier, and she applied for permission to stay on so as to be with her daughter.
The immigration director rejected her application the following March, saying she was not aged over 60, and her daughter was not "able to support [Comilang's] living at a standard well above the subsistence level".
The two conditions are part of a policy that requires the applicant to be a dependant of the local resident.
