The Court of Appeals overturns the final judgment in favor of Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a Filipino domestic worker who had obtained High Court permission to apply for permanent residence. After two years of debate one of the most controversial cases of the former British colony ends.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - After nearly two years of legal battles, the Supreme Court of Appeals in Hong Kong has ruled that foreign domestic workers who work in the Territory can not have access to permanent residency. According to the Supreme Court judges "the foreign domestic helpers are forced to return to the country of origin at the end of the contract and cannot apply for citizenship, which is not one of the aims of their work here."

This ruling blocking the hopes of about 117 thousand foreign workers - mostly Filipino or Indonesian  - who enthusiastically followed the case of Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a Filipino domestic worker who had obtained the High Court permission to apply for permanent residence, after having spent decades working in the Territory. At the moment other categories of foreigners - cooks and entrepreneurs - have access to the residence.

On 30 September 2011, after months of debate, the High Court of Hong Kong ruled in favor of Vallejos, now she is "speechless but resigned." Her lawyer, Mark Daly, said: " While we respect the judgment we disagree with it.  It is not a good reflection of the values we should be teaching youngsters and people in our society." Eman Villanueva, spokesman for the Co-ordination Body for Asian migrants, added: "The ruling actually gave its judicial seal to unfair treatment and the social exclusion of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong."

According to the immigration laws in force, all foreigners residing in the territory for seven consecutive years may request a certificate of "permanent residence": this does not apply to domestic workers, who cannot make the request. By local law, this means that they cannot accept a second job, do not have access to semi-subsidized health services and are forced to accept the labor contracts imposed by the government, which provide for a very low minimum wage.

The pro-Chinese Territory government fears an invasion of requests from foreigners: currently there are 7.2 million residents in the former British colony of about. According to an anti-immigrant party, a favorable ruling would open the door to 500 thousand people, including spouses and children of workers, and this would increase to spending on welfare25 billion Hong Kong dollars (2.5 billion euro). Moreover, according to the government today, the unemployment rate "could go from 3.5 to 10%."

In any case, the Court refused to ask the advice of the Chinese government on the issue, as proposed by the government of the Territory. According to Daly "at least this is a good sign. While our compatriots on the mainland struggle to implement the rule of law, we must be vigilant to safeguard it in Hong Kong and lead the way."

 

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