Immigration policies (2014/12/10)

MR YIU SI-WING: President, earlier on, some Hong Kong students were refused entry by the law-enforcement authorities at a boundary control point of the Mainland. As reported, the reason was that the students concerned took part in the occupation movement in Hong Kong. In this connection, may I ask the Secretary if he has any information about the number of students who have been or may be refused entry into the Mainland under similar circumstances? If yes, can he give the details? If he does not, can he explain why he does not have the figure?

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: The ImmD does not have the relevant information, but I think the reason is very simple. Firstly, as I said just now, according to the general practice, if a person is refused entry by the authorities of a certain place, the latter will not notify Hong Kong's immigration authorities. No place in the world will do so. Secondly, while some people who were refused entry preferred to make public their experiences after returning to Hong Kong, some preferred to keep it to themselves for various reasons. Therefore, we have never collected any such information, and we never know whether anyone who left Hong Kong has been refused entry by another place. After all, the issue under discussion is Hong Kong's immigration control,and as guaranteed by the Basic Law, Hong Kong residents enjoy the freedom to enter and leave Hong Kong. But if they need to enter other places or countries,they must obtain prior permission or approval from the immigration authorities of their destinations.

Therefore, firstly, we do not have the relevant statistics, and secondly, I can say that there is no way we can compile such statistics because the HKSAR Government cannot possibly formulate a policy to require Hong Kong people who have been refused entry by overseas countries to report to the HKSAR Government upon their return. We cannot do so. For this reason, the person concerned has every right to decide on the actions to be taken, including whether to request the HKSAR Government to take follow-up actions. Upon receipt of any request for assistance, as I have said in response to Dr Kenneth CHAN's supplementary question, we will follow up the case under the established procedures.