Status of residency

Domestic helpers in Hong Kong are not treated equally as ordinary citizens in Hong Kong, or even foreigners
who have a working visa in Hong Kong. Instead, they have to live with their employers during their service,
and they have to return to their home country within 14 days if they are no longer employed. Two domestic
helpers who worked in Hong Kong for over 20 years considered this policy unfair, and they filed a lawsuit
regarding their application for permanent residency, which was carried to the Final Court. However, the judge
refused their rights to do so. According to the Time, the two-week rule and live-in requirement is to protect
Hong Kong employers of foreign workers. The government argues that the two-week rule is needed to
maintain immigration control, preventing job-hopping and imported workers working illegally after their
contracts end. The government claims that in the absence of these rules, workers can easily leave
employers, creating the disruption of having to find a new employee and additional fees for a new contract.
In 2014, the government further obstructed labour mobility by no longer renewing the visas of workers who
change employers more than three times in a year.

Protesters being dissatisfied by the judges decision to refuse the right of permanent residency to two domestic helpers.
Source of image: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1199312/hong-kongs-top-court-rejects-domestic-helpers-appealpermanent?page=all