Lives in limbo:

The terms “refugee”, “asylum seeker” and “migrant” are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct legal differences. Hong Kong does not grant asylum allowing refugees to stay permanently. However, it offers non-refoulement, which ensures that refugees will not be returned to a country where they face danger.

More than 15,000 foreigners are in Hong Kong seeking asylum, many with the intention of eventually relocating to other countries. Most who fail in their initial claims remain for years awaiting the outcome of appeals to the Immigration Department and the city’s courts.

Journey to Hong Kong

Hong Kong is filled with stories of people who have left their own countries with dreams of a better life. Among them is Mohammad Taqi, a 38-year-old Pakistani national, who says he fled his country in 2009 due to danger from gang harassment. On the final leg of his journey, Taqi found himself in a risky situation when a tropical storm battered the small boat used to smuggle him and 10 other men from mainland China to Hong Kong via the 4km stretch of water from Shenzhen. Once in Hong Kong, he sought asylum and has stayed in the city since.

Arrival and detention

The boat left the group at a coastal drop-off point somewhere in Hong Kong’s Lantau Island. In the pouring rain, the 11 Pakistani men, aged 20 to 30, trekked up muddy hills and through dense forests. Days later, the drenched and tired men were discovered near urban settlements. They surrendered to police and admitted to entering Hong Kong illegally.

Similar scenarios have played out in subsequent years as people clandestinely entered the city with the help of people smugglers. NGOs say support services and languages spoken in Hong Kong make it a preferred destination over the mainland for asylum seekers.

Illegal immigration
in Hong Kong

At least 9,331 people have been intercepted entering Hong Kong illegally since 2018. That represents 0.01 per cent of the total legal entries from the mainland and other countries.

Hong Kong Immigration Department figures show that 1,131 non-Chinese people, mainly from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam, illegally entered the city in 2023. That is an increase of 134.6 per cent from 2022, following the reopening of both Hong Kong and the mainland’s borders, which were largely shut during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Where do they come from?

2018 - September, 2023

People who enter Hong Kong illegally risk being sent to a detention facility. At this stage, it is common for asylum seekers to lodge a non-refoulement claim to stay in the city.

Non-refoulement claims

Hong Kong is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, unlike the mainland. Asylum seekers on the mainland have their claims assessed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In Hong Kong, individuals can seek the protection of non-refoulement through the city’s Unified Screening Mechanism (USM). Self-ruled Taiwan does not have a refugee law, and claims are handled on a case by case basis.

Part VIIC of the Immigration Ordinance Cap 115. Laws of Hong Kong

Hong Kong launched its mechanism for non-refoulement claims in 2014, after a series of judicial reviews found the government should improve the procedural rights of asylum seekers.

Before then, the Hong Kong office of the UNHCR was responsible for determining asylum claims and arranging resettlement. The government also had a separate torture claim screening since 2009 for those who claimed deportation would cause them grave bodily harm.

Since the implementation of the USM in 2014, about 1.3 per cent of non-refoulement claims in the city have been substantiated.

According to official data, there were 15,207 non-refoulement claimants in Hong Kong at the end of 2023.

In 2018, 4,006 non-Chinese individuals were deported from Hong Kong. This includes approximately 2,500 whose non-refoulement claims were either rejected, withdrawn, or unable to be pursued further, as well as those who chose to return to their country voluntarily.

There are still more asylum seekers, and their families, awaiting decisions on their appeals, or judicial review rulings. Eventually, they may be resettled in a third country ― with the help of the UNHCR ― usually Canada or the United States. Until then, they can remain in Hong Kong.

How Unified Screening Mechanism works

Once a person has lodged a non-refoulement claim, Hong Kong's Immigration Department assesses it using the USM process. The USM is operated by the government, not the UNHCR.

Jama Ali*, a 33-year-old man from a country in East Africa, has stayed in Hong Kong since arriving by air in January 2014. He said he fled his country because he was persecuted for belonging to a minority clan.

*Name changed at interviewees’ request

Processing non-refoulement claims

People are issued with a recognisance form, which is a temporary identification document that allows holders to stay in Hong Kong, but not to work, while their applications are being assessed by the Immigration Department.

Hover or tap for information

Life of asylum seekers

With families

In Hong Kong, it is not uncommon for asylum seekers to marry and have children while their non-refoulement claims are processed. Others arrived as children, accompanying their parents. Aaron Singh, a 22-year old student, arrived in Hong Kong in 2008 at the age of six. His family is appealing against a rejection of a judicial review over their case.

Children of asylum seekers are allowed to access public education in Hong Kong, but attending university is usually made possible with private subsidy. Asylum seekers cannot work legally in Hong Kong after graduating.

Cost of living

Hong Kong consistently ranks among the most expensive cities in the world to live, with sky-high property prices being a major driver. This places enormous financial pressure on asylum seekers who cannot legally work in the city. Many live in cheap subdivided flats, such as those that are common in areas including Yau Ma Tei, Jordan and Sham Shui Po in Kowloon, where there are diaspora communities and other support networks. While asylum seekers wait for claims to be processed, the Hong Kong government provides them with just over HK$3,200 (US$410) per month for housing, transport and food. Not including charitable handouts, that works out to about US$13 a day.

Hong Kong’s expenditure on non-refoulement claims and related work was an estimated HK$1.4 billion in 2023-2024. It is estimated that 2024-25 expenditure would be about the same.

Peter De Souza*, a 38-year-old former police officer from India, came to Hong Kong following a death threat from a superior for disobeying an order eight years ago. His case is at the judicial review stage.
*Name changed at interviewees’ request

A handful of churches and non-profit organisations in Hong Kong support asylum seekers with language and other practical skills classes, food and housing assistance, counselling and emergency relief. Some organisations, such as Justice Centre Hong Kong, also provide legal help for non-refoulement claims.

Illegal work, criminal activity

Asylum seekers in Hong Kong are known to work illegally. Since last year, the Hong Kong government has intensified efforts to crack down on these activities, making hundreds of arrests and prosecuting dozens of individuals and businesses that employed them. In 2023, there were also hundreds of arrests of what some in Hong Kong government circles call “bogus refugees” for criminal offences, including theft, assault and drugs.

Arrests

Why come to Hong Kong?

Hong Kong has a rich history of immigration and has long been a destination for refugees. The first wave of mass immigration to Hong Kong in the modern era saw the population explode from 600,000 to 2.1 million between 1945 and 1951, as mainland Chinese rushed to flee the horrors of the country’s civil war and communist revolution that followed. The Vietnam war brought more than 200,000 refugees by boat in the mid-1970s.

Hong Kong’s location in East Asia and a major air transit point make it accessible for people from all over the world. The city is home to people of various ethnic backgrounds, which may also make it appealing.