Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2016-17
Reply Serial No.
SB164
CONTROLLING OFFICER’S REPLY
(Question Serial No. 2850)
Head:
(70) Immigration Department
Subhead (No. & title):
( )
Programme:
(3) Control after Entry
Controlling Officer:
Director of Immigration (K W TSANG)
Director of Bureau:
Secretary for Security
Question:
Please provide the following information:
(1)
What is the establishment for implementing the Unified Screening Mechanism
(including case officers, in-house interpreters and non-civil service part-time interpreters
under the Judiciary)?
(2)
What are the entry requirements for case officers?
(3)
In how many languages or dialects do the in-house interpreters provide interpretation
services? What are these languages or dialects?
Asked by: Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG Chiu-hung (Member Question No. 578)
Reply:
(1) and (3)
In 2015-16, there were 205 posts in the Immigration Department (ImmD)
deployed for screening-related work. The posts are tabulated as follows:
2015-16
Rank
Establishment
Chief Immigration Officer
10
Senior Immigration Officer
103
Immigration Officer
53
Chief Immigration Assistant
3
Senior Immigration Assistant
7
Immigration Assistant
18
Clerical Officer
1
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Assistant Clerical Officer
1
Clerical Assistant
5
Senior Medical and Health Officer
4
Total
205
In 2016-17, the ImmD will create 83 posts to handle more claims. The posts are tabulated
as follows:
Number of
Rank
additional posts
in 2016-17
Assistant Director of Immigration
1
Assistant Principal Immigration Officer
1
Chief Immigration Officer
2
Senior Immigration Officer
7
Immigration Officer
25
Chief Immigration Assistant
4
Senior Immigration Assistant
7
Immigration Assistant
20
Assistant Clerical Officer
1
Clerical Assistant
3
Court Interpreter II
12
Total
83
In addition, there are 9 in-house interpreters employed on non-civil service contract terms
(NCSC) in the ImmD for provision of translation and interpretation service in Hindi, Urdu,
Bengali, Punjabi and Indonesian. 3 more NCSC interpreters providing Vietnamese
translation and interpretation service will also be employed. The in-house interpreters are
mainly responsible to interpret for claimants during briefing sessions and screening
interviews, and to translate documents submitted by claimants. Moreover, there are over
280 part-time non-government interpreters (PTNG interpreters) registered with the
Judiciary. The ImmD will also hire these PTNG interpreters when necessary.
(2)
Currently, the case officers tasked with the assessment of non-refoulement claims are
mainly Senior Immigration Officers and Immigration Officers. Senior Immigration
Officer is a promotion rank for Immigration Officer, the entry requirements of which are
detailed on the ImmD’s website.
Apart from the entry requirements and the induction and other in-service training provided
by the ImmD, all case officers responsible for screening non-refoulement claims will attend
a 15-day professional training course before assuming their duties. The course comprises
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lectures given by senior case officers from overseas common law jurisdictions, United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officials and local law academics. In
addition, the ImmD will arrange regular training for case officers to ensure that they have a
thorough understanding of the Unified Screening Mechanism and sufficient knowledge to
process the cases, including the latest local and overseas jurisprudence, up-to-date
information on claimants’ countries of origin, etc. Case officers have also received
training on the Istanbul Protocol (which is the international standard for investigating torture
cases), the UNHCR procedural standards, the ways to deal with special needs of victims of
violence and minors, so as to ensure that they are well trained in handling the special needs
of victims of sex violence, unaccompanied minors, claimants suffering from post-traumatic
stress disorder and female claimants.
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