Higher Education for Non-refoulement Claimants
Dear Immigration Department,
Please could you provide the following information.
1. Information on current policies pertaining to non-refoulement claimants who hope to seek higher education in Hong Kong
2. A yearly breakdown on the number of discretionary student visas granted for non-refoulement claimants to attend higher education in Hong Kong from 2014 - 2020
Yours faithfully,
Carissa Tsang
Dear Ms. Tsang,
Our department has received your application for access to information on
18.11.2020. Your application is now under processing. According to
paragraph 1.16 of the Code on Access to Information, our department will
inform you of the latest progress of the case separately on or before
08.12.2020. In the meantime, please contact me at 3520 4222 if you have
any enquiry.
Best Regards,
(Anthonly S M KUI)
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [1]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
Dear Ms. Tsang,
Our department has received your application for access to information on
18.11.2020. Your application is now under processing. According to
paragraph 1.16 of the Code on Access to Information, our department will
inform you of the latest progress of the case separately on or before
08.12.2020. In the meantime, please contact me at 3520 4222 if you have
any enquiry.
Best Regards,
(Anthonly S M KUI)
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [1]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
Our ref. : IL/00698068/20, ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2020/689 [Carissa Tsang]
Dear Ms. Tsang,
We refer to your application for access to information of 18 November 2020
relating to information pertaining to non-refoulement claimants receiving
higher education in HK and our interim reply on 27 November 2020.
We need more time to handle your application. Our Department would revert
to you on or before 7 January 2021 according to paragraph 1.18 of the Code
on Access to Information. In the meantime, please contact me at 3520 4222
if you have any enquiry.
Best Regards,
(C H SO)
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [1]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
Our ref. : IL/00006445/21, ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2020/689 [Carissa Tsang]
Dear Ms. Tsang,
We refer to your application for access to information of 18 November 2020
relating to information pertaining to non-refoulement claimants receiving
higher education in HK and our interim replies on 27 November 2020 and 7
December 2020.
Please be informed that,
1.) Information on current policies pertaining to non-refoulement
claimants who hope to seek higher education in Hong Kong;
Non-refoulement claimants are illegal immigrants, overstayers, or persons
who are refused permission to land upon arrival in Hong Kong, and they
have no legal right to remain here. They are liable to be removed from
Hong Kong as soon as possible under the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115).
For the purpose of admission to post-secondary programmes in Hong Kong,
non-refoulement claimants holding a form of recognizance issued by the
Director of Immigration are generally regarded as non-local students, who
are not allowed to apply for admission to universities in Hong Kong via
the Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS). Post-secondary
institutions in Hong Kong enjoy a high degree of autonomy in admission of
students; requirements for student admission may vary between institutions
and programmes. Non-refoulement claimants holding recognizance form are
advised to contact institutions direct on admission arrangements of the
programmes they are interested in.
Upon receiving a request from a non-refoulement claimant taking up
post-secondary education in Hong Kong, the Immigration Department (“ImmD”)
will consider the request on a case-by-case basis having regard to all
available information and exceptional circumstances (if any) of the case,
subject to whether the claimant concerned can be removed from Hong Kong
shortly and whether there are other factors against their attendance of
school in Hong Kong.
2.) A yearly breakdown on the number of discretionary student visas
granted for non-refoulement claimants to attend higher education in Hong
Kong from 2014 – 2020.
Any such temporary education arrangement for the non-refoulement claimants
who will not be removed from Hong Kong shortly, even if the Director of
Immigration raised no objection, is not a student visa. It should not be
construed as a permission having been granted by the Director of
Immigration for the non-refoulement claimant to lawfully remain in the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, or as an undertaking by the
Director of Immigration that removal proceedings would not be instituted
or continued against these non-refoulement claimants.
The yearly breakdown of such “no objection” given ImmD to non-refoulement
claimants taking up post-secondary education in Hong Kong since 2014 is
tabulated below.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Year |Number of “no objection” given by ImmD to|
| |non-refoulement claimants to take up post-secondary|
| |education in Hong Kong* |
|------------------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|2014 |1 |
|------------------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|2015 |6 |
|------------------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|2016 |4 |
|------------------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|2017 |13 |
|------------------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|2018 |8 |
|------------------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|2019 |7 |
|------------------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|2020 |10 |
| | |
|(till 30 November)| |
|------------------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Total |49 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
* The number of “no objection” given may not amount to the number of
non-refoulement claimants since a claimant might make requests for
post-secondary education on more than one occasion.
Please contact me at 3520 4222 if you have any enquiry.
Best Regards,
(C H SO)
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [1]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
