Dear Surabhi Chopra,
Thanks for your email of 14 February 2022.

Regarding your request, we should be grateful if you would define and
clarify on or before 24 February 2022 the term “migrant” that you are
referring to, as quoted in your email.

Best regards

(Mr. W M Fung)
For Director of Immigration

From:        Surabhi Chopra <[FOI #968 email]>
To:        FOI requests at Immigration Department <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        14/02/2022 13:44
Subject:        Freedom of Information request - Notice given upon
detention of migrant

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Dear Immigration Department,

I am writing to make an information request regarding notice given upon
detention of a migrant. May I know,

1)                 When a person is to be placed in immigration detention,
how are they informed?
2)                 Would you be able to provide an example of any written
notices, forms or proforma communication given to a person who is being or
will in the future be detained, or the name/ title of the relevant form or
proforma communication?

Thank you for your help.

Yours faithfully,

Surabhi Chopra

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This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #968 email]

Is [Immigration Department request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to
Immigration Department? If so, please contact us using this form:
[1]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[2]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

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References

Visible links
1. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
2. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

Dear Surabhi Chopra,
                 
Thank you for your email.

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 14 March 2022.

Regards

(Mr S T Lam)
for Director of Immigration

From:        Surabhi Chopra <[FOI #968 email]>
To:        Records and Data Management Section <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        22/02/2022 14:14
Subject:        Re: Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2022/075(R))

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Dear Immigration Department,

Thank you for your request for clarification. In this context, I am using
'migrant' to refer to persons who do not hold permanent residency in Hong
Kong.

Yours sincerely,

Surabhi Chopra

show quoted sections

Dear Surabhi Chopra,
I refer to your request for access to information on 14 February 2022 and
clarification on 22 February 2022.  Further to our interim reply of 1
March 2022, our reply is provided as below.

According to prevailing procedures, if a suspect is arrested, he/she shall
be informed of the detention policy in respect of the exercise of power
under section 13A of the Immigration Service Ordinance (Cap.331) as soon
as practicable after the arrest by serving him/her a copy of the 'Guidance
to an Arrested Person on Arrest and Detention'.

A person upon detention under section 32 or section 37 of the Immigration
Ordinance (Cap. 115) will be notified of his/her detention in writing in
accordance with the prevailing detention policies and mechanisms.
 Besides, each detention case will be regularly and timely reviewed in
accordance with the prevailing mechanisms in order to determine whether an
individual should be further detained.  The person concerned will be
notified in writing of the results of the review with justifications, and
an interview would be conducted with him/her to explain the relevant
situation. Subject to the circumstances of individual cases, the
abovementioned notifications to persons being detained under section 32 or
37 of the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115) are normally given by way of a
“Notice of Detention Policy”, “Notice of Detention”, and “Notice of Review
of Detention” respectively.

The HKSAR Government has formulated the detention policies concerned
according to the relevant legal principles established by the courts,
which stipulate that the Immigration Department will take into
consideration all the facts and circumstances of a concerned case,
including whether the person concerned has committed a serious crime,
whether the person is likely to pose a threat to the community, and
whether there is any risk of the person absconding or reoffending, etc.
When exercising its statutory power of detention, the HKSAR Government
strictly follows the relevant detention policies and fully considers all
the circumstances of the particular case before making a decision.

For details of the said detention policies and relevant information, you
may refer to the following website:
[1]https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/useful_infor...

Access to Information Officer
Immigration Department

From:        RM/IMMD/HKSARG
To:        Surabhi Chopra <[FOI #968 email]>
Date:        01/03/2022 10:36
Subject:        Re: Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2022/075(R))

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Dear Surabhi Chopra,
                 
Thank you for your email.

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 14 March 2022.

Regards

(Mr S T Lam)
for Director of Immigration

From:        Surabhi Chopra <[FOI #968 email]>
To:        Records and Data Management Section <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        22/02/2022 14:14
Subject:        Re: Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2022/075(R))

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Dear Immigration Department,

Thank you for your request for clarification. In this context, I am using
'migrant' to refer to persons who do not hold permanent residency in Hong
Kong.

Yours sincerely,

Surabhi Chopra

show quoted sections

Dear Surabhi Chopra,
I refer to your request for access to information on 18 March 2022.  Our
reply is provided as below.

The “Notice of Detention Policy”, “Notice of Detention” and “Notice of
Review of Detention” requested in your email are attached below:-

Access to Information Officer
Immigration Department

From:        Surabhi Chopra <[FOI #968 email]>
To:        Records and Data Management Section <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        18/03/2022 11:45
Subject:        Re: Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2022/075(R))

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Dear Immigration Department,

Thank you very much for the information provided. I note that the
detention policies and 'Guidance to an Arrested Person on Arrest and
Detention' is included in the link you provided, however the other
documents mentioned were not in the webpage (or perhaps titled
differently).

Would you be able to provide the documents that were mentioned, including
“Notice of Detention Policy”, “Notice of Detention”, and “Notice of Review
of Detention”?

Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Surabhi Chopra

show quoted sections

Dear Surabhi Chopra,
                 
Thank you for your email.

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 5 June 2022.

Regards

(Mr S T Lam)
for Director of Immigration

From:        Surabhi Chopra <[FOI #968 email]>
To:        Records and Data Management Section <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        16/05/2022 16:04
Subject:        Re: Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2022/139(R))

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Dear Immigration Department,

Thank you very much for your response and the documents provided.

I would like to follow up on my query and ask what languages (other than
English)  the following documents (as mentioned in our email thread) are
available in: "Guidance to an Arrested Person on Arrest and Detention",
“Notice of Detention Policy” and “Notice of Detention” for both S32 and
S37ZK.

Thank you again for your help and assistance on this matter; it is greatly
appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Surabhi Chopra

show quoted sections

Dear Surabhi Chopra,
I refer to your request for access to information on 16 May 2022.  Further
to our interim reply of 24 May 2022, our reply is provided as below.

“Guidance to an Arrested Person on Arrest and Detention” is available in
English and Chinese.  Assistance of an interpreter would be sought
wherever necessary.

“Notice on Detention Policy” and “Notice of Detention” under section 32 of
the Immigration Ordinance are available in the following languages
currently as tabulated below:-

Arabic Bengali Bulgarian Burmese Cebuano
Chinese Czech Dutch English French
German Hindi Ilocano Indonesian Italian
Japanese Korean Lingala Luganda Malay
Mongolian Nepali Persian Portuguese Punjabi
Romanian Russian Sinhala Slovak Somali
Spanish Swahili Tagalog Tamil Thai
Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese -

“Notice on Detention Policy” and “Notice of Detention” under section 37ZK
of the Immigration Ordinance, on operational need basis, has been
translated into the following languages (apart from English and Chinese)
as tabulated below:-  

Arabic Punjabi
Bengali Sinhala
Cebuano Somali
French Spanish
Hindi Swahili
Ilocano Tagalog
Indonesian Tamil
Lingala Thai
Luganda Urdu
Nepali Vietnamese

Access to Information Officer
Immigration Department

From:        RM/IMMD/HKSARG
To:        Surabhi Chopra <[FOI #968 email]>
Date:        24/05/2022 15:16
Subject:        Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2022/228(R))

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Dear Surabhi Chopra,
                 
Thank you for your email.

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 5 June 2022.

Regards

(Mr S T Lam)
for Director of Immigration

From:        Surabhi Chopra <[FOI #968 email]>
To:        Records and Data Management Section <[Immigration Department request email]>
Date:        16/05/2022 16:04
Subject:        Re: Request for information under Code on Access to
Information( Application no. ImmD/RM/6-5/10/2022/139(R))

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Dear Immigration Department,

Thank you very much for your response and the documents provided.

I would like to follow up on my query and ask what languages (other than
English)  the following documents (as mentioned in our email thread) are
available in: "Guidance to an Arrested Person on Arrest and Detention",
“Notice of Detention Policy” and “Notice of Detention” for both S32 and
S37ZK.

Thank you again for your help and assistance on this matter; it is greatly
appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Surabhi Chopra

show quoted sections