Number of USM claims filed after arrest
Dear Immigration Department,
I am writing to make a data access request regarding the number of USM claims filed after arrest by Immigration Department or the Police Force. May I know, in each of the years from the establishment of the USM in 2014 until end of Sept 2021,
A) the number of USM claims filed per year
B) of the total USM claims filed in each year, the number of claims filed by persons after arrest
If a CSV or Excel format is possible, I would greatly appreciate it.
Yours faithfully,
Raquel Amador
Our ref.: L/M (73) in ImmD RALS1/6-20/3/C
Dear Ms Amador,
We refer to your application for access to information of 12 October 2021
relating to statistics on non-refoulement claims.
Your application is now under processing. Our Department would revert to
you on or before 1 November 2021 according to paragraph 1.16 of the Code
on Access to Information.
Best Regards,
(WONG Wing-lung)
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.: L/M (73) in ImmD RALS1/6-20/3/C
Dear Ms Amador,
We refer to your application for access to information of 12 October 2021
relating to statistics on non-refoulement claims. Further to interim
reply of 21 October 2021, please find below the information as requested:
The Government implemented the Unified Screening Mechanism (USM) in March
2014 to screen non-refoulement claims on all applicable grounds in one
go. As at the end of September 2021, the Immigration Department (ImmD)
received a total of 21 225 claims since the implementation of the USM.
Year Claims received
2014 (Mar to Dec) 4 634
2015 5 053
2016 3 838
2017 1 843
2018 1 216
2019 1 213
2020 1 223
2021 (Jan to Sep) 2 205
Total 21 225
Among those illegal immigrants and overstayers who lodged a claim, some
lodged a claim after they were intercepted or arrested by ImmD or the
Police.
Percentage of claims lodged in the year by
Year claimants who were illegal immigrants or
overstayers intercepted or arrested by ImmD or
the Police
2014 (Mar to Dec) 67%
2015 51%
2016 37%
2017 39%
2018 52%
2019 49%
2020 72%
2021 (Jan to Sep) 70%
We hope you would find the above information useful.
Best Regards,
(WONG Wing-lung)
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 Immigration Department,
Thank you for your reply and the information provided.
A) I note that you have sent the percentage of USM claims filed after arrest instead of the number of claims. Would it be possible to send the the number of claims filed by persons after arrest?
B) Is the percentage provided a percentage out of the total claims filed or only a percentage out of the number of claims filed by " illegal immigrants or overstayers"? I am asking because on the Enforcement statistics webpage, the claimants are often categorized into "illegal immigrants", "overstayers", but also "others".
Thank you for your help.
Yours faithfully,
Raquel Amador
Our ref.: L/M (75) in ImmD RALS1/6-20/3/C
Dear Ms Amador,
We refer to your application for access to information of 4 November 2021
relating to statistics on non-refoulement claims.
Your application is now under processing. Our Department would revert to
you on or before 24 November 2021 according to paragraph 1.16 of the Code
on Access to Information.
Best Regards,
(WONG Wing-lung)
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/00726794/21, L/M (75) in ImmD RALS1/6-20/3/C
Dear Ms Amador,
We refer to your application for access to information of 4 November 2021
relating to statistics on non-refoulement claims. Further to our interim
reply on 12 November 2021, please find below the information as requested:
Please note that the percentages provided in our previous reply denote the
number of claims lodged by claimants who were illegal immigrants or
overstayers intercepted or arrested by the Immigration Department (ImmD)
or the Police out of the total number of claims lodged by illegal
immigrants or overstayers in the year.
Number of claims lodged in the year by claimants who were
Year illegal immigrants or overstayers intercepted or arrested by
ImmD or the Police
2014 (Mar to Dec) 2 797
2015 2 339
2016 1 302
2017 654
2018 560
2019 512
2020 803
2021 (Jan to Sep) 1 453
We hope you would find the above information useful.
Best Regards,
(FUNG Man-him)
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 Immigration Department,
Thank you for your reply and the information provided. In this case, may I know, for each year since the USM was established,
1) the number of USM claims filed by
i) illegal immigrants
ii) overstayers
iii) other categories as appropriate (please specify and provide how each category is defined)
2) the number of USM claims filed after arrest by
i) illegal immigrants
ii) overstayers
iii) other categories as appropriate (please specify and provide how each category is defined)
If a breakdown of the statistics as listed above is not possible, then in lieu of the above, may I know, for each year since the USM was established,
A) the number of USM claims filed by illegal immigrants and overstayers
Thank you for your help with this inquiry.
If a CSV / Excel / PDF file is possible, I would greatly appreciate it.
Yours faithfully,
Raquel Amador
Our ref. : IL/00752947/21, L/M (76) in ImmD RALS1/6-20/3/C
Dear Ms Amador,
We refer to your application for access to information of 26 November 2021
relating to statistics on non-refoulement claims.
Your application is now under processing. Our Department would revert to
you on or before 16 December 2021 according to paragraph 1.16 of the Code
on Access to Information.
Best Regards,
(WONG Wing-lung)
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/00776874/21, L/M (76) in ImmD RALS1/6-20/3/C
Dear Ms Amador,
We refer to your application for access to information of 26 November 2021
relating to statistics on non-refoulement claims. Further to our interim
reply on 3 December 2021, please find below the information as requested:
The Government implemented the Unified Screening Mechanism (USM) in March
2014 to screen non-refoulement claims on all applicable grounds in one
go. As at the end of September 2021, the Immigration Department (ImmD)
received a total of 21 225 claims since the implementation of the USM, and
the breakdown of the claims by status of the claimants in Hong Kong is as
follows:
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Year |Illegal immigrants| Overstayers | Others^ | Total |
|--------------------+------------------+-------------+---------+--------|
|2014 (Mar to Dec) | 1 776 | 2 409 | 449 | 4 634 |
|--------------------+------------------+-------------+---------+--------|
|2015 | 2 870 | 1 756 | 427 | 5 053 |
|--------------------+------------------+-------------+---------+--------|
|2016 | 2 031 | 1 521 | 286 | 3 838 |
|--------------------+------------------+-------------+---------+--------|
|2017 | 613 | 1 076 | 154 | 1 843 |
|--------------------+------------------+-------------+---------+--------|
|2018 | 278 | 798 | 140 | 1 216 |
|--------------------+------------------+-------------+---------+--------|
|2019 | 507 | 528 | 178 | 1 213 |
|--------------------+------------------+-------------+---------+--------|
|2020 | 680 | 436 | 107 | 1 223 |
|--------------------+------------------+-------------+---------+--------|
|2021 (Jan to Sep) | 901 | 1 168 | 136 | 2 205 |
|--------------------+------------------+-------------+---------+--------|
|Total | 9 656 | 9 692 | 1 877 | 21 225 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
^ Including persons refused entry and persons born in Hong Kong with the
right of abode in Hong Kong not established
The breakdown of claims lodged by claimants who were illegal immigrants or
overstayers intercepted or arrested by the ImmD or the Police is as
follows:
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Number of claims lodged in the year by claimants who |
| Year | were intercepted or arrested by ImmD or the Police |
| |------------------------------------------------------|
| | Illegal immigrants | Overstayers |
|-----------------+-------------------------------+----------------------|
|2014 (Mar to Dec)| 1 186 | 1 611 |
|-----------------+-------------------------------+----------------------|
|2015 | 1 453 | 886 |
|-----------------+-------------------------------+----------------------|
|2016 | 855 | 447 |
|-----------------+-------------------------------+----------------------|
|2017 | 256 | 398 |
|-----------------+-------------------------------+----------------------|
|2018 | 161 | 399 |
|-----------------+-------------------------------+----------------------|
|2019 | 250 | 262 |
|-----------------+-------------------------------+----------------------|
|2020 | 533 | 270 |
|-----------------+-------------------------------+----------------------|
|2021 (Jan to Sep)| 766 | 687 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The above statistics can also be found in the attached Excel file to this
reply.
We hope you would find the above information useful.
Best Regards,
(WONG Wai-sum, Irene)
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.
