Dear Ms. Yip,
We refer to your application for access to information of 30 September
2025 relating to information pertaining to non-refoulement claimants
receiving higher education in Hong Kong.

Non-refoulement claimants are illegal immigrants, overstayers or persons
who were refused entry upon arrival in Hong Kong.  They do not have any
legal status to remain in Hong Kong.  For the purpose of admission to
post-secondary programmes in Hong Kong, persons holding recognizance forms
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 autonomy in admission of
students; requirements for student admission may vary between institutions
and programmes.  Recognizance form holders 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.  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 “no objection” given by ImmD to non-refoulement
claimants taking up post-secondary education in Hong Kong from 2018 to
2024 is tabulated below.

Year Number of “no objection” given by ImmD to non-refoulement
claimants to take up post-secondary education in Hong Kong*
2018 8
2019 7
2020 10
2021 18
2022 20
2023 23
2024 27
Total 113

*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.

I hope the information is useful to you.

Best Regards,

(C Y FUNG)
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the services and activities of the Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit and follow the Immigration
Department's social media platforms.
 
 
[1]YouTube
[2]Instagram
[3]Weibo
[4]WeChat

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References

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