User:Emily415/sandbox

Cat Memes
Hong Kong.

Cat memes are popular.

Bold. Italic.

Right to Abode
Under the Immigration Ordinance a foreigner may be eligible to apply for permanent residency after having "ordinarily resided" in Hong Kong for seven continuous years, and thus enjoy the right of abode in Hong Kong. However, the definition of "ordinary residency" excludes (amongst other groups) those who lived in the territory as foreign domestic helpers; this effectively denied foreign workers the rights of permanent residents (including the right to vote), even if they had lived in Hong Kong for many years. Since 1997, section 2(4) of the Immigration Ordinance has stated that "a person shall not be treated as ordinarily resident in Hong Kong while employed as a domestic helper who is from outside Hong Kong". Therefore, foreign domestic helpers only receive temporary status since they enter Hong Kong with a temporary visa. However, many workers have been able to receive permanent residency through marriages and relationships. These relationships can be out of love or be a mutual arrangement, allowing the foreign domestic worker to apply for a dependent's visa. In some cases, these arrangements can lead to abuse and exploitation by the permanent resident.

Prevalence and Demographics
In a 2001 survey conducted by the Hong Kong's Census and Statistic Department, over half, 54.8%, of foreign domestic helpers have completed secondary studies. For many foreign domestic helpers, they consider themselves unemployed professional since they hold a secondary degree. Furthermore, 60.4% of helpers are fluent in speaking English compared to only 11.2% of helpers who speak Cantonese fluently. In February 2015 there were 331,989 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, of which 166,743 were from the Philippines – an increase of 7,000 from the previous year, with the number of Indonesians remaining static.

Live-in Requirement
Since workers are required to live with their employers, they are vulnerable to working long hours; according to Amnesty International and welfare groups, some workers routinely work 16 to 18 hours a day and have no escape from abuse. In addition, workers are given a curfew. The dynamic between the worker and employer depends on how the employer views themselves and how they perceive workers. In many homes where the employer is Chinese, the foreign helper tends to be seen as socially inferior. As for the living conditions of the live-in requirement, it varies from a private room to a mat in the middle of the living room. The live-in requirement also creates difficulties between the employer and helper when forming public and private boundaries.

Bibliography