Single mothers from the mainland once again called on the SAR government to allow them to remain in Hong Kong to take care of their children.

The petitioners said on Wednesday they are still awaiting one-way permits from the mainland.

Sze Lai-shan, of the Society for Community Organization, cited the response from a local public security authority in Guangdong as saying "there is no specific policy or guideline to approve the issue of one-way permits (to these mothers)".

The single mothers, who are either divorced or widowed, do not fit any of the five categories of people approved for one-way permits to stay in Hong Kong.

But according to Sze, there are still quotas left every day to issue one-way permits to the 7,000 mothers.

"The government has a responsibility either in talking to mainland policymakers about the issue of one-way permits, or using discretionary power to renew their documents or issue identity cards so that they can legally stay in Hong Kong," Sze said during a protest at the Immigration Department on Wednesday.

"After all, their children are permanent Hong Kong residents. This is for the benefit for the family and social development of Hong Kong in the long run," she added.

The Immigration Department said that it is not for the SAR government to decide whether to issue the one-way permits.

However, the department pledged that it will inform concerned departments on the mainland about these special cases.

According to Sze, Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress, also promised to propose a solution to the absence of policy.

Currently, the mothers have to return constantly to the mainland to renew their travel documents, either the permits to visit relatives in Hong Kong or two-way permits, which allow them to stay in Hong Kong for three months at most.

In many occasions, their children end up having to ask for school leaves for as long as 16 days in order to return with them to the mainland for permit renewals.

"The negative impact on the children, most of whom are still in primary schools, includes their underperformance at school and a sense of inferiority, either because other kids laugh at them or they are in economic adversity," Sze said.

With the mothers not allowed to work in Hong Kong, these families can only rely on the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, of HK$3,400 a month.

"I feel very afraid that my mom will never come back to Hong Kong every time she returns to the mainland to renew the document. Sometimes she's back to the mainland for nearly a month," said 11-year-old Ho Chun-wai.

"Sometimes I cannot concentrate in class. My classmates know that my mom does not have a Hong Kong identity card, and they will say things like my dad has gone to heaven," he said.

Ho's mother now holds a multiple-entry permit which allows her to stay in Hong Kong for one year without having to renew.

But she said she was afraid to renew when the permit expires in October.

Many mothers who have applied for renewal of the same permit were rejected.

"We have been concerned about this problem for a couple of years, and the government seems to be dodging the responsibility. The number will keep increasing if the problem remains unsolved as cross-border marriage is also increasing," Sze said.

andrea@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/01/2011 page1)