Political parties and legal specialists in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) applauded a ruling of the Court of Final Appeals on the right of abode, saying the ruling balanced both legal and human concerns.
Hong Kong's highest court ruled on Thursday that only around 500 of the more than 5,000 Chinese mainlanders who claimed to have abode rights in Hong Kong would be entitled to permanent residency there.
The rest would be deported back to the mainland, with a deadline set for March 31.
Although the ruling dashed the hopes of most abode seekers, law experts showed their support for the court's decision .
The ruling upholds the law interpreted by the National People's Congress of China in 1999, said a legal expert from the institute of laws at the University of Hong Kong, local media Mingpao.com reported.
Hong Kong's Liberty Party said the SAR government could suggest that the mainland authority put the abode seekers' applications for permanent Hong Kong residency on a priority list, so as to encourage them to go back to the mainland early.
The central government has also urged mainlanders to respect the ruling and leave the SAR as soon as possible.
After returning home, the mainlanders will be allowed to apply for permanent residency in Hong Kong, visit their families or travel throughout the region through legal means, according to the Exit and Entry Administration of the Ministry of Public Security late Thursday.
The ministry said the ruling of the Court of Final Appeals of the SAR will be helpful in maintaining an orderly flow of mainland and Hong Kong people between the two areas.
If the abode seekers and their children living in Hong Kong are willing to return to the mainland, they can apply for identification documents from Immigration Department of the SAR, and the mainland border police will let them pass.
The mainland promised not to find trouble with the returning people for illegal or overtime stays in Hong Kong.
More than 10 abode seekers who failed in Thursday's court ruling went to the SAR's Immigration Department to apply for identity documents, Mingpo reported.
According to the central government's policy, Chinese mainlanders can apply for permanent residency in Hong Kong if they are to join their families, including spouses, parents, relatives and elders.
A total of 150 persons will be allowed to move to Hong Kong each day. The qualified applicants are selected through a queuing system initiated in June 1997.
( January 14, 2002)
