Living in Hong Kong

When you talk about illegal workers in Hong Kong, it's usually the Mainland Chinese that's been the suspects. But in a renewed campaign against hiring illegal workers, there were a few surprises.

Before someone can work in Hong Kong, an individual must possess either 1) right of abode (the right to stay in Hong Kong without any condition) 2) a valid working visa if the worker is from overseas, 3) dependent visa as spouse, child or parent of someone working or with ROA in Hong Kong. Illegal workers show up when employers allow them to work for lower wages. Those that require visas have to have skills not found in the local population and maintain justifiable wages for them to live in Hong Kong.

"Operation Breakthrough," which ended on Wednesday and targeted 205 locations, led to the arrest of 30 employers for allegedly hiring illegal employees, one of which is a woman from France working as a clerk and a Tongan citizen working in a bakery shop. It also netted 65 suspected illegal workers, nine overstaying individuals and five illegal immigrants.

The sites included food shops, warehouses, foot reflexology centers, refuse collection depots and the workers' lodgings. Some illegal workers now also have become sophisticated, even showing smart ID's when confronted. But these IDs are of very little use, if at all. When verified with the Immigration database, the IDs will not match the identity of the bearer.

In Hong Kong, it is a serious offense to hire illegal workers and subject to a maximum penalty of HK$350,000 and three years' imprisonment.

The illegal workers comprised 17 men and 48 women aged between 23 to 64. Unfortunately four of them are Filipinos.

The time of economic crisis will become tougher for these workers to find a living in Hong Kong as the immigration will intensify its operations in hopes to help locals find jobs that illegal workers do.

But what if locals won't take some of these jobs because of poor pay or has working conditions only illegal workers can bear?

Photo credit: Todd Mecklem