PH maid Evangeline Vallejos loses permanent residency case

Hong Kong’s top court rules foreign maids are not eligible to seek permanent residency. In a ruling Monday, the Court of Final Appeal says foreign domestic helpers are obliged to return to his or her home country. It adds, “Admission is not for the purposes of settlement and that dependants cannot be brought to reside in Hong Kong.” The decision ends a two-year legal battle by Filipina maid Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a mother of five who has lived in the city since 1986.
In 2011, Vallejos won a High Court ruling granting her the right to request permanent residency status, denied to the city’s 300,000 foreign maids until then. But the decision was overturned on a government appeal. Foreigners can apply to settle in Hong Kong after seven years of uninterrupted residency, gaining access to voting rights and the right to live in the city without a work visa. Maids are specifically excluded.

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