Welcome to Hong Kong

Mainland Chinese migrants are caught in limbo without healthcare or housing as they wait years for Hong Kong residency.

Some 50,000 mainland Chinese people obtain one-way permits to move to Hong Kong each year.

They then have to wait a further seven years before gaining residency and, in the meantime, have no status whatsoever and no access to healthcare, education, or public housing.

They suffer routine discrimination, even from other migrants who have already gained residency, and live in pitiable and squalid conditions - for example, a family of five can often live within a space of 100 square feet.

For some, this raises problems of mental as well as physical illness, and their only help comes from the New Women Arrivals League, which lobbies on their behalf and supports them however they can.