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Since 1975, Hong Kong has received more than 200 000 people from Vietnam.
Up to the end of 2003, more than 143 000 Vietnamese refugees had resettled
in other countries and more than 72 000 Vietnamese migrants had been repatriated.
With the formal conclusion of the internationally
agreed Comprehensive Plan of Action and in view of the changed circumstances
in Vietnam, the HKSAR ended the 'Port of First Asylum' policy for Vietnamese
with effect from January 9, 1998.
In practice, it means the special statutory provisions
on the screening for refugee status and related review procedures for
Vietnamese ceased to have effect on new arrivals from that date. These
people are treated in the same way as illegal immigrants from elsewhere
and will be repatriated as soon as possible.
On February 22, 2000, the Government announced a Widened
Local Resettlement Scheme to allow some 1 400 Vietnamese refugees and
eligible Vietnamese migrants to apply for settlement in Hong Kong. As
a corollary, the last refugee centre (Pillar Point Vietnamese Refugees
Centre) in Hong Kong was closed on June 1, 2000. Thus the Vietnamese programme
on which Hong Kong had worked for 25 years was concluded in an orderly,
peaceful and humanitarian manner. By the end of 2003, a total of 960 Vietnamese
refugees and 437 Vietnamese migrants had applied under the scheme to make
Hong Kong their permanent home.
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