[1] As of September 2017, there were about 14,000 pending or failed asylum seekers or torture claimants awaiting processing, adjudication, appeals, or deportation after failure to gain refugee status.
[3] Almost none of the asylum seekers or torture claimants are ultimately sustained by immigration authorities and judicial review to have a bona fide claim and granted refugee status or protection in Hong Kong.
[5] During the Maoist era, the leading reason for Chinese refugees in Hong Kong was fleeing persecution, hunger and political turmoil.
[8] It is estimated that by 1980 a total of twenty thousand White Russians from mainland China had passed through Hong Kong on their way to resettlement in overseas destinations.
This landmark holding prompted Hong Kong to restructure the system for considering claims into a Unified Screening Mechanism in 2014.
[15] Since 2014, the system for consideration of asylum and torture claims in Hong Kong is implemented under the common umbrella of the Unified Screening Mechanism and administrated by the Department of Immigration.
[18] The official government position as stated by an Immigration Department spokesperson in 2012 is Hong Kong has a "long-established policy of not granting asylum and we do not admit individuals seeking refugee status" citing fears that asylum seekers would abuse the system given the prosperity of the city's economy and liberal visa policy.
[23] The centrally located Chungking Mansions is a popular living quarter for asylum seekers who find budget accommodation in the 15 floor residential block that is home also to foreign wholesale goods traders and backpackers.
[10] The government provides a $1,500HKD (US$190) a month rental subsidy, food and emergency medical care to asylum seekers who are not allowed to work while claims are considered.
Food coupons worth $1200HKD are provided every month, although the remittances are tiny considering the extremely high cost of living in the city.
[22] The high cost of supporting asylum seekers was a reason for a proposal by the Liberal Party in 2015 to withdraw visa free entry for Indians.
[33] A 26-year-old Indian asylum seeker living in Rhine Guesthouse, a hostel at Chungking Mansions, allegedly raped another guest, a woman from mainland China.