The number of non-local pregnant women refused entry at Hong Kong’s borders for failing to have a local hospital booking has surged by five times since 2020, official figures show.
According to the Immigration Department, 1,154 non-local pregnant women were turned away at the border last year, the most since 2020. The figure was also five times higher than the 227 women recorded five years ago.
Director of Immigration Benson Kwok Joon-fung explained in a written reply to a lawmaker’s question on Friday that his department had carried out checks on non-local pregnant women since 2013, when the government banned such arrivals who did not have a booking at a local hospital to deliver the baby.
“Under the relevant policies, non-local pregnant women who are at an advanced stage of pregnancy (28 weeks or above) are required to produce to immigration officers their confirmation certificates … [for a] delivery booking issued by private hospitals when they enter Hong Kong as visitors, otherwise they may be refused entry,” Kwok said.
This “zero-quota” policy was launched to stop pregnant mainland Chinese women, whose husbands were not Hong Kong residents, from suddenly showing up at emergency wards to deliver babies and secure the right of abode for the child.
The city also recorded a rise in the number of non-local women giving birth last year. Among the 2,396 cases last year, 1,875, or 78 per cent, were mainlanders, according to the department.
