Maid Seeks Hong Kong Court Ruling for Equal Residence Rights

Hong Kong’s policy of denying permanent-residence rights to foreign maids is being challenged as unconstitutional, stoking public debate over ethnic discrimination in the Chinese city.

Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a domestic helper from the Philippines who has lived in Hong Kong since 1986, asked the Court of First Instance today to rule that an immigration law, which deems imported domestic helpers ineligible for rights such as voting and setting up a business, contradicts Hong Kong’s constitution, the Basic Law.