By Vir B. Lumicao
Filipino migrant women with babies born out of wedlock in
Hong Kong are sometimes deterred from going home by the high cost of obtaining
birth certificates at the Consulate, says PathFinders, a group helping pregnant
women in need.
The non-government organization has asked if some of the
fees could be waived to help ease the burden on the women so they could go home
with their babies as soon as possible.
But Consul Paul Saret, who heads the assistance to nationals
section of the Consulate, said they cannot waive or reduce fees unilaterally because
these are set by the Home Office, but they can find other ways to help the
women if necessary.
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| Consul Paul Saret |
Consul Saret said that concerned parties could formally
request the Department of Foreign Affairs for a fee waiver. PathFinders can
also go to the Consulate to discuss the issue.
“We have to evaluate each case and if an applicant is really
desperate for help then we will consider it an ATN case,” Saret said.
He said the Consulate is accountable to the Home Office for
reductions in income if it waives fees. At the same time, the post should not
bear the cost of indiscretion on the part of migrant Filipinos.
The problem over the fees has become urgent as Immigration
authorities began speeding up hearing asylum and torture claims in the past
year.
In some cases, migrant mothers would rather see their babies
become undocumented or give them up for adoption because of the prohibitive
fees, a PathFinders officer said.
“Registering babies for birth certificates in the Consulate
costs only $200, but for those born out of wedlock, it costs $800 to $1,000.
It’s very expensive for the mothers,” said Jessica Chow, co-director of services,
social work and healthcare at PathFinders.
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| PathFinders' Carmen Lam and Jessica Chow. |
The additional cost is said to cover the extra documents
required before an illegitimate child can be issued a birth certificate. These
include fees for amending the personal details of a mother who came to Hong
Kong bearing her husband's surname, which she can't give to her child sired by
another man.
Chow told The SUN in an interview on Jul 4 that there had
been instances where mothers would cancel or delay their planned repatriation
because they couldn't pay for their children’s documentation. Under Hong
Kong law, the mothers cannot work while their claims are being processed.
When that happens, she said, the NGO would try to find
partners who would shoulder the cost of documentation and repatriation of both
mother and child.
The Immigration Department has been speeding up its
screening of asylum and torture claims and sending back home those who fail the
process, in line with the Security Bureau chief’s call last year for faster
reduction of the backlog.
As of the end of March, there were 255 Filipinos among the
4,420 claimants for non-refoulement, or against being sent back home, according
to Immigration data. This is nearly half the peak of 483 Filipino applicants at
the end of September 2016.
Carmen Lam, director of community education and outreach at
PathFinders, told The SUN that the NGO is also adjusting to the new
situation.
“We have heard a lot of recent cases… facing deportation who
were being repatriated quickly. Therefore, we have further developed
our Home Country Integration Programme
initiatives and strengthened our partnership with our community
partners in assisting our migrant mothers and children to reintegrate in their
home country,” Lam said.
Lam said that in early September, a PathFinders team will
visit the Philippines to evaluate the impact of the reintegration
program and see what improvements need to be made, if any.
In a meeting in May with officials from the Consulate and
other community partners, PathFinders obtained key contacts in the country who
could help the returning mothers and children ease their way into Philippine
society.
