Refugees in Hong Kong have formed historic waves arriving in the city due to wars in the region and Hong Kong's historical role as a trading and transitentrepôt. More recently those seeking asylum have increased in number since 2004 due to changes in the legal system for considering asylum claims mandated by local courts.[1] As of June 2025, there were approximately 15,000asylum seekers in Hong Kong at various stages of processing, though the pending initial determination backlog had been reduced from about 14,000 in 2017 to just 747.[2][3]
The substantiation rate for claims remains very low at approximately 1.13%, with only 366 claims substantiated out of 32,421 determinations from late 2009 through June 2025.[2][4] The government maintains that most claimants are economic migrants abusing the system, with many filing claims only after arrest for illegal work or when facing deportation.[5]
During the Maoist era, the leading reason forChinese refugees in Hong Kong was fleeing persecution, hunger and political turmoil. The end of theChinese Civil War in 1949 resulted in the population growing from 600,000 to 2.1 million between 1945 and 1951, meaning a large proportion of the Hong Kong population are descended from refugees.[6] The total of Chinese refugees entering British Hong Kong from 1950 through 1963 is about 1,160,000.[7]
Included amongst this wave were also thousands of Russian refugees who had migrated from mainland China through Hong Kong during the 1950s and 1960s. These wereWhite Russians who had fled theSoviet Union after theCommunist Revolution in 1917 and settled inManchuria andSinkiang, but had to flee again after the Communists assumed control of China in 1949. For more than two decadesthey were stranded, billeted in hotels with their expenses shared by theUNHCR and theWorld Council of Churches waiting for resettlement byUNHCR in countries including the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.[8] It is estimated that by 1980 a total of twenty thousandWhite Russians from mainland China had passed through Hong Kong on their way to resettlement in overseas destinations.[9]
In the next wave, the end of the Vietnam War brought hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees. Ultimately, of the refugee claims, 143,700 Vietnamese refugees were resettled in third countries while about 67,000 Vietnamese migrants were deported back to Vietnam. Only about 1,000 Vietnamese refugees were granted permission to reside and assimilate in Hong Kong.
Since 2004 after a series of rulings by Hong Kong courts prohibited the immigration authority in Hong Kong from removal of any illegal immigrants as long as those individuals claimed persecution or risk of torture and awaited adjudication of their claims.[10] There was a dramatic increase in the number of asylum seekers and torture claimants after 2004.[11][12]
A March 2013 holding by the Court of Final Appeal held that determination of refugee claims is subject to judicial review. This landmark holding prompted Hong Kong to restructure the system for considering claims into a Unified Screening Mechanism in 2014.[13]
In the period from 2014 to 2015, the number of asylum seeker claims has soared, rising by 70% from early 2014 to mid-2015 due to consolidation of claims for both persecution and torture under the Unified Screening Mechanism.[14]
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. By commencing this mechanismUNHCR has ceased the screening of asylum claims under its mandate in Hong Kong[15] and the two processes are no longer to be handled separately by the UNHCR considering asylum seekers who claimed risk of persecution and the Hong Kong government assessing claims of torture risk. Rejection of claims made by the department is subject to appeal before Hong Kong courts.[16] Whereas in other countries successful applications result in lawful residence, successful applications in Hong Kong mean only that people will not be returned to their countries of origin (non-refoulement). They are not given any form of lawful residence and can only apply for six-month permits to work, granted at the discretion of the Director of Immigration.[17]
The official government position remains that Hong Kong has a "long-established policy of not granting asylum and we do not admit individuals seeking refugee status," citing vulnerability to abuse given the city's prosperity and liberal visa regime.[18] This position has hardened considerably, with theImmigration (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 increasing penalties for illegal employment from HK$350,000 to HK$500,000 and imprisonment from 3 to 10 years.[19]
The substantiation rate from late 2009 through June 2025 was 1.13%. The Immigration Department determined 32,421 claims and substantiated only 366.[2]
Government officials maintain that most claimants are economic migrants exploiting the system. The 2021 Immigration Department Review noted that "most torture claims are filed after either the claimant has been arrested for contravening Hong Kong law, notified of their removal from Hong Kong, or has had their claim rejected by UNHCR."[5] In 2023 alone, hundreds were arrested for unlawful employment.[3] Under Secretary for Security Michael Cheuk stated claimants were "clearly using court proceedings to prolong their illegal stay" and causing a "burden to society."
By 2025, approximately 15,000 asylum seekers residing in Hong Kong at various stages of screening and appeal. Historically, a significant proportion of claimants originated from South Asia (particularly Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh) as well as Southeast Asia and African countries. The number of Indian claimants has fallen dramatically since the introduction of mandatory electronic pre-arrival registration for Indian nationals, which effectively curtailed spontaneous arrivals. Government officials cite this decline as evidence that many earlier claims were economic in nature rather than genuine protection cases, and have used it to reinforce their skepticism toward the motives of claimants from high-volume source countries.
Government expenditure related to asylum seekers has risen substantially in the 2010s and 2020s. By the 2023–24 fiscal year, total spending was estimated at around HK$1.4 billion. The government provides a monthly rental subsidy of HK$1,500 per adult, food assistance in the form of food vouchers, and access to emergency medical care. Asylum seekers are not permitted to work while their claims are under assessment, and the level of assistance has often been criticised as insufficient given Hong Kong’s high cost of living.[20][21]
In the perception some sectors of the press and political spectrum, asylum seekers are associated with a high level of street crime.[22][14] Although crime data is not provided from the police, and from what little data can be obtained from Freedom of Information requests shows no evidence of an increase in refugee led crime in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.[23] Vision First, a refugee advocacy NGO, argues that criminal activity by asylum seekers is due to "Hong Kong’s botched asylum system" which provides "insufficient welfare assistance" and disallows working.[24]
An alleged rape in June 2013 by an asylum seeker sparked alarm in Hong Kong and subjected the handling of asylum seekers by the city government to widespread public scrutiny.[25] 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.[25]
Over the course of 2015, a series of arrests of 84 suspects busted a major drug ring operating in Hong Kong. Most of the suspects were described as mostly "African men, mainly from Gambia" who had sought asylum.[26]
