30 Sep 2011

Filipino maid wins landmark ruling in Hong Kong

7:47 pm on 30 September 2011

A Filipino maid in Hong Kong has won a landmark legal victory that could benefit tens of thousands of foreign domestic servants.

A court in the Chinese territory has ruled a law banning foreign maids from seeking permanent residency is unconstitutional.

The case was brought by Evangeline Banao Vallejos, who has lived in Hong Kong since 1986.

The ruling follows a landmark judicial review and could lead to more than 100,000 other foreign maids winning rights to residency, the BBC reports.

Mark Daly, the lawyer acting on behalf of Ms Vallejos, said that she was very pleased by the ruling, which meant that all domestic helpers now were able to apply for permanent residency.

Hong Kong has nearly 300,000 foreign maids, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia.

Most foreign nationals can apply for permanent residency after seven years, but this had not been the case for domestic workers.