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Visa woes stop Pakistan-born Chinese national from reuniting with wife

Hong Kong resident fails to get approval for spouse to join him after a wait of more than three years amid suspicions of racial bias

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Mohammad Hussain's case is one among many in which ethnic South Asians say visas or nationality have been refused because of institutional racism. Photo: Thomas Yau

A Hong Kong permanent resident and Chinese national of Pakistani origin has failed to obtain a dependent's visa for his wife after waiting for more than three years.

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Mohammad Hussain, 37, who has lived in Hong Kong since 1994, married in 2008.

The following year he applied for a visa for his wife so she could join him in the city.

But after three years and four months, the Immigration Department told him that the woman was not actually his wife and that Hussain, who runs a recycling business in Kwai Hing earning HK$20,000 a month, did not have the financial capacity to support her.

"I am very unhappy. I want my wife to come and live with me in Hong Kong," said the naturalised Chinese national and holder of a Hong Kong SAR passport and a Hong Kong permanent resident's identity card.

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"I really want to know why they said she was not my wife," he said. "If she isn't, why am I applying to bring her here?"

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