Why foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong must live in their employers’ home

Rule was instituted in 2003 to prevent foreign domestic workers jostling with local workers for part-time jobs

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The rule, that foreign domestic helpers must live with their employers, came into being in April 2003 after the government found they were jostling with local domestic helpers for part-time work. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 5:30pm, 14 Feb 2018Updated: 10:55pm, 14 Feb 2018

The Hong Kong High Court on Wednesday upheld the government’s requirement – instituted in 2003 – for foreign domestic workers to live with their employers.

Nancy Almorin Lubiano, a Filipino who came to Hong Kong in 2011, had in 2016 sought a judicial review of the rule, saying it was unconstitutional and breached the rights of helpers.

The government maintained one of the main principles of its foreign domestic worker policy was the provision of a “full-time live-in domestic service”.

Judge quashes foreign domestic worker’s bid for change to ‘live-in’ rule in Hong Kong

Debate on the fairness of this requirement went on for years, but there was renewed interest in it when a trial judge, convicting the employer of abused Indonesian maid Erwiania Sulistyaningsih in 2015, suggested the tragedy could have been prevented if foreign domestic helpers were not forced to live in their employers’ homes.

“A choice would make all the difference and may lead to a decline in the number of such cases,” District Court judge Amanda Woodcock said.

1. How did the “live-in rule” come about?

Foreign domestic helpers started coming to Hong Kong in 1969 and less than a decade later, there was some discussion within the government of the live-in requirement.