The Court of Final Appeal of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ruled last month that the requirement for Hong Kong residents to reside in Hong Kong for seven years before applying for the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) program is unconstitutional, and the requirement must revert to one year of residence. The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Chris Sun, stated recently that it will take some time to implement the new regulations before a more accurate estimate of the impact of the ruling on public finances can be made, and he reiterated that there will be no request for interpretation of the ruling by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
On the same day, Chris Sun responded to questions from legislators at the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, pointing out that relaxing the residency requirements will lead to an increase in CSSA expenditures. In the three weeks from the day of the ruling to January 6 of this year, the Social Welfare Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region received a total of 1,407 CSSA applications from individuals who had resided in Hong Kong for less than seven years.
Regarding the actual financial impact of this ruling on the CSSA program, Chris Sun explained that it largely depends on the economic conditions of new arrivals and new immigrants who have been in Hong Kong for some time, as well as their willingness to apply for CSSA.
However, Chris Sun pointed out that the education level and family income of new arrivals have shown an upward trend. Among them, the proportion of new arrivals aged 15 and above with secondary education or higher increased from 68% in 2001 to 85% in 2011. The proportion of those with post-secondary education also rose from 6% in 2001 to 16% in 2011. Additionally, the median monthly household income of families with members who have settled in Hong Kong from the Mainland for less than seven years also increased from HKD 12,000 to HKD 14,000 during the same period, an increase of nearly 20%.