The immigration department of Hong Kong recently arrested seventeen illegal employees and ten employers suspected to employing them during the time of anti-illegal worker operation in Hong Kong Island from June 28 to June29.

The police and immigration officers raided about thirty seven places in different districts which include public places like restaurants, retail shops, recycling depot, hawker stalls, reflexology centers and residential area under construction. Amongst the culprits, there were nine men and eight women between the age of twenty and fifty seven. Two of the illegal workers possessed a recogisance form which forbids employment in Hong Kong. And one woman possessed a fabricated Hong Kong identity card.

In another anti illegal employ operation, Immigration Department Task Force caught and arrested three male unlawful employees and their employer on the crime of hiring illegal worker. All these illegal workers were suspected to hold recognizance forms which forbid any form of employment in Hong Kong.

Those immigrants who possess visitor’s visa are not allowed to be employed whether they are paid or unpaid for that. Breach of law means the offenders will have to pay a fine of $50,000 and confinement in jail for two years. It is also illegal for those immigrants who are subject to deportation from the country to work in any company or business.  Anyone found breaching this law will be punished up to a fine of $ 50,000 and confinement in jail for three years. It is a crime to have or use a fake identity card and an offender has to pay a fine of $10,000 and imprisonment in jail for ten years.

The immigration of Hong Kong has requested the employers of the country not to hire any unlawful worker in their business. It is an offence to employ any illegal worker and the employer will be liable to pay a fine of $ 350,000 and jail for three years. So, it becomes a responsibility of employers to make sure that they behave responsibly and do not recruit any illegal citizen in lure of cheap labor.