Applicants for financial assistance under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and Social Security Allowance Schemes have to be Hong Kong residents for at least seven years before they are eligible to apply.

The Executive Council approved the new residence rule today. It also requires applicants to have resided in Hong Kong continuously for at least one year immediately before the date of applying for assistance.

Absence from Hong Kong for up to 56 days prior to the date of application is treated as residence in Hong Kong. 

The Government will seek Legislative Council approval of the proposal on June 27. If approved, it will come into effect on January 1.

People under 18 will be exempted from any prior residence requirement for CSSA and Disability Allowance.

The new seven-year residence rule will apply only to those who have yet to take up residence in Hong Kong.

Between March 1999 and December 2002, the number of CSSA cases involving residents with less than seven years' residence increased significantly, by 48%, while the CSSA caseload grew by 14% over the same period.

The estimated CSSA expenditure on residents with less than seven years' residence increased from $1.467 billion (or 10.8% of total CSSA expenditure) in 1999-2000 to $1.728 billion (or 12% of total CSSA expenditure) in 2001-02.

As at the end of December last year, of those CSSA recipients with less than seven years' residence in Hong Kong, about 36,000 or 52% were under 18.