Migrant Worker Activists Push Back Against Hong Kong Visa Rejections Over ‘job-hopping’

Migrant worker activists have pushed back against the government’s rejection of domestic workers’ visas over concerns that they had a history of “job-hopping,” saying that workers have the right to seek better working conditions.

The Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) said in a statement on Friday that it “condemned” the Immigration Department for discriminating against workers and “maliciously accusing them of job-hopping.”

The group’s response came after Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun said on Wednesday that the government had rejected 455 employment visa applications from domestic workers since January 2024.

In 2024 and 2025, 266 and 93 applications were rejected, respectively. As of October 2026, the government had rejected 96 applications this year.

They were among more than 3,300 applications that the Immigration Department investigated due to suspicions that the workers had “job-hopped,” Sun said during the Legislative Council meeting.

Authorities define domestic workers’ job-hopping as prematurely terminating their contracts – fixed under the law at two years – to change employers.

‘Inhumane working conditions’

The government has long accused domestic workers of job-hopping, saying that they are lured by employment agencies to cut short their contracts and switch to a new employer with the promise of cash incentives.

Migrant worker activists, however, have said this is untrue, and that workers have genuine reasons when leaving their employers. They have also said that workers would not make the decision to change employers lightly, as they would need to fly back to their home country to await their new visa.

“Most of the reasons for early termination of their contract are due to inhumane working conditions, lack of decent accommodation, no regular rest day, and physical and mental abuse,” the AMCB’s statement read.

“There is nothing wrong with seeking better working conditions,” Dolores Balladares, an AMCB spokesperson, said.

Sun said on Wednesday that the Immigration Department set up a “special duties team” in 2013 to “strengthen the assessment of employment visa applications from [domestic workers] who change employers frequently.”

The number of rejected visa applications has fallen consistently in recent years. In 2021, the figure was 2,833 – more than 30 times the number of rejections last year.

The government revised the “code of practice” for employment agencies in 2024, requiring agencies to brief those looking for foreign domestic worker jobs on immigration regulations, as well as barring them from “adopting business practices such as providing monetary incentives to [domestic workers] in employ to induce premature termination of employment contracts.”

Sun said in late 2024 that the “job-hopping” situation had “significantly improved following policy interventions.”