After visiting the Refugee Union, an NGO for the rights of refugees in Hong Kong, we traveled with an employee to a flat shared by refugees from the Central African Republic.
The typical refugee biography in the region features semi-legal migration to Guangzhou, followed by deportation to Hong Kong. Then, refugees apply for asylum – usually unsuccessfully. That takes approximately three years, after which the refugees are finally deported.
The refugees and asylum-seekers are not allowed to work. However, Hong Kong is literally built on the labor of the illegals and the disenfranchised.