Recently foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong have launched a judicial review against a law which disqualifies them from permanent residency in Hong Kong regardless of how long they have resided in Hong Kong. Many Hong Kongers oppose to it fiercely, much as they do to migrants from mainland China in recent years. Last week one of my mum’s friends came from Hong Kong to visit his son who is studying at a university in Melbourne, and we talked to each other on the phone. He asked for some career paths that would help his son to secure permanent residency in Australia. My dad saw some parallels between the domestic helpers and my mum’s friend. There are conceivably plenty of Hong Kong families who send their children abroad for education and employ a domestic helper at the same time. While some of the families would see their children abroad as a foothold to possible future emigration, they will on the other hand probably object if their domestic helper managed to gain Hong Kong’s re...