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Hong Kongs foreign maids lose residency fight By Georgia McCafferty, for CNN,March 25, 2013 Hong Kong (CNN) Hong Kongs highest court on Monday rejected the final appeal of two Filipino workers to gain permanent residency in Hong Kong, dealing a blow to thousands of foreign domestic helpers seeking to make the Chinese territory their permanent home. The Court of Final Appeal also rejected a request from the Hong Kong government to seek Beijings clarification on a previous interpretation of the citys constitution regarding residency rights, in a case that had implications for the independence of Hong Kongs judiciary. Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma called any ruling on the request unnecessary given the courts decision on the application. Tens of thousands of domestic helpers -- mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia - often spend years, and sometimes decades, working and living in the homes of Chinese and foreigners living in Hong Kong. While other foreign workers can apply for permanent residency after spending seven consecutive years in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, domestic helpers are excluded from the law. Justice Ma wrote in his ruling that foreign domestic helpers are told from the outset that admission is not for the purposes of settlement. The ruling was greeted with disappointment by campaigners. Its very unfortunate and its sad but in a way it will make us stronger as it highlights the social exclusion that foreign domestic workers face in Hong Kong, said Cynthia Tellez, General Manager of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong. This really just reinforces this situation...that in terms of advocacy (for foreign domestic helpers) we need to do a lot more work. Lawyers for Filipino maid, Evangeline Vallejos, had argued that immigration rules excluding foreign domestic helpers were unconstitutional and that helpers were entitled to the same treatment as professional expatriates. One of the lawyers, Mark Daly, said that they were very disappointed with