HONG KONG // A woman received a 10-month prison sentence for a woman who admitted helping mainland Chinese women give birth in Hong Kong.
The semiautonomous city has struggled with an influx of tens of thousands of mainland women who come to Hong Kong each year to give birth, to gain residency rights for their children and to circumvent China's one-child policy.
Authorities have stepped up enforcement amid outrage in Hong Kong. Hong Kong women have protested against the influx, which critics say has led to a shortage of maternity beds in hospitals.
In the first prosecution of its kind, the mainland woman Xu Li was sentenced to 10 months in jail on Monday over her role as a "birth agent".
She pleaded guilty to one count of breaching her conditions of stay, which bars her from carrying out business activities, and another offence of making a false representation to an immigration officer.
"We welcome the ruling," Christine Chan said. Ms Chan is the spokeswoman of a popular Facebook campaign set up to protest against mainland women giving birth in Hong Kong.
"The judge sent a very strong message that agents who encourage pregnant mainland women to wait until the last minute and then force their way into Hong Kong emergency wards are endangering others' lives."
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.