A 32-year-old Hong Kong man was jailed for 16 months at Sha Tin Magistrates’ Court on 31 August 2026 after admitting conspiracy to defraud and making a false statutory declaration. He had accepted about HK$50,000, arranged through an intermediary, to marry a mainland woman in order to help her obtain a visit endorsement and Hong Kong residency status.
The couple registered their marriage in Hong Kong in February 2025. Later that year, the woman obtained a confirmation of booked maternity services from a private Hong Kong hospital as a mainland single non-local expectant mother. She tried to enter Hong Kong to give birth in June, but the Immigration Department refused her entry after questioning whether the marriage was genuine. She later gave birth on the mainland.
Despite knowing that the unborn baby was not his biological child, the man made a statutory declaration to the Home Affairs Department claiming to be the baby’s biological father, according to the case details. The declaration was allegedly intended to help the woman obtain the hospital’s maternity-services confirmation and other documents needed to give birth in Hong Kong.
The Immigration Department said it was continuing to investigate other people connected with the case and had not ruled out further arrests. The supplied information does not identify the intermediary or any other possible suspects.