Choice or Necessity? Migration Regimes, Contingencies and the Dynamics of Irregular Migration in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Although irregularity can arise at different stages of migration, existing scholarship has focused more on irregular entry than on theorising pathways into and out of irregular status after arrival. This article addresses this gap through the case of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong who overstayed their visas following contract termination and subsequently sought protection. Their trajectories show a shift from regular labour migration to irregular status, followed by a form of quasi‐regularisation through entry into the protection process. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with 31 protection claimants in Hong Kong who had previously worked as migrant domestic workers, we show that these transitions are shaped by a wider migration infrastructure. We highlight the interplay of migration regimes, including employment‐tied visas and a short post‐termination grace period, intermediaries that deepen indebtedness and constrain exit options, social networks that provide information and practical support and contingent events that often trigger shifts in migration trajectories. Pathways into and out of irregularity reflect migrants’ bounded agency as they navigate these structural and circumstantial constraints.