In Hong Kong immigration officials have been quietly handing out special ‘relationship visas’ for partners of gay professionals coming from overseas (Ewing 2011). Singapore, it seems, does something similar for the same-sex partners of expatriates entering on a work permit. Thailand does the same, at least for partners of diplomatic personnel. Such informal accommodations probably occur in other jurisdictions in Asia as well.
Legislation in Hong Kong enacted in 2009 allows victims of domestic violence in same-sex relationships to seek legal remedies to prohibit perpetrators of violence from entering or remaining in their residences. Legislators reached consensus only after the government agreed to rename the law the Domestic and Cohabitation Relationships Violence Ordinance, so as not to be perceived to be conferring any marriage-like legal status on same-sex relationships (UNDP 2010: 61).