Published on Wednesday 11 December 2019 at 03:45

An image has been shared hundreds of times in multiple posts on Facebook and online forums which claim it shows a US permanent resident card, known as a green card, issued to Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong. The claim is false; the image has been doctored from a sample of a US employment card to include a photo of Wong; the activist has confirmed he does not have a green card, and that both the Chinese and romanised versions of his name on the manipulated image are wrong. 

The misleading post was published here on Facebook on December 8, 2019. It has been shared more than 600 times.

The image in the post shows a purported green card for Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung. 

A green card is officially called a Permanent Resident Card, which allows an individual to live and work permanently in the United States.

The text above Wong’s image on the purported card states: “EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION CARD”, “Zhi·Feng Huang”. 

On the right-hand side, the traditional Chinese characters in red translate to English as: “Wong Chi-fung's green card". 

The traditional Chinese-language caption above the purported green card translates to English as: “Irrefutable evidence of Joshua Wong receiving money from the US government, messing up Hong Kong, and emigrating to the US!!!!!”

Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post: 

A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post

The same image was published with a similar claim here and here on Facebook and here on the Hong Kong Discuss Forum. 

The claim is false; the image has been doctored to include a photo of Wong on a sample of an employment card published online by the US National Immigration Law Center (NILC). 

A keyword search on Google found this article, updated on July 15, 2015, on the website of the NILC, an American organisation aimed at "defending and advancing the rights of immigrants with low income". 

The article, titled "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS, DACA and Your Workplace Rights", has a designated section providing information on the employment authorisation document (EAD). 

Under the "What is an EAD, exactly?" section, an image of an EAD card corresponds with the doctored card in the misleading posts.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the misleading Facebook image (L) and the sample card (R) published by the NILC, with corresponding parts highlighted in red by AFP:

A screenshot comparison of the doctored image in the misleading posts (L) and the image on the NILC site (R)

On December 10, 2019, Joshua Wong posted this response on his verified Facebook page, denying the claim that he is a US green card holder. 

He also pointed out a mistake with the last character of his Chinese name in the misleading post, and the fact that the romanised version of his name should spell "Wong Chi Fung", not "Zhi Feng Huang".

Wong's Facebook post is embedded below:

"Wong Chi-fung" represents the romanised version of the activist's name in Cantonese, which is commonly spoken in Hong Kong.

On the other hand, "Zhi Feng Huang" is the Pinyin version of Wong's name. Pinyin is the romanisation system for Standard Chinese, or Mandarin, in mainland China.

Another keyword search on Google found the photo of Wong on the purported green card published here by Hong Kong newspaper Oriental Daily News on July 28, 2012.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading Facebook image (L) and the one published by Oriental Daily News (R):

A screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading posts (L) and the image published by Oriental Daily in 2012 (R)