The deal was secured by their lawyers, who have been working free of charge for months, after last-minute negotiations with legal aid officials at the High Court.

Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, for the migrants, told the High Court Registrar: "The arrangement is that legal aid will be granted. We are very anxious that the court knows that legal aid will be granted."

She said their cases should be combined so that "all who have a claim will be represented".

The Legal Aid Department had previously turned down about 3,000 applications, with thousands more being processed. But before the second day of an appeal hearing before registrar Christopher Chan Cheuk yesterday, the deal was struck.

Under the deal, all appeals against refusals were put on hold pending the outcome of the migrants' court application for a full judicial review.

The decision will finally relieve the strain on lawyers who have spent more than six months preparing the mammoth case without funding.

Solicitor Pam Baker, for 5,473 migrants, said it would also create a more level-playing field when the landmark battle with the Government goes to court.

"I find it very hard to believe that over these six months they didn't look at it properly and say 'of course, this is important'," she said.

She suggested the department may, for political reasons, have delayed granting legal aid until left with little choice.

Deputy Director of Legal Aid Benjamin Cheung Kin-man later said the change of heart was due to powerful submissions put forward by Ms Ng, representing 1,736 of the migrants, at the legal aid appeal on Thursday.

"Ms Ng has now put forward new grounds which we accept to be valid grounds for the granting of legal aid," he said.

"We recognise the force of Ms Ng's arguments. We recognise there is a case to go forward."

But Mr Cheung denied there had been a U-turn. He said the refusal to grant legal aid had been based on the migrants' original arguments, rendered invalid by the Court of Final Appeal's abode ruling in December.

During the appeal, Ms Ng said the Director had been fully aware that the focus of the case had changed and knew the arguments she would be putting before the court.

There will be a preliminary hearing at the Court of First Instance next week and a judge will decide whether the case is strong enough to continue to a full battle.

The migrants claim they were given right of abode in a Court of Final Appeal ruling last January and that they should be exempted from the National People's Congress Standing Committee's reinterpretation of abode laws in June, which overturned that judgment.

Ms Ng said the migrants were not troublemakers or queue-jumpers but had been "borne along helplessly by events".

Solicitor Peter Barnes, for 40 migrants, said: "One wonders what would have happened had not Ms Ng given her time freely to argue these matters and put her matters so well and so persuasively."

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